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By Bryce Thompson
After a few exciting days in Casper, WY at the NCJAA Division l Women's Basketball Championship, the Lady Warriors have done what no Lady Warriors team in program history has done! For the first time in program history, the Lady Warriors have reached the NJCAA Final Four! In order to get to the Final Four, the Lady Warriors had to defeat the (18)Dogde Ciity Community College Lady Conquistadors in the second round as Wabash Valley had a first round bye as they were awarded the two seed in the tournament.
On March 27th, in a game that the Lady Warriors trailed for most of and at one point trailed by 18, something clicked with about 2 minutes left in the third quarter. Wabash Valley went on to outscore Dodge City 26-7 the rest of the ball game to advance to the Elite 8. A familiar face stepped up against Dodge City as she did most of the second half of the season. Freshman Madison Lewis led the way for the Lady Warriors with 14 points, with 9 coming from beyond the arc. Dodge City made a late push in the fourth quarter, but Chloe Dallas stepped up defensively and had a few key blocked shots late in the quarter to help secure the win over Dodge City by a final of 69-68.
On March 29th, the next obstacle before the Lady Warriors were the (7) Odessa Lady Wranglers. The Lady Warriors came out of the gate on a 9-0 run, which forced the Lady Wranglers to call a timeout. After the timeout, the Lady Wranglers went on a 4-0 run to cut the deficit down to five and make it a 9-4 ball game. The rest of the first quarter consisted of runs by each team to bring the first quarter score to 22-16 with Wabash Valley on top. The second and third quarter was all Wabash Valley. At the start of the 4th, the Lady Wranglers started with a 4-0 run before the Lady Warriors answered. Both teams traded baskets back and forth for most of the fourth quartrer. As the game came down to the wire, Aaliyah Smith hit a step back jumper to put WVC ahead by 3. The Lady Wranglers tied the game at 79 with 26 seconds left, but Smith came to the rescue again with a go ahead 3 with 10 seconds left to put Wabash back on top 82-79. With six seconds left, the Wranglers made it a one point ball game with free throws. The score was 82-81, but Madison Lews was fouled and made the trip to the free throw line where she only made one, making it 83-81 for the Warriors. The Lady Wranglers had a chance to win it at the buzzer, but after review the shot was waived off and the Lady Warriors escape with an 83-81 victory! Beautiful Waheed put up a quiet double-double with 26 points and 14 rebounds. Chloe Dallas, Madison Lewis and Aaliyah Smith scored in double digits as well.
The Lady Warriors take on Northwestern Florida State on March 30th at 8:15 EDT/7:15 CTL for a trip to the NJCAA National Championship game
