Indians edge Toros in DII quarterfinals
Mar. 20—The Catawba Lady Indians are headed to the Women's DII semifinals after defeating Cal State Dominguez Hills 77-70 on Monday at the Civic Arena.
The Indians were already playing with house money by making it to their first ever Elite Eight in program history, and followed it up by making more history advancing to the next round and putting themselves within two wins of winning a DII national championship.
Catawba led after all four quarters and had their biggest lead at 14 points with under 30 seconds to play in first half, but the Toros were able to keep themselves within striking distance and gave the Indians a fight.
"We just had to battle all the way till the clock says zero," Catawba head coach Terence McCutcheon said. "It was a situation where I told them just dig deep."
It was from the free throw line where CSDH was able to get themselves back into the game. The Toros were +7 in the free throw category in the third quarter, ultimately making the score 56-55 at the end of the quarter. The defensive side of the ball with consistent full court and half court pressure made a difference as well for Toros in the third quarter as they forced the Indians into five turnovers.
"We want to take better care of the basketball. We know we can't turn the ball over especially in those clutch moments at the end of the game," McCutcheon said.
It was a battle of the guards on Monday as both Catawba's Lyrik Thorne and Cal State Dominguez Hill's Dawnyell Lair were both leading scorers for their teams. Thorne finished with 27 points in 38 minutes of play while Lair finished with 16 points and 15 rebounds in 32 minutes.
Lair did sub out of Monday's game for a brief three minutes and four seconds in the fourth quarter with a cramping issue in her right leg. At the 7:45 mark in the fourth when Lair subbed out, the Toros were within three points of Catawba and when she subbed back in at the 4:41 mark, the Toros trailed by just four points. The senior said after the game she was thinking to herself that Monday's game could possibly be her last game and that helped her fight through the cramping she was feeling.
"I was just trying to fight to get back. We were still in it. It was not a point where we wanted to quit or roll over, so just seeing my teammates fight, it just kept something inside of me," Lair said.
Catawba would inevitably outscore the Toros 21-15 in the final quarter and propel themselves to victory. The No. 6 Indians will move on to face the No. 2 seed in the Elite Eight in Minnesota-Duluth on Wednesday with tip-off time to be determined.
Jacob Meikel can be reached at jacob.meikel@newspressnow.com.
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