4018-Day Wait Ends for Catholic University as NCAA Triumph Marks Historic End to Misery

A historic day unfolded for Catholic University on Friday night in the Division III NCAA Tournament. A long wait of 12 years was finally over as a 71-55 victory over the Penn St.-Behrend got them their first NCAA Tournament victory since 2012-2013. Moreover, this is only their second NCAA win since their 8-point victory against Cabrin.

A spirited performance from Carly Mulvaney along with a fighting 13 points from Kerry Flaherty and Kaleigh Beirne proved enough for Cardinals to seal the deal.

Cardinals reign supreme in NCAA again

Cardinals had a rather dull start to their evening as Lions controlled the first five minutes. They were trailing 13-4 when the first media timeout was taken. Following this, Penn St.-Behrend had no answers for the offensive outburst of Cardinals which resulted in a 16-0 run. Consequently, the first quarter ended with Catholic University having a 5-point lead at 20-15. Cardinals tightened their grip on the game in the next quarter. Their dynamic No.22 Mulvaney led the charge for them by garnering 14 points and four rebounds before the half-time buzzer. In addition to this, Kerry Flaherty was 3-of-4 from the 3-point range.

Catholic’s defensive game also started to come to the surface as they were able to contain Morgan Atavilla and Rachel Majewski from the opposition camps. This was evident from the fact that Behrend could only manage 33.8% efficiency in their field goal percentage. Also, a dismal 2 of 13 from beyond the arc added further misery for Lions. By the end, Kaleigh Beirne came off the bench and delivered a quick fire of 13 points in her 17 minutes ending Penn St.-Behrend’s resistance. Despite matching Catholic’s 16 points in the final quarter, Lions fell short and faced a 55-71 defeat in their first round of the Division III NCAA Tournament.

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As it turns out, Catholic University had the upper hand and dominated the stat table throughout the night.

What does the stats say?

Cardinals outplayed and outmatched Lions in every department. They had a 5.9% advantage when it came to scoring goals from the field. Catholics had 35.3% accuracy in threes while Behrend could only secure 15.4%. Meanwhile, on the defensive front as well, a total of 33 rebounds was no match to Cardinal’s tally of 57. Another number in which the Lions lagged behind was the turnovers as they had 4 less than the eventual winners.

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It was a great day for Catholic women’s basketball team on the back of some inspirational performances. Their fans will be hoping they continue their form in the next game when they face the No. 19 Washington & Lee. We can hope for another enticing contest as both teams will be coming off a win. A win will ensure they reach their 2012-13 figures of 27 wins.