Winona, MN- 

The Northland Community & Technical College Pioneer women's basketball team ran into a Cinderella-story Cedar Valley College squad in the semi-finals of the 2019-20 NJCAA Division III Women's Basketball Championships. 

Fortunately for Northland, depth down the stretch paid off, and Janie Wunderlich hit a free-throw with 4.3 remaining in the fourth quarter, giving the Pioneers the narrow 50-49 win. 

Cedar Valley, down to just six healthy players in Friday's semi-final, had upset #1 Massosoit on Thursday, 73-68.  In only their second year as a program, the Suns put forth an admirable effort against Northland, a program with 11 appearances at the national tournament. 

In the fourth quarter, the final ten minutes proved decisive for the Pioneers, as several trips to the foul line resulted in the chance to pull away from CVCC.  The final 90 seconds of the contest saw four possession changes, but Wunderlich's trip to the charity stripe with less than five ticks to go was the difference. 

With the victory, Northland and head coach Shannon Nelson will look to rest and recover; they will play for the 2019-20 NJCAA Division III Women's Basketball National Championship at 6pm tonight.  The Pioneers will see the winner of MCAC-foe #6 Western Technical College and #2 Rock Valley College; Northland defeated Western Tech, 65-52 in Thief River Falls, Minnesota on December 14, 2019. 

2020 NJCAA DIII Women's Basketball Championship Central

Real time scores and game results as they happen here.

Watch Live on NJCAA Championship TV at this link.

Click here for the complete tournament bracket.

NJCAA Division III Women's Basketball Semi-Final:

#6 Western Technical College vs. #2 Rock Valley College, Friday, March 13 at 1pm CST

#4 Northland CTC defeats Cedar Valley, 50-49. 

NJCAA Division III Women's Basketball Championship Game: 

#4 Northland Community & Technical College vs. Western Tech / Rock Valley  6pm CST

Originally scheduled to begin the week of March 16, the four upcoming national championship events – DI men, DI women, DII men, and DII women will aim for a tentative start date of Monday, April 20.

The DIII men's and women's national championships, currently underway, will cancel all consolation games and will move semifinal and championship games to Friday, March 13. Effective immediately, spectators will be restricted from the remaining contests for both DIII championships in Rockford, IL and Rochester, MN.

Dr. Christopher Parker, NJCAA President & CEO expressed his sentiments regarding the situation. "Due to the concerns surrounding the safety and security of our student-athletes and those involved with Division I and Division II NJCAA championships, we are postponing the tournaments and maintaining a fluid mentality to see these tournaments take place with a tentative start date.

We have two main objectives in this situation - first and foremost is to protect the health and safety of our student-athletes, coaches, college personnel, and fans. Second is to make sure our student-athletes receive the national championship experience that they have worked so hard for."

Start dates for each of the respective tournaments are tentative and the NJCAA will continue to follow all state and local mandates, restrictions, and regulations as it impacts its member institutions and national championship events.

For complete information for the 2019-20 NJCAA Division III Women's Basketball Championship, hosted by Rock Valley College in Rockford, Illinois on March 12-14, please click here or go to: https://www.njcaa.org/sports/wbkb/2019-20/div3/national_championship/index

For more on MCAC Women's Basketball, please go to: https://www.mcacsports.org/sports/wbkb/index

NJCAA Basketball information, including the NJCAA National Top 15 Poll and Player-of-the-Week releases can be found at: https://www.njcaa.org/sports/wbkb/index

The Minnesota College Athletic Conference is the organizational body for NJCAA-affiliated two-year technical and community college athletic programs in the Minnesota State Colleges & Universities system, as well as select member colleges in North Dakota and Wisconsin.  The mission of the Minnesota College Athletic Conference is to advance intercollegiate athletics by providing an engaging and supportive environment for success of our student athletes and competition among member institutions.  The MCAC is committed to the guiding principles of encouraging the development and success of student athletes, promoting the integrity, honesty and loyalty to member schools as well as upholding the sustainability of conference athletic programs.

Be sure to follow our MCAC Facebook and Twitter feeds @MCACSports 

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