The Morningside College women continued their successful postseason history by beating Hastings College 68-63 Tuesday night to claim the NAIA Division II women’s basketball championship in their hometown of Sioux city. The win ended a perfect 38-0 season for Morningside.

Division II player of the year Dani Gass, a 5-foot-10 senior guard from from Sioux City, scored 24 points and grabbed 12 rebounds for the top-ranked Mustangs. Gass says it’s a great feeling as it was their ultimate goal to win the championship.

Morningside got down by six in the second half, but Gass wasn’t worried. She says the three seniors tried to pull everyone together, and knew they would do whatever it took to get it done. Morningside’s

Autumn Bartel of Cherokee was named the national tournament M-V-P. She says she wasn’t surprised the game was back and forth.
She says you expect to have a game were both teams fight hard in a national championship game. Morningside also won championships in 2004 and 2005. Gass,