Houston scores 27, Keller is perfect from the line as women's team takes IU Northwest basketball to the next level

On Saturday, the resurgent NAIA Division II program claimed its first-ever NAIA Tournament bid with a 70-67 home victory over the Lady Panthers of Ohio Dominican University. ODU played in the NAIA tourney the past two years.

Saturday's win also gave IU Northwest (22-10) its first postseason tournament title in the NAIA-affiliated Association of Independent Institutions.

"People told me I was wasting my time here as head coach," said RedHawk coach Ryan Shelton after helping his players to cut down the net in the Savannah Center gym. "I told them, ‘I will be the judge of my own time. We can win here. We just have to bring in the players.' If you care about the kids individually, that's when you're going to be able to build those relationships and build a team."

Not surprisingly, 6'4 forward Sharon Houston (Merrillville) was at the center of the team's milestone victory over top-seeded ODU.

After a quiet 10 minutes to start, during which ODU (16-11) jumped to an 11-point lead on hot perimeter shooting, Houston broke open and scored 13 of IU Northwest's last 16 points in the half, which ended tied at 40.

"I was kind of nervous at first, and my hands were kind of slippery and sweaty. I was fumbling the ball a little bit," said Houston, who was named MVP for the tournament. "But I knew I had to bring it. My team was counting on me, and I was counting on them."

After Houston got hot, ODU never figured out how to contain the sophomore forward, who finished with 27 points on 12-for-23 shooting and 3-for-4 from the line. She also had 10 rebounds.

"You can't shut her down for long," Shelton said. "She's the best player in the country, and now that we're playing on this (bigger) stage, people are going to recognize it. It's going to be great to see Sharon get that type of attention. I give a lot of credit to her teammates, too, because she can't do it all on her own."

Point guard Nina Wills (Bishop Noll) had the RedHawks' only trey of the night and scored 10 points. Sophomore guard Juliette Keller (Kouts) only had one field goal, but she hit 11-for-11 from the foul line, including two clutch free throws with 33 seconds to go.

"Not a lot of field goals for Juliette, but she's a clutch free-throw shooter, and that's what we need from her," Shelton said. "A great player finds ways to score, even when they're not getting the good looks from the floor. We don't have a lot of great free-throw shooters on our team, but she's definitely our best."

Keller's final two shots put the contest out of reach for ODU, which lived and died on its perimeter game. They had eight threes on the night, but when Shelton switched his 2-3 zone to a 3-2 to put more pressure on their shooters, the Panthers were unable to make the adjustment.

"The girls played it really well. (ODU) stopped getting so many easy looks from three-point range," Shelton said. "If we had waited any longer (to switch), we might have lost that game."

The season is not over for IU Northwest, which maintains dual affiliation in the NAIA and the United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA). The Lady RedHawks are seeded sixth in the USCAA tournament and will depart for Uniontown, Pa. on Monday. IU Northwest will play 11th-seeded Southern Maine Community College in first-round action on Wednesday.

The NAIA D-II Women's Tournament begins on March 10 in Sioux City, Iowa.