WICHITA, Kan. – The 11th-seeded Hastings College Broncos pulled away in the first half and went on to a 104-75 win over the sixth-seeded Friends University Falcons in an NAIA Women's Basketball First Round game today (Mar. 13) inside the Garvey Center. This was the first national appearance for the Falcons since the 2017-18 season.
The Falcons got off to a good enough start and led 9-2 early behind a couple of threes from Katie Weiss. On Weiss's first three of that surge, Lauryn McIver recorded her 400th career assists, which adds to her modern-era career record.
Hastings had a strong response and used a 15-2 burst to take a 17-11 lead and maintained a six-point edge of 24-18 at the end of the first quarter.
After a score by Abigail Barr opened the second period and cut the deficit to four, the Broncos exploded for 12 straight points to push the lead up to 16 at 36-20.
The Broncos stretched the lead as high as 20 in the second quarter before settling for a 47-28 lead at the break.
Barr converted a three-point play to begin the second half, but the Broncos scored the next 10 points behind two threes by Macy Bryant to lead 57-31.
Hastings continued to balloon the lead from there and eventually built the lead as high as 47 points early in the fourth quarter.
Playing in her final collegiate game, McIver finished things off with her typical solid stat line of 25 points, nine rebounds and four blocks. Barr added 17 points and also had nine rebounds in her final appearance as a Falcon.
Adyson Mlnarik led six Broncos in double-figures with 19 points off the bench as Hastings enjoyed a 45-17 advantage in bench scoring. Bailey Kissinger scored 17 and Bryant finished with 16 points. Mariyah Avila and Ann Bose each had 12 points, while McKenna Yates scored 11 and recorded a game-high seven assists.
The Falcons outrebounded the Broncos 45-41 and held scoring edges of 30-26 in the paint and 17-9 in second chance points. But Friends was hurt by 30 turnovers that the Broncos turned into 34 points.
Hastings will now play 14th seeded Texas A&M-San Antonio tomorrow (Mar. 14) at 2 pm for the right to advance to the Round of 16 next week in Sioux City, Iowa.
Under head coach Dean Jaderston, the Falcons end the season at 24-7 to equal the most wins for the program since they last advanced to the national tournament during the 2017-18 season.
