Catawba College women’s basketball team falls in the Final Four as historic season ends

ROWAN COUNTY, N.C. (WBTV) - Tonight, the Catawba College women’s basketball team took the court looking for the school’s first ever trip to a national championship game.

The game was in Missouri, but Salisbury came out loud and proud to cheer on the Lady Indians in a huge watch party on the school’s campus.

Hundreds of fans packed the gym as Catawba looked to extend its run all the way to the NCAA DII National Championship game.

“No one ever really hears of Salisbury,” Tyler Johnson, a sophomore at Catawba College, said. “So the fact that they made it this far shows that we have teams just like that that can make it just as far.”

“It brings me to tears, because it’s what I wanted to see,” Shari Graham, vice president of the Chiefs Club, said. “The goal was for them to experience big time sports playoffs. At a small school like this, you don’t get that.”

Unfortunately, the clock struck midnight on the Cinderella run for Catawba College, as it fell 70-59 against Minnesota Duluth in the women’s Final Four.

Still though, Wednesday’s loss doesn’t take away from a truly historic season for the Lady Indians.

“First time in school history, first time in SAC history, that a women’s team has gone this far,” Chief Club member Jay Dees said.

“This story will be told for a long time,” Catawba College men’s basketball coach, Rob Perron, said. “The idea now is to run it back, try to do it again.”

The team is expected back on campus Thursday, and when the players return, they will get nothing but love from this community after their historic season has come to an end.

Related: Great spirit at Catawba College as women’s basketball team battles in NCAA DII Final Four

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