BILLINGS, Mont. – The same magical shooting that led University of Providence women's basketball past defending champions Oklahoma City the night before lasted exactly 17 more minutes for UP and then suddenly disappeared. After taking a 30-32 lead against MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) in the second round of the 2018 NAIA Division I Women's Basketball Championships, UP went cold, gave up a 17-0 run and lost 83-67.
 
Before that run broke the game open for the Pioneers, the Lady Argos looked poised for another big win. Sophomore guard Jenna Randich followed up her 19-point performance against OCU with 14 first half points including shooting 50 percent from three.
 
Randich's 14th point of the half came with 3:32 on the clock in the second quarter and gave the Lady Argos the largest lead of the game to that point at 30-23. That would be UP's last made field goal for six minutes.
 
By the time UP senior Stephanie McDonagh picked off a pass and took it for an uncontested layup to with 7:46 on the clock in the third quarter, MNU had gone on a 17-1 run and the game was already in danger of getting out of hand.  It got away from UP for good when the Pioneers responded to McDonagh's score with another 8-0 run that brought the lead to 12 points and took the wind out of UP's sails.
 
The Pioneers continued to extend the lead all the way 23 with 8 minutes left in the game, mainly off the play of Alisha Washington who scored 25 of her 32 total points in the second half.
 
UP managed to stop the bleeding and get a bit of that margin back by moving to an offensive strategy which in essence was get McDonagh the ball and let her do her thing. The senior scored 12 of her 16 points in the fourth quarter, including going 8-8 from the free-throw line.
 
She ends her stellar career at UP with more wins than any other player in program history, including five NAIA tournament wins. Her career totals finish at 1780 points, 758 rebounds, 346 assists, and 273 steals.
 
While Randich and McDonagh led UP in scoring, it was junior Tristan Murphy with a bandaged hand and hurt leg who probably played the best of any Lady Argos. She had a career high 13 rebounds to go with 9 points in 27 minutes on the floor.
 
Seniors Molly Herron and Kalle Wilson also played their last games as Lady Argos. Along with McDonagh, Herron was a member of both of UP's other national qualifying teams and together made up the winningest class of players in program history. Wilson, junior college transfer was with UP for three seasons and had her best year in her final season.
 
The Lady Argos end the season with a 22-12 record that includes six wins over ranked opponents. The 2017-18 squad is the third team in the modern era of the program to win 20 games or more and the third to make the national tournament. The program is now 5-3 all-time at the NAIA championships.