Women's Basketball News
Ashley Kraft named 2nd Team All-American
Kraft, 5’10, forward was named to the NAIA All-American Second Team after averaging 16.42 ppg and 8.52 rpg for SC during the 2007-2008 campaign. Kraft, a Ransom, Kansas native is the third Sterling College women’s basketball player to be named to the NAIA All-American Second Team. Kraft’s other accomplishments this past season were:
2007-2008 KCAC “Player of the Year”
2007-2008 KCAC Unanimous First Team
2007-2008 KCAC “All-Defensive Team”
Three time KCAC “Player of the Week”
Kraft also recorded nine double-doubles this past season and led the Lady Warriors in field goal percentage 51.3% and steals 2.77 per game.
“This is a tremendous honor for Ashley to receive,” said Head Coach Lonnie Kruse. “This is a testimony to how much work she has put in coming off two knee injuries. She is an extremely tough competitor and it’s great for her to be recognized by everyone that has seen us play.”
Kraft is majoring in business administration at Sterling. She is the daughter of Aaron and Candy Kraft of Ransom, Kansas.
Lady Warriors fall to Cornerstone in first round of the NAIA Div. II Basketball Tournament
SIOUX CITY, Iowa. – No. 4 seed Cornerstone University (Mich.) held on for 64-55 victory of the fifth seed, Sterling College Lady Warriors in the opening round of the17th annual NAIA Division II Women’s Basketball National Championship at the Tyson Events Center/Gateway Arena in Sioux City, Iowa.
Cornerstone(25-8) had to rally late to keep the game close then distanced themselves with free throws to earn the nine point victory. Sterling pulled ahead with a basket by Jacci Tinkel at 55-52 that would be that last points scored by the Lady Warriors in the final 2:55. Following a Cornerstone timeout, the Golden Eagles Tami Thelen hit from long distance to tie the game. Following a defensive stand Thelen found a cutting Brooke Carter for a lay in that proved to be winning basket for Cornerstone.
Sterling (23-7) had their opportunities to get back into the ball game but failed to connect from the field, shooting 0-for-6 in the waning moments of the first round contest. The Lady Warriors leave the tournament in the first round for the first time in eight appearances.
Cornerstone was led offensively by junior Jenna Plewes with 22 points on 7-of-13 shooting from the field, along with shooting 8-for-10 from the free throw line. Junior Kara Overbeek added 18 points for the Golden Eagles.
The Lady Warriors were led by the junior Hillary Stucky with 17 points, while Ashley Kraft contributed with 11 points for Sterling.
Cornerstone advances to the second to take on the winner of the Northwestern (Iowa) vs. Holy Names (Calif.) at 7:30 p.m. on Friday.
For more information on the NAIA Division II Women’s Basketball National Championship visit www.naia.org.
Sterling Women draw Cornerstone University in first round of NAIA Tournament
Sterling, KS. - The Sterling College Women’s Basketball team will face Cornerstone University (MI) on Thursday March 13th at 4:00 p.m. in the first round of the NAIA Division II National Tournament at the Tyson Event Center in Sioux City, Iowa
Cornerstone, a member of the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference received the #6 at-large bid to play in the 32 team national tournament. The Golden Eagles tied for the WHAC regular season championship posting a 13-1 record along side Davenport College. The automatic qualifier from the WHAC was the tournament champion Aquinas who defeated the Golden Eagles in the semifinals of the WHAC tournament. Davenport the other team from the WHAC has KCAC foe Southwestern in the first round.
Cornerstone enters the tournament for the fifth time in their school history with a record of 7-5. Cornerstone was the national runner-up in 2001-2002.
The Lady Warriors clinched the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference regular season championship with a 16-1 record and the KCAC Tournament Championship this past Wednesday night against Southwestern College, this was Sterling’s 9th KCAC regular season title and will be their 12th trip to the NAIA Div. II National Tournament all under Head Coach Lonnie Kruse.
Sterling (23-7) is led by KCAC Player of the Year Ashley Kraft (5’10, Jr., F, Ransom, Kan.). Kraft is averaging 16.6 points and 8.5 rebounds per game this season.
Jenna Plewes (5’10, So., G, Zeeland, MI.) leads the Cornerstone Golden Eagles (24-8) in scoring at 14.2 points per game, and is shooting 47.3 percent from the floor. Cornerstone also has two other players averaging in double figures in Brooke Carter and Kara Overbeek.
Sterling is currently 13-11 at the NAIA National Tournament after losing to Bethel (IN) last year in the Sweet Sixteen.
