Northland Tech falls to Hostos, Defeats Brookdale, in Consolation Bracket Action

Northland Tech falls to Hostos, Defeats Brookdale, in Consolation Bracket Action
Posted: Mar 17, 2017

Rochester, Mn:

Appearing in their seventh NJCAA National Championship Tournament in the past eight years, Northland Tech knew they would be seeing the nation's best NJCAA Division III women's hoops programs after they punched ticket with the 2017 NJCAA Region XIIIB crown in early March.  However, they didn't know that winter storm Stella would interject herself into the championship dynamic, disrupting travel plans and providing an extra factor of difficultly for the Pioneers.

One must credit Northland's resolve, as they battled in both their quarterfinal opener against fellow MCAC squad Anoka-Ramsey on Thursday and in their consolation bracket matchup with Hostos Community College Friday morning.  After falling the Golden Rams, 73-71, NCTC also fell just short against Hostos CC, losing 67-62.  In their last game of the competition, Northland  rebounded to pick up a win over Brookdale Community College by a score of 85-56.  The Pioneers win raised their overall mark to 25-5, while Brookdale falls to 22-9 to finish the year. 

The 1-2 record in Utica does not diminish the outstanding season the Pioneers put together in 2016-17, earning 25 wins overall, and going 11-1 in MCAC North Division play, capturing the Division title and the Region 13B hardware along the way. 

Two sophomore's were critical to the Pioneers strong season, with post player ShaRon Nelson wrapping up the year averaging 16.1 points per game and collecting almost 10 rebounds a contest.  Running the floor for NCTC was Myesha Caldwell; the sophomore guard dished out a team-leading 5.8 assists a game.  While the loss of Caldwell and Miller will be felt, Coach Shannon Nelson has up-and-coming talent in freshman Jessica Vedbraaten  and Megan Swedberg.  Vedbraaten averaged almost 2 steals a game over the course of 2016-17, while Swedberg collected 8.7 rebounds a night and averaged 11.8 points per game.  Nelson, a two-year captain for the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers as a student-athlete, has put together a 168-38 overall career record at Northland Tech.

With the storm - and the season -behind them, Northland will have some time to reflect and prepare to defend their MCAC North Division crown.  For more information on the 2017 NJCAA Women's Basketball Divison III National Championship Tournament, please click here.