COLUMBUS, Ind. – On Friday, Milligan University's women's flag football program returned to the gridiron for bracket play of the Independents Tournament, in pursuit of an automatic qualifying bid to the NAIA Invitational Tournament. The Lady Buffs entered the day as the No. 1 seed and received a first-round bye, then cruised past the No. 6 seed Halos of Siena Heights University 21-0 behind another dominant defensive effort. However, Milligan came up short in the championship game, falling 32-7 to the No. 2 seed Cougars of the University of Saint Francis to miss out on the automatic qualifier. The Buffs will now await a potential at-large bid, with four spots available among the eight-team NAIA Invitational field.

In the semifinal matchup against Siena Heights, who advanced as the third-place finisher out of Pool A, both defenses dictated the early action before the Buffs broke through in the second quarter. Ashton Whearley got the scoring started at the 8:33 mark, using her legs to scramble across the goal line to cap a 77-yard drive. Whearley then ran in the one-point conversion to put Milligan up 7-0.

The Buffs added to their lead just before halftime, when Lilly Rumrill hauled in a 10-yard touchdown reception. A successful one-point conversion made it 14-0 at the break.

Milligan tacked on in the second half when Krista Quinn made a five-yard touchdown grab to extend the lead to 21-0, and the Buffs cruised the rest of the way to the shutout victory.

In the championship game against Saint Francis, who entered as the top seed out of Pool B, it was the Cougars that struck first, marching down the field on the opening possession and capping the drive with a 34-yard touchdown to grab an early 7-0 lead.

Milligan answered right back to even the score at 7-7. However, Saint Francis regained the lead at the start of the second quarter on a nine-yard touchdown, and a failed one-point conversion left the score at 13-7.

The momentum shifted on the next Milligan possession, when Saint Francis came away with an interception and quickly cashed in with a score on offense. A 20-yard completion set up a three-yard touchdown pass, and a successful one-point conversion pushed the Saint Francis lead to 20-7. The Cougars added another score just before halftime, punching in a fourth-and-goal touchdown from the five-yard line to take a commanding 26-7 lead into the break.

The Buffs came out of the locker room with a chance to climb back into the game. Their opening drive of the second half marched all the way down to the Saint Francis goal line, but a fourth-and-10 stop turned the ball over on downs and squandered the scoring opportunity. Saint Francis answered with a lengthy drive that chewed up most of the third quarter clock without finding the end zone, but eventually iced the game at the 7:46 mark of the fourth quarter with a touchdown to make it 32-7. That would stand as the final score.

Whearley finished the day completing 17-of-30 passes for 185 yards and three touchdowns against three interceptions. She also did damage on the ground, carrying seven times for 26 yards and a rushing touchdown.

Krista Quinn led the receiving corps with seven catches for 70 yards and two touchdowns, while also chipping in 21 rushing yards on 10 carries. Lilly Rumrill hauled in eight receptions for 103 yards and a touchdown, highlighted by the 10-yard scoring strike just before halftime against Siena Heights. Sam Urso added five catches for 33 yards, and Courtney Cummings rounded out the contributors with a 21-yard reception in the championship game.

Defensively, Abbylin LaPrise led the way with 10 tackles, two tackles for loss and a sack across the two contests. Sophia Anderson came up with a key interception in the semifinal that helped fuel the shutout effort, and Annabelle Rhodes continued her ball-hawking ways from pool play with a 52-yard interception return that set up the Rumrill touchdown just before halftime against Siena Heights. The unit combined for 36 total tackles, four tackles for loss and two interceptions on the day.

The Lady Buffs will now wait to see if their body of work earns them one of the four at-large selections to the eight-team NAIA Invitational Tournament field in May.