Tournament brackets, game times, and general information are available at the NAIA website www.naia.org
Sterling Women Capture Seventh Tournament Championship
For the seventh time in Sterling College Women's basketball history the Lady Warriors have won the KCAC Tournament Championship with a win over Southwestern College Monday night at the Gleason Center. Sterling outlasted the Moundbuilders 64-60 in front of a packed house in the KCAC Championship.
Sterling started the game off on a 7-3 run sparked by a field goal from Britany Gasper and then a three pointer and a two from Ashley Kraft. Southwestern responded with 5-1 run cutting the lead to one. But both teams struggled turning the ball over the rest of the half as the Lady Warriors finally got there largest lead of the half with 1:05 to play when Jacci Tinkel barried a three pointer from the right side of the court off an assist from Ashley Kraft. Sterling took a 33-26 lead into halftime.
In the second half of action, Sterling seemed to be focused and handled Southwestern's pressure quite well as they build there largest lead 47-37 with 13:36 left to play. Southwestern then went on a 21-9 run to get back into the game and actually take the lead 58-56 when Sara Maxwell hit a three pointer to give the Moundbuilder's the two point advantage with 3:28 left to play. Sterling then used the free throw line to get back in the game as they went to the charity stripe ten times in the final three minutes of the game. With thirty-nine seconds left to play Erin Thiessen stole the ball in went to the basket and was fouled. Thiessen missed her first one and then the second but followed her shot and pulled away the rebound and was fouled again. Thiessen then calm and collectively made both that put the Lady Warriors up 62-58. Southwestern's Jenna Wilson hit a runner in the lane that cut the lead to two but Gasper was fouled on the next possession and added two more free throws for insurance as Sterling picks up their seventh KCAC Tournament Championship.
Sterling was lead in scoring by Kraft with 19 points, and 9 rebounds. Tinkel added 15 points and Hilary Stucky chipped in thirteen. Wilson led the Moundbuilder's with 21 points and 12 rebounds.
Sterling (23-7, 17-1) will now wait till Wednesday to find out who they will face in the first round of the NAIA Div. II National Tournament next week in Sioux City, Iowa. Southwestern (23-8, 14-4) will be the second team representing the KCAC in next weeks tournament. Sterling is making their twelfth appearance in the NAIA National Tournament and look to improve off last years "Sweet Sixteen" appearance.
Full brackets for the NAIA National Tournament will be released by the NAIA on Wednesday afternoon.
Kraft, Stucky and Kruse lead Lady Warriors on All-KCAC Team
The Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference released their All-KCAC Women's Basketball selections last night following the Sterling/Southwestern Tournament Championship game.
Sterling College had two members make the first team in juniors Ashley Kraft and Hilary Stucky. Junior Jacci Tinkel and Freshman Britany Gasper were named the to the Honorable Mention list. Junior Erin Thiessen and Kraft were named to the All-Defensive Team and Gasper was on the All-Freshman Team. Kraft was also named the KCAC "Player of the Year" and Head Coach Lonnie Kruse was named the KCAC "Coach of the Year".
Kruse who was voted the KCAC "Coach of the Year" for the tenth time in his career led the Lady Warriors the ninth KCAC Regular Season Title and the seventh KCAC Tournament Championship. Kruse also passed legendary University of Kansas coach Marion Washington this season as the all-time winningest coach in the state of Kansas this season with his 561st win back in November. Kruse will be taking his 12th trip the NAIA National Tournament next week.
Kraft, a 5'10, Junior, from Ransom, Kansas was named the KCAC "Player of the Year", and an Unanimous First Team All-Conference Selection and named to the All-Defensive Team. She led the Lady Warriors in scoring and rebounding this season. Kraft had eight double-doubles this past season and was one rebound away from eight more in eight other contests. Kraft also leads the team in steals with 85 and shooting percentage.
Stucky, a 6'0, junior from Haven, Kansas was named the to All-KCAC First team for the second year in a row. Hilary is second on the team in scoring with 12.3 ppg. and third in rebounding with 5.6rpg.
Tinkel, a 5'3, guard from Topeka, Kansas was named to the KCAC Honorable Mention team as she led Sterling from the point guard position. Tinkel leads the Lady Warriors with 75 assist on the season and is shooting 31% from behind the three-point line.
Gasper, a 5'10, forward from Tipton, Kansas was also named the KCAC Honorable Mention All-KCAC Team and to the All-Freshman Team. Gasper had twenty plus games this season where she scored in double digits. She is third on the team in scoring and second in rebounding. She also leads the team in blocked shots.
Thiessen, a 5'8, guard from Wichita, Kansas was named the All-Defensive Team. Erin earned the task of guarding some of the best players in the KCAC this season and held many of them below their season average.
