By Gabi French—Morningside College’s women’s basketball team is the NAIA 2015 Division II National Champions. They finished their season with a 37-1 record. This is the fourth National Championship for women’s basketball.
In the last minute of the game, the score would either be tied or a one point difference. The Mustangs were able to pull ahead when a Concordia player fouled Lexi Ackerman with two seconds left on the clock. Ackerman was sent to the free throw line for two shots where she sunk both.
The team had to play without first team All-GPAC forward, Ashlyn Muhl. Luckily, Jessica Tietz stepped up. Tietz was awarded the tournament’s MVP.
Lauren Lehmkul, a freshman for the Mustangs, still can’t wrap her head around being a National Champion. “Throughout high school, I never made it passed the first round of sub districts and that was always hard for me because I was always the only one on my team wanting to win,” said Lehmkul. “Coming to Morningside and playing with these girls that all want to win is just amazing.”
Lehmkul being a freshman for the team has her expectations set high for the Mustangs. She has no doubt that the Mustangs will be back at the National Tournament next year.
Looking ahead for the Mustangs, Lauren feels that the freshman class is going to do great things in the future. With some freshman being on Varsity already (Madi, Brandan, Jenna, and Lehmkul.) She is sure the experience will help. Along with the incoming classes, Lauren has no doubt that they are going to come here with the mentality to win.
“They (incoming classes) are going to come here not only because we are good, but because they want to win.”
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