Glenville State strives for its depth and pressure to wear on times throughout the course of a game.
In Monday’s national quarterfinal with No. 4 Tampa, that was exactly the case.
The No. 5 Pioneers outscored the Spartans by eight points in the fourth quarter and pulled away for a 78-68 victory at St. Joseph Civic Arena in St. Joseph, Mo.
With the win, Glenville State (33-2) moves on to face No. 1 Ashland in a semifinal Wednesday. A victory would send the defending national champion Pioneers to the national final for a second straight season despite losing almost all of its production off last year’s team.
Tampa (33-2) led 57-54 with inside 9 minutes remaining before a three-pointer from Aline Fevrier pulled the Pioneers even.
Following a three-pointer from former Wyoming East standout Skylar Davidson with 7:12 remaining, Glenville led 61-59, and it would never trail again.
After a Melijah Sullivan layup with 5:30 left allowed Tampa to trail 65-63, the Spartans were held scoreless four more than 4 minutes.
During that time, the Pioneers seized complete control of the contest starting with Kamiyah Lyons’ layup.
The Pioneers upped their lead to six with 3:13 remaining courtesy of a Breanna Campbell jumper, and the margin went to eight 33 seconds later on two free throws from Hya Haywood.
Haywood scored with 1:54 left for a 10-point lead, and two free throws from Mickayla Perdue 28 seconds later left Tampa facing a 75-63 deficit.
Audrey Ramsey’s three with 1:18 to play brought an end to the Trojans’ drought, but it was too little, too late.
The Pioneers got off to a sluggish start and trailed 19-13 after the first quarter, but they were to within a point at halftime as Tampa’s lead was trimmed to 35-34 through two quarters.
Campbell led all players with 28 points and added nine rebounds.
Haywood scored 18 and Perdue 10, while nine Pioneers got into the scoring column.
Three Tampa players had at least six turnovers and the Trojans finished with 26.
Sullivan scored 23 points and made 11-of-13 shots, Sydney Kin added 20 points and 14 rebounds and Sarah Jones scored 15 to go with three steals in defeat.
The other national semifinal will feature No. 2 Minnesota Duluth vs. No. 6 Catawba.