HOUGHTON, Mich. - Anyone who has followed the career of Katie Pritchard through her prep days at Waynesville High or during her basketball and soccer careers at Drury knows she has always been considered the proverbial cool customer.
Katie Cool, if you will.
But more confirmation came on Sunday, when the sophomore guard stepped up and hit four big free throws and a pivotal jump shot in the final two minutes to help third-seeded Drury defeat No. 7 seed Northern Michigan 59-51 and move into Tuesday's NCAA-II Midwest Regional championship game.
The Lady Panthers (28-6) picked up their 10th consecutive victory and will play top-seed and host Michigan Tech (30-2) at 5 p.m. (CST) on Tuesday in the regional title game. The Huskies defeated fifth-seed Findlay 68-57 in Sunday's other semifinal.
Tuesday's regional champion will move on to the NCAA-II Elite Eight in St. Joseph, MO, March 23-26.
Pritchard scored a team-high 20 points, including nine points in the final 6:30 to help the Lady Panthers hold off a late rally by Northern Michigan (22-10).
The Lady Panthers, in the NCAA-II Tournament field for the eighth straight year, trailed by one (27-26) at the half and fell behind by as many as five points, including 38-33 with just over 12 minutes left, before heating up.
Drury opened up a seven-point lead (51-44) with 3:32 left on a driving by senior Lindsay Ballweg (19 points) with 3:32 to go, but watched the Wildcats charge back on an inside bucket and a 3-pointer both from NMU's Mariah Dunham (24 points), the latter coming with just 1:06 left to make it a 53-51 Drury lead and clearly signal that this one wasn't over yet.
That's when Pritchard made one of the biggest baskets of her career - and her only two-point shot of the game - when she calmly sank a 15-foot jumper from the right baseline with 47 seconds remaining to push the lead back to four (55-51). Northern Michigan never recovered, as Steffani Stoeger missed an open layup on the next possession, leading to two Pritchard free throws at the other end, and Melanie Oliver came up with a steal with 26 seconds left and nailed two free throws to seal it.
The Lady Panthers hit 18 of 20 free throws in the second half (90 percent) and finished 24 of 28 at the line for the contest to help stave off Northern Michigan.
"We were a little disappointed at the half because we felt like we didn't control our emotions very well and we let the officiating get to us a little bit," said Drury coach Steve Harold, noting that Ballweg had to sit for much of the first 20 minutes after picking up a technical - and her second personal foul - after debating her first foul in the half.
"But we said, 'We can't control what just happened already in the first half, but we CAN control what we do in the second half going forward. I thought we did a great job of maintaining our composure and staying aggressive in the second half."
Oliver finished with just five points, but her 10 rebounds helped her become Drury's all-time career rebound leader, now with 802 in her three years as a Lady Panther. That eclipsed the old mark of 793 set by former DU great Amanda Newton from 2002-06.
"To establish the rebounding record in just three years and to break the mark of a legend like Amanda Newton is simply phenomenal," Harold said. "I thought our rebounding in the second half was the difference."
After being tied at 15 on the boards at halftime, Drury outrebounded the taller Wildcats 20-14 in the second half for a final 35-29 advantage. That also included seven rebounds from sophomore post Erica Groose, who again came off the bench to give the Lady Panthers a huge lift.
"Erica did a great job again," Harold said of Groose, who had 10 points and a career-high 14 rebounds off the bench in Friday's opening-round win over Southern Indiana. "We've got to continue to get that from her if we're going to be successful moving forward."
Moving forward they are, as Drury now gets a shot at top-seed Michigan Tech - the preseason No. 1 team in the country in many polls - on its home floor, where the Huskies will likely have a crowd of 2,000-plus fans cheering them on. Michigan Tech, currently the No. 3 ranked team in the country, came to Springfield back in November to play in Drury's Sleep Inn Classic, though the Huskies did not play the Lady Panthers.
Harold, a notorious fan of scouting and pre-game preparation, got his wish.
"I told the girls before the game, 'Let me have just one more night this season to watch some tape," Harold said. "I've been looking forward to this (opportunity). Our goals are still alive for another day."
Drury will be making its fifth appearance in a regional final on Tuesday. The Lady Panthers advanced to the Elite Eight in both 2004 (in St. Joseph, Mo.), and in 2007.
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