LUBBOCK, Tex. --- The Wabash Valley Lady Warriors made a little bit of history here on Thursday night. Because of that, they are now in a position to make a whole lot more.
For the first time, a Luke Scheidecker-coached Lady Warrior basketball team has advanced to the quarterfinals of the NJCAA Division I national women's tournament. They did so with a 60-57 victory over Cochise, Arizona at Rip Griffin Center on the campus of Lubbock Christian University.
The seventh-seeded Warriors, 31-1 on the season, now have an Elite Eight matchup coming against No. 2 seed Eastern Florida State (32-1) on Saturday at 3 p.m. CDT. The Titans defeated 18th-seed Walters State, 73-45, in the second round on Thursday.
Wabash Valley has never advanced to the semifinal round in their nine previous trips to the national tournament.
It may have looked like a traditional WVC victory, with pressure defense causing 32 Cochise turnovers and an offense led by Shaulana Wagner, who finished with 21 points.
In reality though, the storyline was about the adjustments made to the grueling, physical intensity of the game that had no equivalency during the regular season.
"It's always different coming to Lubbock physicality-wise," said Scheidecker. "It took us awhile to adjust."
Especially on the boards, where the Lady Warriors were outrebounded, 28-13, in the first half, before recovering to a relative split on the glass in the second half.
"We got pounded on the boards in the first half but in the second half I thought we responded tremendously on the glass," Scheidecker said.
The defense came up big at critical junctures throughout the game, according to Scheidecker.
"That's what we did today," he said. "We got stops when we needed to get stops."
For a team that led the country in scoring at 103 points per game, Wabash Valley's game-winning total of 60 points was by far its' lowest output of the season.
It did not seem to be a point of frustration for the Lady Warriors during the game, however. Wagner indicated they were ready for a lower-scoring affair.
"(There was) no frustration," Wagner said. "We knew coming into this game that we weren't going to score 100 points."
Wagner was held to only seven points in the first half but fought her way to the rim more effectively in the second half.
It was Wagner who grabbed an offensive rebound and followed with a layup that put Wabash Valley ahead to stay, 58-56, with 28 seconds to play. She then added two free throws 14 seconds later to hike the lead to 60-56.
Cochise (28-6) had come off the deck from its largest deficit, 45-38, with 9:08 left to tie the game at 56-all.
Deyana Bogan led the Apaches in scoring with 14 points.
WVC shot 35.8 percent from the field on 19 of 53 accuracy, including only one 3-point field goal in eight attempts.
Cochise fared slightly better, at 38.5 percent (20-of-52).
After two days of play, 12 teams have been eliminated, half of the original field of 24 teams. Four more second-round games Friday will trim the number of surviving teams to eight.