By Tom Ramstetter HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. - Jessica Canary hit a 3-pointer at the top of the key with 3.7 seconds to play Friday afternoon to give No. 7 seed Indianapolis University a 73-72 upset win over second-seeded Hillsdale in an NCAA Division II Midwest Regional quarterfinal game at The Bank of Kentucky Center on the campus of Northern Kentucky University. Indy will play third-seeded Quincy Saturday at 8:30 p.m. at The Bank of Kentucky Center in the second semifinal game. “We drew up a play,” Canary said. “We’d been running the pick-and-pop a lot. We were going to pick, pop and then flare. I saw a girl go down. I got the ball and Sam (Meissel) set the screen and I let it fly and it rattled in for us.” It was the first game-winner in Canary’s college career and second of her life. She had hit one to win a game in high school, but this shot easily topped that one. “By far,” Canary said. “It was our rival (in high school), but nothing close to this.” The shot completed a furious late-game rally that erased a 12-point Hillsdale lead and capped an epic battle between the teams’ post players. Indianapolis (23-9) trailed 64-52 with less than five minutes to play as Chargers senior forward Katie Cezat and Indy sophomore forward Meissel were trading buckets, each on their way to scoring more than 30 points. “I’m extremely proud of our effort,” Indy coach LeAnn Freeland said. “I thought we held our composure and remained determined even when Hillsdale started pulling away in the second half. We’re very excited about going to round two.” Canary started a 9-0 Indy run after Cezat gave her team a 12-point lead with about four minutes to play. Junior guard Katie Dewey capped that run with a 3-pointer to pull the greyhounds within three, 64-61, and the teams traded baskets down the stretch. Hillsdale senior guard Claire Aubrey had a chance to put her team ahead by five with 18.5 seconds to play, but missed two free throws to set up Canary’s game-winner. “A tough battle that I think we had control of and let Indy back in the game by letting them hit threes that I felt were open, too open,” Hillsdale coach Claudette Charney said. “And they hit one at the end that was the difference.” Much of the game was a tit-for-tat between Cezat and Meissel. The Hillsdale senior scored 36 points and grabbed 16 rebounds. Meissel scored 32, three shy of her career high. “We were doing a good job in the second half executing and getting the ball inside and going at them,” Cezat said. “But then they were doing it back at us. Everywhere I looked there was another screen coming. It’s tough.” Meissel seemed to agree. “She made her runs, I made mine,” Meissel said. “I think any run I wound up having was because my team got me the ball. I think it was just an all-around team effort. It was kind of a battle for me and her inside. There were a couple of times where I was like, oh man I’m so tired. But I didn’t want to give up because I knew that we could make it to the next round.” Cezat was six points shy of her career high of 42 and finished her season with 908 points. “We were trying to stop her, to be honest,” Freeland said. “She is an amazing player and we were doing everything we could to stop her and we obviously couldn’t stop her. But in the NCAA Tournament you have to have some luck too. I thought that we had a little bit of luck.”. |