Continue to track the Lady Warriors as they travel to Sioux City, Iowa to participate in the NAIA Div. II Women's National Tournament next week. The official bracket and time will be released on Wednesday afternoon by the NAIA.
Lady Warriors need overtime to get past Tabor
Sterling hit all of their six free throws in the last 50 seconds of OT to push past Tabor and put themselves in the Championship game of the KCAC tournament on Monday night against Southwestern College. Sterling will be in search of there seventh KCAC Tournament Championship.
By the looks of the first four minutes of the game it looked like Sterling was going to walk right over Tabor starting the game off on a 7-0 run. Tabor responded with their own 7-1 run keeping the game close. Sterling and Tabor were tied at the intermission 22-22. Both teams struggled shooting from the field Sterling shot 25% while the Blue Jays shot 30%.
In the second half of action, the Lady Warriors built there lead to five with 14:04 left to play when Tabor's Stacie Herman hit a three pointer to bring the game within two points. Tabor tied the game at thirty-three just two minutes later when Herman's runner in the lane fell in as she was fouled by SC's Jannica Schultze. Herman hit the free throw and gave Tabor their first lead of the second half. After Herman's three-point play, both teams were more efficient offensively as there were five ties and 10 lead changes the rest of the way. Neither team led by more than four until the closing seconds. Ashley Kraft and Herman each hit two free throws in the final twenty-five seconds to force overtime.
In the extra period Sterling never trailed as they took a 57-55 lead on Hilary Stucky's 16-foot jumper with 1:45 left. On Sterling's next possession, Kraft was fouled as she drove to the basket with the shot clock about to expire. She hit both free throws for a 59-55 lead with 50 seconds left. Tabor pulled within 59-57 after two Herman free throws with 33 seconds left. The Blue Jays fouled Sterling guard Erin Thiessen with 16 seconds, but she hit both free throws to secure the win.
Junior Ashley Kraft once again Sterling in scoring with 22 points, seven rebounds, four assists and four steals. Fellow junior Hillary Stucky also had a monster night as she scored eighteen points and brought down eleven rebounds. Herman led Tabor with points.
Sterling (22-7) will host Southwestern (23-7) on Saturday night at the Gleason Center at 7:00 PM. The last time the Moundbuilders came to Sterling they handed the Lady Warriors their only home conference loss of the season. Both teams will advance to the NAIA Div. II Women's National Tournament in Sioux City, Iowa next week.
Kraft leads Lady Warriors to win over Ottawa in KCAC Quarterfinal action
Sterling opened the game trailing 2-9 after turning the ball over four times in as many minutes. Sterling finally took the lead back with 11:18 to play in the first half when Ashley Kraft stole a pass from Ottawa's Hallie Adrian and hooked up with Britany Gasper to take a 10-9 lead. Sterling then outscored the Braves 17-11 over the next ten minutes to take a seven point advantage into halftime.
In the second half, the Lady Warriors opened up with a 14-5 run sparked by two more steals by Kraft and buckets from Gasper, Jacci Tinkel and Cami Racette. With four minutes to play in the game Sterling built their biggest lead of the game going up by twenty off an Ashley Gasper jumper. Sterling never let OU get within sixteen the rest of the way. Sterling forced Ottawa into thirty-one turnovers on the night.
Kraft led the Warriors with eighteen points, nine rebounds and six steals. Gasper added fourteen points.
Sterling will now face Tabor College on Saturday at 2:00pm at the Gleason Center. Tabor (12-17) escaped Kansas Wesleyan on Wednesday night 52-47 in Hillsboro.
(Photo's Courtesy of Grayson Graves)
Women's Basketball to host Ottawa/Saint Mary Winner Wednesday at 7:00 PM
All seeds are based on regular-season records and standings, with tie-breaker procedures applied.
Again this year in each of the two ten-team tournaments (one division each for men and women), four "play-in" games will be on Monday (February 19) for the bottom four teams in each division. Play-in games for the men will be at Tabor College and Bethany College, and for the women will be at Bethel College and Ottawa University — all at 7 p.m.
In the women's division, quarterfinals are Wednesday (Feb. 27), semifinals will be Saturday, March 1 at 2 p.m., and the women's tournament championship game will be played Monday (March 3).
In the men's tournament the final eight teams will play in quarterfinals on Thursday (Feb. 28), with semifinals on Saturday, March 1, at 7 p.m., and the tournament championship game will be Tuesday (March 4).
All tipoff times are 7 p.m., except as announced for Saturday, and all tournament games are at campus sites of higher seeded teams unless otherwise announced.
Seedings are based on final regular-season standings of the KCAC Conference. The KCAC has 10 institutional members, so two men's and two women's teams will advance to national championship tournaments of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics division two. In each division both the post-season tournament winner and the highest seeded team not winning the conference tournament will advance to the NAIA national championship tournament.
