“When we got the call that we made the tournament it was like God giving us a second chance.”
Lauen Longmire
On March 1, Milligan’s women’s basketball team played Reinhart University in the second round of the Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) Tournament. To this point, the Lady Buffs had a 23-7 overall record and a 19-2 record in conference play. They sat in third place in the conference after beating Montreat College in the first round of the tournament. The conference tournament is a win or go home situation.
With their season on the line the Lady Buffs came in with high energy and confidence, but it just couldn’t translate to the court. With a slow start in the first quarter where they finished down 6-19, Milligan couldn’t overcome this deficit and lost to Reinhart 60-76. This was presumably the end of their season.
In college basketball, if you win your respective conference tournament you get an automatic bid to the national championship. Only making it to the second round made them fall well short of their goal and in most cases a trip to the national tournament. However, six days later on Mar 7 the Lady Buffs got a pleasant surprise. They were selected by the NAIA selection committee to an at-large bid for the national tournament. They were selected to be the No. 14 seed in the Cramer Quadrant of the tournament bracket. This is the first time since 2019 that the Buffaloes have advanced to the NAIA Tournament and the ninth time in program history. This is also the first time Milligan has qualified for the tournament since the NAIA Division I and NAIA Division II merger.
The only issue with this was they got this news during spring break. The team thought their season was over, but at the drop of a hat they had to go back into competition mode. Some players had to cut their spring break plans prematurely to get back to campus in preparation for the tournament. Some players were even in far away destinations and had to schedule flights on short notice to get back to campus as soon as possible.
“I had to pay almost $500 for a plane ticket and still got back to campus later than I wanted,” said sophomore guard Kenzie Campbell. “I was excited to play again, but it threw us for a loop.”
“Having to get back in game mode after thinking the season was over was an interesting feeling, to say the least,” said junior Lauen Longmire. “We were all enjoying the break, but we were still feeling the disappointment from the season. When we got the call that we made the tournament it was like God giving us a second chance.”
Most of the Lady Buffs returned to campus on March 8 to begin practice with Head Coach Kylie Russel Greer. Once everyone was able to get back to campus they practiced every day until they left for New Orleans on Mar 12. The team spent five days in New Orleans and enjoyed the sites and culture of the Bayou while preparing for their opponent, No. 3 Georgetown College (KY.)
While enjoying New Orleans the team practiced every day, laser-focused on this opportunity. Despite no one on the team having national championship experience, the Buffs were confident about their chances.
The Lady Buffs played the first-round matchup on March 15. They got off to a slow start, scoring only 10 points in each of the first and second quarters to find themselves down 42-20 at the half. Milligan struggled to make up any ground on Georgetown, which went on to take the game by the final score of 87-61.
Despite the loss, the Lady Buffs had a historic season by making the national tournament. They faced adversity on the way, but they endured it.
About the author:
Evan Hayes is a sophomore from Memphis who wishes to help The Stampede in any way possible. He is a member of the Milligan track and Ffield team as a sprinter and plans to join more clubs as he continues at Milligan. He is a multimedia journalism major. He enjoys listening to music and staying active. After graduation, he hopes to go into the field of sports media.