HOUGHTON -- Now that the Findlay Oilers have arrived in Houghton, they'd like to stay a while.
Thanks to a 54-51 win over Wisconsin-Parkside Saturday in the fourth quarterfinal of the NCAA Midwest Regional Tournament, they get at least another day in town, but that day will be spent playing top-seeded Michigan Tech Sunday.
Fourth-year Findlay coach Kate Cummings has worked on mental toughness with her seniors since she took over the program and they needed it to overcome travel delays and rescheduled games.
"Their desire to play another day, to fight through adversity, that's what you saw today," Cummings said.
The Oilers left Detroit Thursday on a commercial flight for Chicago and were to fly from there into Houghton County Airport, only to be diverted to Traverse City because of fog. After returning to Chicago for the night, UF's Friday arrival in Houghton prompted retooling of the tournament schedule.
Now, Findlay will play the Huskies Sunday at 4 p.m.
The Findlay staff doesn't think Tech's extra day of preparation changes much.
"Tech's just so good, I don't think a day off's going to matter one way or the other," Findlay assistant Ryan Patterson said.
It was not a pretty contest, as neither side shot better than 37 percent and the teams combined for 30 turnovers, but it was evenly-matched, as one would expect in a match-up of fourth (UWP) and fifth (UF) seeds. Neither side led by more than eight at any point.
The Oilers (22-8) built a bit of a cushion in the second half and were up by eight with 10:28 to go on a Laura Bardoll triple, but the Rangers went on a 10-2 run to tie it at 44 with 5:22 to play.
It included four points apiece from UWP leaders Brittany Hogen (including a skillful reverse lay-up) and Brittany Beyer and a heavy dose of the physical inside game the Rangers (23-8) built their season on.
"Our focus pretty much all year has been pound the ball inside, attack, whether it be with our post or our guards," Parkside coach Jenny Kenesie said.
Hogen was tough for UF to handle, posting game highs in points (18) and rebounds (14).
Findlay broke the game's seventh tie on a Bardall jumper with 1:25 to go. Hogen and Beyer both missed chances to tie, which forced UWP to foul Findlay's Megan Sellers with 10 seconds left. Sellers missed the second shot of a one-and-one and the Rangers set up for a last shot with four seconds left. Jadee Rooney fired from the right (in front of her team's bench), but drew only iron at the buzzer. It was Parkside's 10th miss in 11 3-point tries.
Parkside is now 0-for-2 in NCAA Tournament games after a 2005 loss, but did set a school record for wins.
"It's been a great year for our young ladies, an unbelievable season," Kenesie said.
Rooney added 13 points and Beyer 10 for UWP, the fourth Great Lakes Valley Conference team to be eliminated in as many quarterfinals.
Audra Mihalic added 12 points for Findlay, which lost twice to Tech this season - 82-70 in Houghton Jan. 17 and 73-69 in double overtime at Findlay Feb. 18. Tech's Katie Wysocky had a combined total of 52 points and 25 rebounds in the two contests.
Brandon Veale can be reached at bveale@mininggazette.com.
