Christendom Crusaders Repeat as National Champions
BUFFALO, N.Y. (March 15, 2025) … The top-seeded Christendom College Crusaders held off a furious charge from third-seeded Miami-Hamilton Harriers as the Crusaders took a 63-60 victory to repeat as USCAA Women’s Division 2 National Champions on Saturday evening.
Christendom (26-2) jumped out to an 8-2 lead early on a Regina Bonvissuto 3-pointer with 6:52 left in the first. Miami-Hamilton climbed back into the contest to trail 12-10 following a Juliana Kemper layup with 3:02 remaining in the opening quarter. The Crusaders closed the quarter scoring eight of the last 10 points as Mary Pennefather hit a jumper to put them up 20-12 after one.
The Crusaders slowly pushed the lead over the next two quarters as a Catherine Thomas layup with 32 seconds left in the third gave Christendom a 52-40 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
In the fourth, Miami-Hamilton (19-11) opened on a 10-0 run to trim the deficit to 52-50 on the heels of an layup from A’vyonna Kinsey. Beri Ngwa had a steal a layup at the 2:53 mark to even the contest at 56-all.
Bonvissuto drilled a 3-pointer 25 seconds later to put Christendom back up in front 59-56 and Catherine Thomas followed with a pair of free throws with 43 seconds remaining to take the advantage to 61-56.
A pair of buckets from Juliana Kemper and Ngwa gave Miami-Hamilton one last shot down 61-60 with 25 seconds left. But Miranda Keller went 1-for-2 with 22 seconds left and Libby Kolesar went 1-for-2 with 1.6 seconds remaining for the final margin.
Thomas paced all scorers for Christendom with 28 points and 13 rebounds, while Keller had 13 points and Pennefather had 11 for the Crusaders. LaMarrie Hawkins had 13 points to lead four in double figures for Miami-Hamilton. Kinsey added 12 points and 12 boards, while Kemper also had 12 and Ngwa chipped in 10.
ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Maine-Augusta: Lillian Cox
UC Clermont: Tyra Murphy
Miami-Hamilton: A’vyonna Kinsey, LaMarrie Hawkins
Christendon: Catherine Thomas
Tournament MVP: Christendom – Mary Pennefather