Tennessee Temple Women's Basketball team hit the road on Thursday 4^th March to face King College in the NCCAA Division 1 Mid-East Region Semi-Final game. King College, a dually-affiliated NCAA II member, were the number 2 seed after finishing the regular season 15-11 and ranked 15^th in the NCCAA. TTU earned the number 3 seed after ending the regular season 11-14 and finishing 19^th in the NCCAA rankings.

The Lady Crusaders started off the game well, playing their brand of stifling defense forcing the Lady Tornadoes to a number of early turnovers. The score was 15-12, when the Tornadoes got some momentum going on an 18-4 run. The Lady Crusaders were down by as much as 18 points with only a few minutes left in the first half. To close the half, through the effective offensive play of Gonzalez and James, and strong rebounding by Wells, the Lady Crusaders fought back and headed into the locker room at half time on a positive note, cutting the lead down to only 6 points, with the score at 41-35.

 

The Lady Crusaders were ready for a strong second half, however the Tornadoes came out firing on all cylinders hitting six three-pointers in a row to start the half. Shooting 52% from the 3pt line was simply too much for Temple to handle, and despite a late surge at the end of the half, the Lady Crusaders ended the 09-10 season with a loss of 74-88.

 

Junior guard Kanetra Gonzalez had a season-high 29 points, combined with 5 rebounds, 4 assists, and 3 steals, with only 2 turnovers in 36 minutes of play. Tennessee Temple's seniors both had strong nights with Stephanie Lovett finishing with 16 points, and Shontale Wells ending her season with 10 points and 9 rebounds, 7 of which were on the offensive end. Cherelle James ended with her 8^th double-double of the season, chipping in 15 points and 10 rebounds.

 

Congratulations on a great season Lady Crusaders.