Tamara McCaskill

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- Northern Kentucky’s Cassie Brannen all but single-handedly kept the Lady Miners from earning a spot in the Elite Eight Monday night.

The junior forward scored a game-high 25 points -- missing just one shot the entire night -- and sparked a decisive 15-3 run that led the Norse to a 60-52 victory over Missouri S&T in the championship game of the NCAA Division II Great Lakes Regional at Drury University.

NKU will move on to play Wingate in the national quarterfinals, while the Lady Miners’ season ended at 24-7.

The Lady Miners took an early 17-13 lead in the contest, then went into a six-minute scoring drought during which time NKU took its first lead of the game. Danyelle Echoles’ layup at the 8:36 mark put the Norse up 18-17.

S&T regrouped before the end of the half, however, getting a layin from Tamara McCaskill with 26 seconds left to tie it at 25.

After Jaime Forsberg’s three-pointer just over a minute into the second half gave S&T the lead, the teams swapped the lead for the next few minutes. Cassie Brannen’s layin at the 15:26 mark tied the score at 34, then the Lady Miners scored the next five points to take the lead.

Katie McElrath’s layin made it 39-34, but the Norse answered with six straight to go back in front. Katie Bunge got the lead back for the Lady Miners with a three-point play with 8:54 to go, but the Norse scored the next nine points, capped by a Jessie Slack three-pointer with 6:30 left to take a 49-42 advantage.

The Norse led by nine when Forsberg knocked down a three with 1:12 to play, making it 58-52 and S&T had a chance to get even closer with under a minute to go after rebounding an NKU miss, but turned the ball over on the outlet pass and Echoles sunk two at the line to all but ice the win for the Norse.

Bunge had a double-double in her final game as a Lady Miner with 15 points and 11 rebounds, while Forsberg also finished in double figures with 11. The Lady Miners shot just 34.5 percent from the field in the contest while NKU finished at 44.2 percent.

Bunge and McElrath were named to the all-tournament team along with Slack, Brannen -- who was selected as the most outstanding player -- and Quincy's Jessica Keller.