The SLU Billikens celebrate winning the Women’s NIT on Saturday. (Photo courtesy: SLU Athletics)

NCAA Women’s Basketball	1	2	3	4	Final
Minnesota (20-16)	9	12	11	18	50
SLU (22-18)	16	17	21	15	69

Nora Nichols
Staff Writer

EDWARDSVILLE, IL — The Saint Louis University women’s basketball team capped off a remarkable season by winning the Women’s NIT championship game, Saturday afternoon, 69-50, over Minnesota at SIUE’s First Community Arena.

The game is usually played at the home arena of one of the two teams involved, but neither school’s arena was available because they had scheduled other events there, not expecting their team to be still playing games. Minnesota was hosting a volleyball tournament and Saint Louis had the Zac Brown Band in town doing a show at Chaifetz Arena.

That meant the game had to be moved somewhere close to one of the locations. SIUE’s gym was available, so the teams agreed to play the game there.

And even though it was a neutral site for both, the Billikens looked right at home, right from the start. They jumped out to a 9-7 lead midway through the first quarter and never trailed again the rest of the game.

SLU outscored Minnesota 38-23 in the middle two quarters and led 54-32 at the end of the third quarter. The Billikens pushed their lead to as many as 28 points midway through the fourth quarter before finally finishing off a win that had the all the SLU players and coaching staff high-fiving and hugging on the bench as soon as the game ended.

Saint Louis finished the year with a 22-18 record, which included six straight wins to end the year, and victories in 12 of the team’s last 13 games.

“We felt like all season we had not accessed our best basketball yet, and our team knew that,” SLU head coach Rebecca Tillett said, as her players pulled on their championship hats and T-shirts. “Instead of feeling bad about it, let’s go after it and get it. They worked so hard to do it. It was our best defensive effort of the season. Beautiful sharing of the ball offensively. Start to finish, what an accomplishment by our women.”

In the championship game, SLU was lead by grad student Kyla McMakin, who was named to the WNIT All-Tournament Team and was selected its Most Valuable Player. She scored 20 points and also had four rebounds.

Teammate Peyton Kennedy, who was also named to the All-Tournament Team, had 19 points and five rebounds. Kennedy Calhoun added 11 points, three assists, and two steals, while Julia Martinez, who probably also deserved to be on the All-Tournament Team, chipped in three points, 10 rebounds, six assists, and five steals.

“It’s extra special,” Tillett said. “We are at a tipping point for women’s basketball. It’s always been great. But now everybody knows it’s great. Everybody can see it. You are seeing fans become enamored with the way the women play and compete. I’m grateful we are a part of that story. This group of women was relentless about getting better.”

Minnesota 50

##	Player	GS	MIN	FG	3PT	FT	ORB-DRB	REB	PF	A	TO	BLK	STL	PTS
52	Hart,Sophie	*	27	6-10	0-0	1-3	4-3	7	3	1	1	0	0	13
30	Sanders,Janay	*	19	4-6	0-0	4-7	0-0	0	3	1	0	0	1	12
24	Heyer,Mallory	*	37	5-14	1-7	0-0	5-6	11	0	1	2	0	1	11
25	Grocholski,Grace	*	40	3-10	2-6	0-0	3-6	9	1	2	5	2	2	8
03	Battle,Amaya	*	31	0-6	0-2	0-0	0-5	5	3	4	8	0	5	0
05	Czinano,Maggie		23	1-3	1-2	0-2	0-2	2	2	2	1	0	0	3
41	Holloway,Niamya		12	1-3	0-0	1-2	1-1	2	2	1	0	0	1	3
12	Madol,Ajok		7	0-7	0-6	0-0	0-1	1	1	0	1	0	0	0
15	Senden,Brynn		2	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	1	0	1	0
11	Zie,Aminata		1	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	1	0	1	0	0	0
34	Dalan,McKynnlie		1	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
TM	TEAM		0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-3	3	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Totals	–	200	20-59	4-23	6-14	13-28	41	16	12	20	2	11	50

Saint Louis University 69

##	Player	GS	MIN	FG	3PT	FT	ORB-DRB	REB	PF	A	TO	BLK	STL	PTS
00	McMakin, Kyla	*	33	8-18	2-4	2-2	0-4	4	2	1	2	0	0	20
32	Kennedy, Peyton	*	33	6-15	3-7	4-7	2-3	5	1	2	1	0	1	19
04	Calhoun, Kennedy	*	28	5-8	1-2	0-0	1-1	2	2	3	2	0	2	11
45	Gray, Brooklyn	*	29	3-7	2-5	0-0	1-4	5	3	1	3	1	3	8
12	Simon, Tierra	*	22	0-0	0-0	0-0	1-6	7	2	0	2	1	0	0
02	Clegg, Camreé		16	2-5	2-4	0-0	0-2	2	0	1	0	0	0	6
11	Martinez, Julia		27	1-4	1-1	0-0	3-7	10	0	6	4	0	5	3
25	Shavers, Marcavia		7	1-2	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	1	0	0	0	0	2
35	Johns, Bri		3	0-1	0-1	0-0	0-0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0
10	Tillett, Isabel		2	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0
TM	TEAM		0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-3	3	0	0	1	0	0	0
	Totals	–	200	26-60	11-24	6-9	8-30	38	12	14	16	2	11	69