USD Women to DII Final Four

What a wild, crazy trip it was to Kearney, NE to watch USD play Washburn at the Women's Division II Elite 8 last night. Due to last minute bizarre circumstances and a couple of extra passengers, I ended up driving a fairly new Excursion (aka "mini-semi") with only a little over 4,000 miles on it with four guys as we had to bring two more home. I commented that the trip to and from Kearney (right at 500 miles when all was said and done) is probably equal to the last 5-6 months of driving combined for me, if not more.

We met up with some USD Alums and faithful at a pizza joint about a mile from the game. Best part...Fat Tire baby! It is easily one of my favorite beers, and I partook in pleasing my palate with an undisclosed number of them. Okay, so I can't remember as they kept showing up in front of me magically.

We got to the game in time to watch the end of Delta State's win over Franklin Pierce. #1 Delta State won to remain undefeated and will (SPOILER) play USD tonight. I think we match up well with them and look forward to the game.

USD and Washburn played an epic game last night and SO made the trip worthwhile. Each team looked great at times and not good at others. Each team made runs during the game where they each looked like they could potentially put the other in a world of hurt for any hope of comeback. At half the Coyotes were up by 7. Washburn went on a huge run to open the second half and suddenly a 7 point lead was a four point deficit. Late in the game it looked like we had the win wrapped up and their star player hit a couple of incredible three pointers to send it into overtime.

In OT it wasn't looking great as two of our key reserves fouled out. To top it off, it went into DOUBLE OT. In the 2nd OT, USD and Washburn were both looking like heavyweight champs that just went 15 rounds pounding the heck out of each other. USD had a couple nice drives and sealed it with good foul line shooting pulling off the 85-80 win. It was an awesome atmosphere as USD had way more fans that Washburn despite being just a few miles closer to Kearney than they are. Noise levels were not even a comparison. We were 10 times louder than they were.

The game didn't end until 11:00 and we didn't get on the road home until after midnight but it was all worth it.

Upcoming post: The trip home. A bizarre end to our whirlwind day.