LEWISTON, ID – The Jimmies aren’t shocked, but they again shocked the world of NAIA Women’s Basketball.

For the second straight day, 12th seed Jamestown knocked off a top-five seed in the Naismith Quadrant, holding off number four seed Lewis-Clark State College Saturday 65-62 in the second round of the NAIA Women’s Basketball Championship at the P1FCU Activity Center.  Jamestown (19-12) advances to the Round of 16 Thursday in Sioux City, Iowa.

Kia Tower, one day after becoming UJ’s all-time leading women’s basketball scorer in a first-round win over The Master’s, led the Jimmies with 19 points, hitting four three-pointers.  Tower also had five assists, three rebounds and a steal.

Kate Busek scored 12 points, all on four three-pointers, with six rebounds and four assists.

Kate Cordes hit three three-pointers and scored 11 points with seven rebounds.

Audrey Rodakowski notched 10 points and seven rebounds.

Sitara Byrd scored 17 points with 10 rebounds and three steals for Lewis-Clark (26-6).  Callie Stevens scored 14 with six assists and three rebounds.

After trailing LC by five points in the first four minutes,  Jamestown rallied to lead 19-16 after one quarter.

The Jimmies’ lead was 29-25 before an 11-0 run over 3:10 in the second quarter.  Lewis-Clark then cut Jamestown’s lead to 10 by halftime as the Jimmies endured a stretch of just over six and a half minutes without a point, which was ended by a Busek three-pointer.  UJ again led by four before the Warriors’ Darian Herring hit a layup with nine seconds left in the third quarter to have the game tied at 49-49 through 30 minutes.

Byrd capped an 11-4 run for Lewis-Clark and gave the Warriors a 56-51 lead with a three-pointer with 7:51 left.  But Jamestown was unbowed.  Tower tied the game at 60-60 with a three-pointer with 4:56 left.  37 seconds later and after an LC miss, Cordes gave Jamestown the lead for good with a three.  Stevens hit a jumper for Lewis-Clark with 3:56 left, but the Jimmies answered with a Rodakowski layup with 2:31 left for what turned out to be the game’s final points.

Lewis-Clark had several chances to tie the game, but missed their last seven shots, the last six of which were threes.  Ellie Sander missed twice in the last 25 seconds, then Stevens missed on the Warriors’ last chance at the final buzzer.

This marks the first time since 2018 that Jamestown has won two games in a single NAIA Tournament.  Jamestown will play the Naismith Quadrant’s top seed, Marian University, on Thursday at the Tyson Events Center in Sioux City, Iowa.  Coverage will begin at 12:30 PM on Thursday on The Voice of the Jimmies, Jamestown 107.1.

photo credit: University of Jamestown Athletics