The Northwestern College Red Raiders advance to the championship game with a resounding 93-69 win over GPAC rival Morningside in one of two Final Four games this evening. It will be the third championship game for the Red Raiders (1-1) and the first since their national championship season in 2001. They will play College of the Ozarks (Mo.) in the final at 6:30 pm. The Bobcats needed double overtime to outlast Hastings (Neb.) in the other semifinal, 79-75. The Bobcats have been ranked first all season long and are 35-1 this season.
Coach Woudstra's squad never trailed in this, the fourth meeting between the two schools, as they scored the first seven points and never looked back. After a 9-0 run, Northwestern led by as much 18 (36-18) in the first half and continued to lead by that same margin as the teams went into the locker room. The Red Raiders shot 50% in the opening half, 57% from the three point line while Morningside was just 9/31 (29%) from the floor in the opening half.
Northwestern began the second half on an 8-2 run to take their biggest lead of the night (52-28). The lead stayed around 20 for most of the second half until a 11-0 Morningside run put the score at 77-65 with under five minutes to play. The Red Raiders, however, closed the game with a 16-4 run on a pair of three pointers by Debbie Remmerde and some clutch free throw shooting (6-of-8) over the final two minutes.
The Red Raiders shot 57% for the game, 60% from the three point line (15/25). They also held a big advantage on the boards (50-28) which included nine offensive rebounds. Northwestern was led by Debbie Remmerde with 30 points, giving the senior a tournament best 136 in the four games. She went 11-of-14 from the field and made seven more three pointers, increasing her total to 25 for the tournament. Remmerde has 3,813 points in her career and is 43 points shy of breaking the all-time NAIA mark of 3855, set by Miriam Walker (Claflin, S.C.) back in 1987-1990. Amy Larson added 25, including five three pointers and Miranda Boekhout scored 15. With those 15 points, Boekhout surpassed the 1,000 point milestone and has 1,012 points in her career. Randa Hulstein came off the bench to score six points and a team-best 11 rebounds. Boekhout added eight boards and five assists.
Northwestern will now play College of the Ozarks in the championship game at 6:30 p.m. at the Tyson Events Center. The Bobcats eliminated the Red Raiders last year in the Sweet Sixteen, 88-82 in overtime.
2007-08 media guide
