Manchester’s Bose Delivers Spartans Third Straight HCAC Tournament Title
March 1, 2008
ANDERSON , IN – The Manchester College women’s basketball team held off Anderson, 52-50, on Saturday afternoon at O.C. Lewis Gymnasium to win the 2008 Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference Women’s Basketball Tournament Championship. The Spartans, with the victory, earned the conference’s automatic berth into the NCAA Division III Tournament set to begin on March 5.
Manchester , the No. 2 seed in the tournament, jumped on the Ravens early in the first half and established a 15-point lead at the break. Leading the way was junior guard Sarah Bose (Indianapolis, Ind./Perry Meridian) who scored 11 points on 4-of-9 shooting to lead Manchester and hit the game-winning shot with 0.9 seconds remaining to deliver the Spartans the championship.
The Spartans withstood a charge by the Ravens in the second half and saw their 17-point lead evaporate when Anderson junior forward Mel Hawthorne (Indianapolis, Ind./Perry Meridian) scored seven straight points to tie the game at 50 with 17 seconds remaining. Hawthorne finished with a game-high 23 points on 8-of-16 shooting for the Ravens.
After a time out, the Spartans turned to their star junior guard to create the game winning shot. Bose drove and pulled up from 18 feet on the left baseline to drain the game winner with 0.9 seconds remaining. Manchester, under third-year head coach Josh Dzurick, improved to 19-8 and will make their third-straight trip to the NCAA Division III Tournament.
Bose averaged 12.5 points per game in Manchester’s two tournament wins and was named the Most Valuable Player of the event for the second straight year. She was joined on the all-tournament team by teammates KelleyMeiklejohn (Ft. Wayne, Ind./Carroll) and Jessica Henn (Huntington, Ind./North). Meiklejohn, a junior forward for the Spartans, scored eight points and had six rebounds in the championship contest. Henn scored seven points against AU and scored 14 points in the semi-final win over Transylvania.
Anderson’s Hawthorne and Kayla Martin (Bedford, Ind./ North Lawrence) represented the Ravens on the all-tournament team. Hawthorne finished with a game-high 23 points and seven rebounds versus Manchester and Martin earned the honor with 15 points and eight rebounds in the semi-final win over Hanover.
Hanover College’s Molly Martin (Terre Haute, Ind./North) was also a member of the all-tournament team.
Anderson falls to 18-8 on the season and will await the NCAA selection committee’s decision on whether or not they will be apart of the NCAA tournament. The committee is set to release the tournament field Monday, March 3 at 9:00 AM.