The Union University women’s basketball team closed out their season with an upset loss to Eckerd 84-70 in the first round of the NCAA Division II national tournament. Union was ranked No. 2 in the region despite getting knocked out of the conference tournament by Lee University in the semifinal round.
Union was coming into the national tournament cold after their loss against Lee, while Eckerd was one of the hottest teams coming into the tournament with a four-game win streak, including a conference championship. This proved to be indicative of what would come, as Eckerd controlled most of the game.
Union was led by Brooke Hampel, graduate student, and Emma Kallas, graduate master’s in social work major, with 11 points each. However, Eckerd’s Lauryn Vieira and Martyna Kowalska together totaled 52 points.
Even though the season ended with disappointment, the team still had many highs throughout the year. The team was ranked in the top 10 in the nation for most of the season and never dropped lower than No. 2 in the region. Macey Lee, junior cell and molecular biology major, was named first team All-GSC. Also, several team members won GSC Player of the Week awards throughout the season.
Shanique Lucas ends her fifth season with first team All-GSC, D2CCA Tipoff Classic All-Tournament team, GSC All-Tournament team and D2 CCA All- South Region first team. All these honors add on to her previous ones in the past four years. Lucas explains her experience of finishing her college career.
“All year we talked about our potential to go super far, but we came up short again which hurts even more since I don’t get a chance to try it again,” said Lucas. “With that being said, we only had four losses the whole season and achieved a lot in terms of national rankings and winning statistical categories so there is a lot to be proud of.”
With seven players graduating, changes will be coming. The juniors on the team will be expected to step up and maintain the standard of success. Union has won four of the last five conference championships and expects to win more, despite the loss of a huge class.
Jazalyn Anousinh, a communications major, is one of the juniors that plans to help step up for the team next year. After starting every game in her first year at Union, she has high expectations for herself and the team next year.
“I plan on stepping up by being more of a vocal leader and working on the things I know I struggle with to be at my best for the team,” said Anousinh. “It will be important to focus on team culture and relationships next year since we will be getting a lot of new girls.”
The Bulldogs season ended with a record of 29-4.