WHEELING, W.Va. – Notre Dame College (15-14, 13-9 MEC) battled during the MEC Semifinals against the top team in the country in Glenville State University (28-0, 22-0 MEC). The Falcons came up short in the end 85-69, however NDC played GSU tougher than they have all season, forcing the Pioneers into 15 turnovers and flipping the lead five different times.
 
Notre Dame shot the ball efficiently from the floor going 29-69 (42.0%), including 7-16 (43.8%) during the first quarter. The two sides exchanged buckets until the first media timeout of the game with NDC holding a 9-8 lead at the 5:00 minute mark. Glenville State would begin an 11-2 run over the next two minutes to quickly take the lead, 19-11. The Pioneer lead would swell to as many as 11 during the first period, but Jada Marone would trim the lead to eight (24-16) upon the conclusion of the quarter.
 
To begin the second period, Glenville State would quickly regain a double-digit lead and hold it for the remainder of the quarter. During the second stanza the Pioneers opened their lead up to as many as 17, but NDC would continue to fight and bring the GSU lead back down to just 12 at the break. The Pioneers claimed the quarter 22-18, after Notre Dame shot well once again (8-19, 42.1%).
 
After the Falcons started the second half with a three-pointer by Amil Ali-Shakir to pull within single digits once more, Glenville State broke the game open during the remainder of the period. The Pioneers advantage would grow to as many as 25 points, and would lead 68-45 with ten minutes remaining.
 
Credit to head coach Imani Gordon and the Falcons for continuing to play until the final buzzer sounds. In fact, Gordon's Falcons won the fourth quarter 24-17 on 9-19 (47.4%) from the field, while holding the Pioneers to just 5-16 (31.3%) shooting. More impressively, GSU is known for putting teams away and pulling away in the second half, but Notre Dame led by the electrifying Marone, refused to give in after nearly cutting the Pioneer lead in half. NDC was able to bring the game back to only a 13-point lead, a truly resilient effort against the top team in the nation.
 
Pleased with her team's effort today, Gordon said this post game, "Our team made good adjustments on the fly. We threw out a zone that we hadn't practiced in months and they just bought into it. They play hard, I can't doubt that, they play hard for 40 minutes. We did have some mental lapses but the effort and energy I was proud of."
 
When asked about the team's effort, Marone mentioned, "No. 1 team in the country, we were down by [25] at one point, but we only lost by [16]. The effort was there, or bits and pieces I should say. If it was continuous throughout the whole game, as you see we had a tough first quarter and a tough third quarter. I say the second and fourth were great, but the energy has to roll over through all four."
 
As aforementioned, former the All-American in Marone led the Notre Dame offense with a game-high 22 points, five rebounds and two assists, capping off her decorated career as a Falcon.
 
Lilee Carlson was the only other Falcons in double figures with 17 points.
 
Theresa Parr and Tamia Ridley also call it a career for NDC. Parr finished with nine points, five boards and a team-high three assists. Ridley generated eight points and 11 rebounds to put the finishing touches on her historic senior season. Moreover, the forward concluded the 2022 campaign with 337 total rebounds, including 226 defensive and 111 offensive rebounds. The Massillon Washington product rewrote the Notre Dame single season record book as she now is the program leader in total rebounds and defensive rebounds in a season. In addition, she is second all-time in offensive rebounds for a season and fourth in rebounding average at 12.0 rebounds per game.
 
In comparing the two sides, NDC shot 29-69 (42.0%) from the field, 1-11 (9.1%) from three and 10-12 (83.3%) from the line. GSU converted 30-65 (46.2%) from the floor, 6-23 (26.1%) from deep and 19-21 (90.5%) from the charity stripe. The Pioneers claimed both the rebounding (34-30) and turnover battles (20-15), however NDC outscored GSU in the paint (48-42).
 
Notre Dame College will now begin their offseason, and will be back on the hardwood for the 2022-23 campaign come November, as head coach Imani Gordon will enter her second season with the Falcons.
 
Gordon concluded with, "There are a lot of things to be proud of, but also a lot of things to improve on during the offseason. But I am overall proud."