The NAIA-II 17th Annual Men's National Championship Tournament will be March 12-18 at College of the Ozarks in Point Lookout (Branson), Missouri. The NAIA-II 17th Annual Women's National Championship Tournament will be March 12-18 at Sioux City, Iowa (Tyson Events Center/Gateway Arena).
The KCAC continues to be the only all-Kansas intercollegiate conference of the state's four-year colleges and universities.
More NAIA information is on the Internet at , and at .
In regular-season, Ottawa University "Braves" won the KCAC men's championship, and the Sterling College "Lady Warriors" won the KCAC women's championship.
The KCAC 2008 Brackets
The following are the two brackets for the two KCAC Conference Post-season Basketball Tournaments (men's and women's), of the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference. For update information on a continuing basis, see the website www.kcacsports.com, contact the respective host school, or telephone to the KCAC recorded hotline 785-227-2857.
Lady Warriors wrap up regular season at 17-1
On Thursday, the Lady Warriors used and outstanding defensive performance to hold Tabor College to a season low thirty-eight points. Sterling held Tabor to 15-55 shooting for 27% from the field and 1-13 (7%) from the three point line.
The Lady Warriors were led in scoring by Freshman Britany Gasper with 19 points and six rebounds. Junior Ashley Kraft chipped in fifteen points and nine rebounds.
On Saturday, the Lady Warriors traveled to Bethany College for a match up with the Swedes. The last time out Sterling racked up a twenty-five point win in Sterling. Bethany came out firing on all cylinders and lead a good part of the first half. Sterling led by nine at the 13:46 mark but Bethany used a 22-5 run to take the lead away 27-22. Sterling fought back and tied the game at thirty off a Kraft field goal and built a 41-36 lead into halftime.
In the second half, the Warriors used some hot shooting (57%) to blow the lead open by as many as seventeen winning the game 86-70. Kraft led the Lady Warriors in scoring with her eighth double-double of the season tallying eighteen points and fourteen rebounds. Freshman Cami Racette had a career high fourteen points and Gasper added thirteen.
Sterling will be the #1 seed in the upcoming KCAC tournament this week and have received an automatic bid to the NAIA Div II Women's National Tournament in Sioux City, IA. March 12-17.
(Photo's courtesy of Grayson Graves)
Lady Warriors clinch KCAC title with win over KWU
Salina Journal
Sterling clinched the KCAC regular-season title in dominating fashion. It's the ninth conference title for veteran Sterling coach Lonnie Kruse, who is the winningest coach in the history of Kansas collegiate women's basketball and is in his 27th season.
The Warriors (15-1, 18-7) notched their 12th consecutive victory with a balanced scoring attack and suffocating defensive effort that produced 18 Wesleyan turnovers and held the Coyotes to 28.3 percent shooting.
"They had a lot riding on the game and played very, very inspired basketball tonight," KWU coach Gordon Reimer said. "They were definitely the best defensive team on the floor tonight. They played great defense, and we played very poor defense. "They had a lot more heart tonight than we did. That's all there is to it." Kruse received a ceremonial dip in the swimming pool afterward — a tradition for the Warriors.
"We're a team that our defense keys our offense," Kruse said. "We're not a great offensive team — we have some weapons ... but when we can play defense and hit a few outside shots we're pretty tough. "This ranks up there (with the best defensive efforts of the year). We've had several outings this year where we've shut people down." Sterling led 34-20 at halftime and broke the game open with a 15-0 run in the second half.
The Warriors were leading 48-38 with 11 minutes left when they embarked on the decisive surge. Jacci Tinkel led Sterling with 20 points, including 4 of 6 shooting from 3-point range. Ashley Kraft had 17 points and six rebounds, and Hilary Stucky 13 points and seven rebounds. The Warriors shot 44.6 percent and got 23 points off of Wesleyan's turnovers. They also won the rebounding battle 46-39.
Kaylaen Dittmer led Wesleyan (8-8, 11-15) with 11 points. Tierra Baldwin finished with eight points and 12 rebounds, breaking her string of six consecutive double-doubles. The Warriors took control of the first half with an 18-2 run midway through the first half, a surge that turned an 11-10 deficit into a 28-13 lead with 3:18 left before halftime. Wesleyan went six minutes without scoring a point, a drought that started with 8:10 left in the half and continued until the 2:11mark.
Sterling has locked up a bid to the NAIA National Basketball Championships in Sioux City, Iowa by clinching the regular season championship. Sterling will travel to Tabor College on Thursday, before closing out the regular season on Saturday at Bethany College.