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BIRMINGHAM – Glenville State's Lady Pioneers are playing in the Division II National Championship game!
Coach Kim Stephens, fresh off being named the D-II National Coach of the Year on Wednesday, will lead her team back on to the "Big Stage" Friday, as GSU faces Western Washington in the title game. It will be the first trip to the Championship game for both storied programs.
Glenville enters the title game with a 34-1 record. It is the program's sixth consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament, and it is the storied program's third trip to the Elite Eight. Coach Stephens' squad leads the nation in scoring at 96.3 points per game, and in scoring margin at 33.5. Stephens and her staff utilize a high volume of players in the revolving door rotation. Their balanced scoring attack is deep; Zakiyah Winfield (18.0), Re'Shawna Stone (16.5), Dazha Congleton (12.1), Taychaun Hubbard (11.4), Mashayla Cecil (7.8), Vendela Danielsson (7.3), Abby Stoller (7.2), Kaylee Pierce (5.6), Tyesha Taylor (4.2), Skylar Davidson (2.3), Deja Atkinson (2.1), and Aline Fevrier (2.0).
Glenville punched their ticket to the Elite Eight last week, defeating MEC rival Charleston in the Atlantic Region Final 89-58. At the Elite Eight, the Lady Pioneers dominated #6 seed West Texas A&M 103-56 in the quarterfinal, and toppled #2 seed Grand Valley in the semifinals, 77-53.
Coach Stephens now has a career record of 157-21 in her six-year tenure on the Lady Pioneer bench (88.2%). Wednesday night's 34th win of the season was a school record, breaking the 33-win tally that the Elite Eight team of 2007 posted.
Western Washington enters the game 25-5, and working a string of wins over higher seeds. In the West Regional last week, WWU dispatched nationally ranked Central Washington 64-58 (a team responsible for two of WWU's losses), and nationally ranked Cal. St.-East Bay in the title game, 73-59. Entering as the #5 seed at the Elite Eight, they defeated #4 seed Valdosta in the quarterfinals 58-55, and followed that with a 74-68 semifinal win over #1 seed North Georgia.
WWU plays out of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC), and has one of the sport's legendary coaches in Carmen Dolfo. Coach Dolfo is in her 31st year as head coach for the Vikings, and the program has averaged over 20 wins a season for these three decades. Her career record is 643-250. Like Glenville, this is also WWU's third trip to the Elite Eight.
Emma Duff leads the Vikings in scoring at 15.5 points per game and averages 7.0 rebounds. 6'3" post player Brooke Walling averages 10.2 ppg and 7.6 rpg. Freshman Riley Dykstra is third on the team in scoring at 7.7 ppg, while her older sister Avery Dykstra leads the team with 73 assists. WWU is another outstanding defensive squad, giving up only 57.3 points per game.
So the stage is now set…Glenville State vs. Western Washington for the National Title!
Tip-off is set for 8:00 EST in Birmingham's Bill Harris Arena.
