Recap of the 2024 NAIA Women’s Basketball Championship

Mar 26, 2024

SIOUX CITY, Iowa – [BRACKET | BOX SCORE] The 2024 NAIA Women’s Basketball Championship between Dordt (Iowa) and Providence (Mont.) came down to the final quarter. The Defenders closed the contest with a 10-4 run that put DU up by as many as five points. The five-point lead, with five seconds left, gave the Defenders enough space to win the Battle for the Red Banner 57-53 on Tuesday night in the Tyson Events Center.

Dordt (Iowa) opened the season at No. 3 in the Preseason Coaches’ Top 25 Rating and went between No. 1 & 2 for the remainder of the season with four total No. 1 ranks. The Defenders lost only two games throughout the season to South Dakota State and Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) opponent Northwestern (Iowa). The loss to Northwestern came just before the GPAC Tournament, where the Defenders started a run that carried them to capture the GPAC Championship title and then to the NAIA Championship game with an 8-game win streak.

Providence (Mont.) steadily made its way up the Coaches’ Top 25 Rating throughout the season. UP started at No. 24 in the preseason rating and ended at No. 14 in the final regular season rating. The Argos suffered eight losses on the season, but the team ended the regular season and entered the Frontier Conference Tournament with three wins in a row, which turned into five after UP won the Frontier Conference Tournament Title. Providence continued to stretch its win streak after entering NAIA Championship Tournament play, with a total 10-game win streak.

Teams from opposite corners of the bracket would meet in the championship game. Dordt from the Liston Quadrant and Providence from the Naismith Quadrant. Both teams had to advance through conference opponents during championship pay. DU surpassed Briar Cliff (Iowa) in the quarterfinal round, while UP had to go through Carroll (Mont.) for the fifth time this season.

Providence, already on a history-setting run, advanced past the quarterfinals for the first time, while Dordt had previously advanced to the championship in 2022. A new champion would be crowned on Tuesday night, as neither the Defenders nor the Argos had won a title. For the first time, these two teams met each other in NAIA postseason play on the hardwood of the Fleet Farm Arena in the Tyson Events Center for the final 2024 Battle for the Red Banner.

After the tip, teams remained scoreless for nearly two minutes when Bailey Beckman of Dordt dropped the first two points of the contest. The Defenders held the lead through the first quarter, while Providence remained close behind and tied the score at 12 with 57 seconds left in the quarter. Thanks to a couple of free throws from Karly Gustafson of Dordt, DU took the lead into the second quarter.

The second quarter started with a nearly three-minute scoring drought until Gustafson broke through with a shot from inside the paint. The four-point lead that Dordt held at the start of the quarter quickly disappeared once Providence was on the board with a shot in the paint from Monique Carter. Carter’s shot launched the Argos on a 15-4 scoring run and gave them a seven-point lead to take to the locker room at the half.

Back from the locker room, UP captured what would be its largest lead of the contest at 10 points. However, the Defenders answered with a 12-3 run and closed the scoring gap to one point. The Argos responded with five points in the following minute to put their lead back at six. DU stormed back to close the scoring gap to two points after Macy Sievers was fouled twice and sent to the line. Sievers made all four of those shots just before time ran out in the third quarter.

The battle continued into the final quarter as the teams went back and forth with five lead changes and two ties until Janie Schoonhoven’s made free throw with 3:23 left in the game. Schoonhovens free throw was the start of a 10-4 run that put DU up by as many as five points and gave the Defenders the space they needed to win the Battle for the Red Banner, 57-53.

Dordt outscored Providence in each quarter except for the second quarter when the Argos scored 15 compared to the Defenders' six. The teams nearly matched each other in field goal percentage (UP 36.4%, DU 37.7%) while matching made field goals at 20 each. The Argos had more success from deep and made six compared to the Defenders one. The biggest difference in the team stats was Dordt’s 16 made free throws compared to UP’s seven.

Ashlee Maldonado of Providence led all scorers with 18 points. Karly Gustafson of Dordt followed with 16 points.

Keanna Salave’a of Providence and Janie Schoonhoven of Dordt were the only players to pull down double-digit rebounds with 15 (13 def, 2 off) and 11 (8 def, 3 off) rebounds respectively.

Schoonhoven was the only player to record a double-double on the night with 14 points and 11 rebounds.

All-Tournament Team

First Team

Jamie Pickens, Carroll (Mont.)

Kassie Monday, Cumberlands (Ky.)

Karly Gustafson, Dordt (Iowa)

Macy Sievers, Dordt (Iowa)

Ashlee Maldonado, Providence (Mont.)

Second Team

Mallie McNair, Briar Cliff (Iowa)

Maddie Geritz, Carroll (Mont.)

Kaylie Monday, Cumberlands (Ky.)