Box Score

SIOUX CITY, Iowa – A 43-40 halftime lead was not enough tonight as the No. 1 ranked Lady Panthers suffered their first and only loss of the season in the NAIA National Championship game 88-83 to No. 2 Northwestern College (Iowa).  Davenport ends the best season in school history with an overall record of 37-1.

Kallie Benike (Campbellsport, Wis.) finished off her brilliant career with a team leading 22 points and 9 rebounds and three other Lady Panthers finished in double-digits with Kristi Boehm (Kent City, Mich.), Abby Neff (LaGrange, Ind.) and Riana Hensley (Toledo, Ohio) chipping in 16, 14 and 11 points respectively.

A Riana Hensley layup started the scoring but back to back three pointers from tournament MVP Becca Hurley gave the Red Raiders a 6-2 lead with 3:30 gone by. The fast paced scoring would be a sign of things to come as DU then rattled off 10 of the next 16 points to tie the game at 12-12 on a layup from Abby Neff.

With just over 11:00 to play in the opening half, DU used a 7-0 run to take their first lead since the opening bucket as the run was highlighted by a steal and layup from Kristi Boehm and then a deep three-pointer from Carrie Grubius (Kalamazoo, Mich.).

The back and forth scoring continued for the remainder of the half with neither team holding a lead of greater than five points.  After a three from Kristi Boehm with 12 seconds remaining, it looked as if DU would head to the locker room up 43-38, but Northwestern's Kami Kuhlman hit a shot with just over one second on the clock to pull the Red Raiders within three at 43-30.

Northwestern, the defending national champions, came out of the break on fire as they used a 14-8 run to grab a three point (54-51) lead with 15:20 remaining.  Davenport, who was 181-18 when leading at halftime entering the game, got a three ball by Abby Neff to tie the score on the next possession, igniting an 18-7 run over the next 4:55.

DU used spurts of 7-0 and 6-2 to take their largest lead of the game at 69-61.  The Red Raiders however stayed calm and went on an 8-0 run of their own that covered just 1:45 of game clock to tie the score setting up a very dramatic final 8:15 of the game.

Kallie Benike ended the Red Raiders run and it marked the start of a back and forth scoring affair for the rest of the game.  The two teams traded baskets on their next 11 scoring possessions with the final bucket coming on an acrobatic layup from sophomore Karli Harris (Fishers, Ind.) to put Davenport on top 80-79 with 2:25 to play.

Unfortunately for Davenport, that would be their final lead of the game as Northwestern scored the game's next four points to lead 83-80.  A Kristi Boehm layup on the next possession cut the lead to one and DU was forced to foul with only 32 seconds.  Hurley stepped to the line and knocked down a pair of free-throws upping the Red Raiders lead to three again.

After a missed shot from the Lady Panthers with 12 seconds gave Northwestern the ball, the Red Raiders iced the game by making three of their final four shots from the charity stripe while DU only got one more free-throw from Kallie Benike.

Although the game was very high scoring between the top two offensive teams in the country, the shooting percentages for each were below their season averages.  Davenport finished just 41% (29/70) from the floor while the Red Raiders were 44% (28/63).

Davenport committed only eight turnovers on the night while forcing 18 but they converted those miscues from Northwestern into only 11 points.

Kallie Benike and Kristi Boehm were named 1st Team All-Tournament while Boehm earned the Hustle Award at the conclusion of the tournament.

The careers of Kallie Benike, Kristi Boehm, Jeannie Closson and Barb Clayborn come to an end for the Lady Panthers as they finish their four years with an overall record of 127-13.  The quartet was responsible for four straight WHAC Championships and two WHAC Tourney titles.