AIB Women's Basketball Qualifies for Conference Tournament

By Amy Tagliareni, AIB Sports Information Director

DES MOINES, Iowa -- The AIB women's basketball team qualified for the Midwest Collegiate Conference (MCC) Tournament in its first season as an associate member with a 77-65 victory over Clarke University Saturday.

ABOUT THE TOURNAMENT
The Eagles enter the tournament as the eighth seed and travel to top-seeded Grand View University for a first-round matchup Thursday (Feb. 23). Game time is scheduled for 7 p.m. The winner moves on to face either fourth-seeded William Penn or fifth-seeded Viterbo on Saturday (Feb. 25).

Other first-round games scheduled for Thursday include seventh-seeded Ashford at second-seeded Mount Mercy and sixth-seeded St. Ambrose at third-seeded Iowa Wesleyan.

ABOUT AIB
AIB finished the regular season 13-17 overall and 6-12 in the MCC.

Junior Caitlin Hagarty (Cedar Falls, Iowa/Cedar Falls) leads AIB in scoring with 13.5 points per game. Junior Hannah Redenius (Ida Grove, Iowa/Battle Creek-Ida Grove) adds 10 points and a team-leading 7.1 rebounds per contest. Sophomore Megan Howard (Elkhart, Iowa/North Polk) contributes 9.9 points and is third in the conference with 3.1 steals per outing. Junior India Shivers (Fort Dodge, Iowa/Fort Dodge) averages 9.5 points and leads the conference with 4.4 assists a game.

AIB finished the regular season ranked in the top four in the MCC in numerous statistical categories. The Eagles are third in points per game (68.1), fourth in points allowed per game (64.6), and third in point differential (+3.6). AIB finished second in the conference in rebounds per game (39.7) and second in assists (15.8). The Eagles rank first in the conference in turnover margin (+6.8) and steals per contest (13.6). They finished third in the conference in blocks per game (3.4) and finished first in offensive rebounds per game (15.4).

ABOUT GRAND VIEW
The ninth-ranked Vikings, winners of 15-consecutive games, are the conference regular-season champions, finishing the regular season 25-5 and 17-1 in the MCC.

Senior Jennifer Jorgensen paces Grand View with a conference-leading 23.4 points per game while shooting 53 percent from the floor. Jorgensen also pulls down a team-leading 10.1 rebounds a contest and leads the conference with 101 total steals. Morgan Hamner adds 12.4 points per game and leads the conference in field goal percentage at 60 percent. Junior Amy Vos contributes 10.6 points and 5.0 rebounds per contest.

Grand View finished second in the conference in points per game (72.2), third in scoring defense (62.4), and first in scoring margin (+9.7). The Vikings led the conference in field goal percentage (44 percent) and were second in free throw percentage (75 percent) and field goal percentage defense (36 percent). They finished third in rebounding (39.0) and second in rebounding margin (+4.5).

PREVIOUS MEETINGS
Grand View won both meetings against AIB this season, including a 73-51 victory at AIB (Jan. 4) and a 69-63 win at Grand View (Feb. 1).

In the first meeting, the Vikings held the Eagles to 33 percent shooting (20 of 60) from the floor, while connecting on 25 of 55 for 46 percent. Caitlin Hagarty led the Eagles in the loss, scoring 20 points. Senior Jennifer Jorgensen paced Grand View with 26 points and 14 rebounds.

In the second meeting, AIB was again plagued by cold shooting, hitting 32 percent (20 of 61) from the field. The Eagles defense tightened up in the rematch, holding Grand View to 37 percent (25 of 67) from the field. Megan Howard led the Eagles with 16 points and six rebounds. Jorgensen recorded another double-double, scoring 23 points and pulling down 15 rebounds.