Women's Hoop Report 73

On Monday, the Women's National Invitational Tournament went from eight teams to four. Here's a recap of the action.

Delaware 77, Villanova 70

Guards Tyi Skinner and Jasmine Dickey scored 22 points each as Delaware (24-4) sent Villanova (17-7) home during the Charlotte Regional final of the Women's National Invitational Tournament.

The two guards outworked and outproduced the backcourt of their opponent. Skinner posted four assists two rebounds and a block, while Dickey had seven rebounds and three steals. Perhaps the biggest workhorse of the night was forward Ty Battle. She finished the contest with a game best 14 rebounds to go along with 17 points. Battle had a stretch during the season where she recorded 11 straight double-doubles, then another when she had nine straight. Monday's performance was her first double-double in four games.

Skinner, a freshman averaged just eight points per game during the regular season but has caught fire the last two games. She scored 22 in both Monday's game, as well as in the team's previous win over Clemson in the second round.

Dickey's performance marks her third straight game with at least 22 points. After averaging 23.6 points per game in the regular season, she struggled in the CAA Tournament averaging 14 points per game.

While Delaware got 44 points from two starting guards and four more points from its third starting guard Chyna Latimer, Villanova didn't receive as much.

The Wildcats got 18 points from its three starting guards. Villanova's star forward Maddy Siegrist was held to just 15 points after scoring 58 points in the team's first two WNIT contests. Forward Brianna Herlihy shared the team lead for Villanova with 15 points. She also had seven rebounds, three assists, three steals and one block.

Northern Iowa 58, Saint Louis 50

Northern Iowa (17-12) and Saint Louis (14-5) battled to a 5-5 score at the end of the first quarter. You read it right, 5-5. Both teams crawled through the rest of the first half of the Rockford Regional final as the halftime sc0re was 17-16, with Northern Iowa in the lead.

In the second half Northern Iowa's offense kicked into a higher gear posting 42 points in the final two quarters. Saint Louis' offense didn't come around until the fourth quarter. It couldn't score more than 12 points in a period until it dropped 22 in the final stanza.

Kam Finley came off of the bench to lead Northern Iowa with 14 points, while shooting a perfect three-of-three from long range. She also had three assists and a steal. For the entire WNIT, Finley who averaged eight points during the season, is averaging 15.3 points per game. She is also shooting 64.2 percent from three her team's three WNIT wins as well. Saint Louis got a double-double from forward Brooke Flowers. She had 16 points, 17 rebounds and three blocked shots.

Rice 79, California Baptist 55

The steamroller known as California Baptist had its amazing season stopped with a 26-1 record as Rice (21-4) won the Fort Worth Region final of the WNIT.

Below: Lauren Schwartz

Rice sophomore forward Lauren Schwartz led all players with 20 points, nailing nine-of-11 shots, good for 81.8 percent from the field. She also posted six rebounds and five assists. Rice center Nancy Mulkey blocked a game best five shots while scoring 16 points, pulling down eight boards and dishing out three assists.

California Baptist got 14 points from Caitlyn Harper and 12 from Britney Thomas in the defeat.

Ole Miss 65, Colorado 56

Ole Miss (14-11) stopped Colorado's (12-11) run in the WNIT's Memphis Regional final. Shakira Austin did get a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds but she had her worst shooting effort in WNIT play. In the first two games she made 16-of-25 field goal attempts. In Monday's win she was three-of-eight. Despite the struggles, Ole Miss got a team leading 15 points from guard Donetta Johnson.

Ole Miss shut down Colorado's top forward Mya Hollingshed who hit just four-of-12 shots and scored eight points. The Buffalos were led in scoring by freshman Frida Formann. The guard scored 19 points on six-of-10 shooting.

The semifinals will be on March 26 in Memphis. Rice will face Delaware and Ole Miss will take on Northern Iowa.