USF to take on Reinhardt in NAIA Tournament
By: Randy Ziemnik
Updated: February 28, 2013
COURTESY: ST. Francis Athletics
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Reinhardt (Ga.) University will be the first team to put Crossroads League Tournament champion and new NAIA Top 25 No. 2 University of Saint Francis to the test at the 2013 State Farm-NAIA Division II Women's Basketball National Championship.
The 19-14, unranked Lady Eagles and 30-3 Lady Cougars will tip-off at 11:15 a.m. on Wed., March 6 from the Tyson Events Center in Sioux City, Iowa. NAIA released the first round pairings on Wednesday night.
RU finished fifth in the Appalachian Athletic Conference, but was an automatic qualifier after winning the AAC with three straight wins including an upset in the semifinals of regular season champ Milligan (Tenn.), which finished 23-9 overall, 16-2 in the conference.
This will be the first meeting between USF, which is making its 14th appearance, and RU, which is making its first appearance in the championship. The Lady Cougars, who are 61-22 in post-season play and 22-12 in the NAIA Championship, have lost their last two first-round appearances. This will be USF's seven NAIA Championship appearance under the guidance of Head Coach Gary Andrews, who is in his 12th season at USF with a 257-131 record.
Tara Hay, a 5-foot-5 guard from Australia, is RU's leading scorer with a 15.1 average. She was the AAC Tournament MVP. Taylor Johnson, a 6-2 junior center, averages 11.6 points per game. She scored 21 in RU's 59-52 win over Union (Ky.) in the AAC Tournament title game.
