GEORGETOWN, Ky. – On Friday, Milligan University women's basketball team entered NAIA National tournament play as the No.13 seed and were up against the No.4 seeded Loyola New Orleans University Wolves. The two squads were competing in the Naismith quadrant of the bracket, with Georgetown College as the hosts. The Buffs fell behind early but battled to tie the score in later portions of the game. Down the stretch, Milligan fought to the very end but was never able regain the lead, and the Wolves advanced to the second round by a final score of 87-79.

The Lady Buffs started the scoring on a Makenzie Bremer close range jumper to take the lead 2-0, but the Wolves responded on the other end to knot the score at two. In a slow paced next six minutes, Loyola gradually outscored Milligan, building a six-point lead at 12-6 with just over three minutes left in the first period. In the final three minutes, the Wolves closed the quarter on a 10-4 run to take a 10-point lead (22-12) into the second quarter.

Loyola scored eight of the first twelve points of the second to extend the lead to 14 at the 7:11 mark. Then in the next two minutes, Kenzie Campbell buried a triple, and Semaj Clark nailed a triple from beyond the arc to turn the momentum in the Buffs' favor. With 3:54 to play until halftime, Caroline Krueger scored a layup at the rim to cut Milligan's deficit down to seven at 33-26. However, the Wolves extended the lead back to 10 with under two minutes on a layup, and both sides exchanged baskets until Campbell scored the final bucket of the half to bring MU within eight at 40-32 going into the intermission.

In the third quarter, Milligan came out of halftime with a chip on their shoulder, starting on a 10-4 run behind free throws from McKenna Myers, a Krueger three and a Campbell triple. The Buffs fought all the way back to tie the score at 46-46 at the 5:48 mark when Myers scooped in a layup. However, the Wolves had the answer in a 10-2 run of their own, taking the lead 56-48 with just over two minutes until the fourth quarter. As time wound down, both sides continued to trade offensive blows and Loyola took a nine-point, 61-52, lead going into the final quarter.

In the final quarter both teams left everything on the court, as the final frame proved to be a competitive slugfest between two high-octane offenses. Myers started the scoring in the frame, slicing to the dish for a bucket and Clark followed by sticking a jumper, bringing MU within five at 61-56 less than a minute into the stanza. Loyola's potent offense responded with a quick 9-3 spurt to go ahead by double-digits again, but a Bremer three brought it back to a five-point game (70-65) with 5:46 left. Just under the five minute mark, Clark sank a jumper to cut the Wolves' lead down to one possession at 72-69. From there, a 5-0 scoring run from Loyola made things difficult on Milligan, as it extended their lead to eight (77-69) with less than four minutes to play. Clark added on two more jumpers to her impressive day, but Milligan simply could not get the crucial stops they needed to close the gap. With thirty seconds to play, the Wolves scored a layup to put them ahead 83-75, and despite layups from Campbell and Myers the Buffs would fall in the opening round matchup 87-79, bringing their season to a close.

Clark stepped up in a massive way on Friday, providing an offensive spark for the Buffaloes. The senior scored 22 points on a 9-of-21 shooting day, including 2-of-8 from beyond the arc, while also grabbing seven rebounds and dishing out four assists. Myers, Campbell, and Bremer each scored 14 points on the afternoon. Myers went 6-of-14 from the field, Campbell was 5-of-14 with two triples, and Bremer shot an efficient 6-of-9 including 2-of-3 from distance. Krueger provided a spark off the bench with 11 points on 5-of-8 shooting.

It was Clark's four assists that led the squad, while Campbell and Myers added two and one respectively.

Clark was also greatly important on the glass, hauling in seven rebounds to lead the team. Lina Lyon and Naomi Atchley each grabbed four boards, while Myers and Campbell had three apiece. The team had six steals in the contest, as Clark posted two and Lyon, Atchley, Krueger and Lexi Ervin each contributed one.