INDIANAPOLIS ---- For the sixth year in a row, the University of St. Francis women's basketball team has punched its ticket to Sioux City, Iowa, home of the NAIA National Championships, and for the fifth straight year, the Fighting Saints remain as one of the final 16 teams in the nation after surviving a late rally from Shawnee State University (Ohio) to claim the Indianapolis Bracket A Opening Round Championship with a 59-57 win Saturday night.
 

The victory means a date with Morningside College (Iowa) on Friday (March 19) at 8 pm in the Tyson Events Center. Morningside (27-2) comes in as the No. 5 seed, while USF (23-5) will enter at No.12. 
 

The Mustangs advanced by claiming the Wichita Bracket B Opening Round Tournament with a 90-70 decision over Saint Xavier University. They enter Final Site play riding a 21-game winning streak.
 

Saturday's victory for the Saints was tight in all aspects with the only underlying difference between the two teams from a statistical perspective coming at the free throw line, where St. Francis was 14-of-16 (.875) opposite Shawnee State's 12-for-19 reading (.632). That was the difference at the end of the game, as well, with Shawnee State missing two free throws in the closing 28 seconds that would have tied the contest two separate times.
 

Neither team could escape the other in the opening half with the Saints' largest lead being five points and Shawnee State's four. The latter four-point advantage for the Bears came in the closing two minutes of the second quarter only to be wiped out on a Shadrian McDaniel (JR/Chicago, Ill.) three-point play followed by a Justene Charlesworth (JR/Wanatah, Ind.) short jumper with under three seconds to play to give USF a 29-28 edge heading into the break.
 

Charlesworth would also come up with a clutch three-pointer in the closing minute of the third quarter. Her trey with 49 seconds left capped a 10-2 run by the Saints and provided them with their biggest advantage of the night, 48-38, heading into the fourth quarter.
 

The final stanza was made up of a trio of runs with USF bending twice but never breaking. 
 

Shawnee State (19-9) opened the quarter with the first nine points to close the gap to 48-47 with 6:32 to play, but the Saints bounced back with nine of the next ten points to regain a nine-point cushion (57-48) with just under three minutes to play.
 

The see-saw string of runs would continue with another unanswered string of points by the Bears, this time one of eight points to again cut the deficit to one point, 57-56, with 28 seconds remaining. Shawnee State had the opportunity to completely wipe out the nine-point St. Francis lead, but missed on the second free throw attempt with USF pulling down the board.
 

McDaniel then made the 13th straight St. Francis free throw without a miss for the game with seven seconds to play before coming up empty on the back end. 
 

After coming down with the rebound and getting fouled on their final possession, the Bears again made just 1-of-2 free throws, this time the back end with 1.8 seconds to play. 

The Saints then secured their trip to Sioux City when they were fouled on the ensuing inbounds play, and Paige Gieseke (SR/Algonquin, Ill.) hit the front end of a two-shot foul with 0.3 seconds left.
 

McDaniel finished the contest with a game-high 19 points, while Andriana Acosta (SR/Crest Hill, Ill.) was her typical self, all over the court to register 13 points, 13 rebounds, a perfect 6-for-6 reading at the free throw line and seven steals.
 

All but two of USF's 59 points came from its starters with Leah Sims (SR/Chicago, Ill.) providing 10 points, including a trey to put the team up 57-48 just before Shawnee State's final run. Charlesworth added eight with two treys in as many attempts and Gieseke seven.
 

Shawnee State received 33 points from its starting five led by Brandie Snow's 15 points. Kambrayia Etzy matched that off the bench.