By Jon Johnson
CASPER, WYOMING – The Eastern Arizona College Women’s basketball team have put on their dancing shoes as they cruised through the Sweet Sixteen and will return to the Elite 8 of the NJCAA National Tournament after holding on to defeat No. 7 McLennan, 53-46 on Friday.
The Gila Monsters will next play No. 2 Wabash Valley in the Elite 8 on Saturday, March 29, starting at 11:15 a.m. Arizona time. The game will be televised on ESPN+.
EAC led early and often and pushed their lead to double digits, but the McLennan Community College Highlanders fought back in the fourth powered by Danai Lewis, who finished with 15 points on 6-11 shooting, and Tajenae Gooden, who was a bruiser down low. Gooden was just 2-16 from the field (including 0-9 from 3-point), but she went 8-12 from the free throw line to fill up the points.
McLennan’s top player, Jalayah Ingram, suffered an injury during the game and finished with 7 points on 1-7 shooting from the field.
One of the teams’ differences was their ability to shoot from deep. EAC hit 9-24 (37.5 percent) for 27 points, while McLennan hit 2-16 (12.5 percent) for just 6 points.
Sarah Deng was chosen as the player of the game after going for 12 points – two of them being on an important drive late in the game to extend the Gila Monsters’ lead to six. Deng was also 3-3 from 3-point.
Stephany Goncalves was also pivotal in the game – both handling the rock and scoring. Goncalves hit a big drive late in the game to help put it out of reach and finished with 10 points on 3-7 shooting (including 2-3 from 3-point) and 5 assists.
Pima’s Ashlynn Chlarson was limited in playing time due to two early fouls but still finished with 7 points, 10 rebounds, 2 blocks, and played pivotal defense.
The Gila Monsters out-rebounded the Highlanders 41 to 35 and held them to just 24.5 percent shooting from the field, including 12.5 percent shooting from 3-point. The Gila Monsters shot 29.1 percent from the field, including 37.5 percent from 3-point.
