CINCINNATI, Ohio – The Mount St. Joseph women's basketball team will travel to face the Hanover Panthers on Friday in the semi-finals of the 2025 Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference (HCAC) tournament. The final two rounds of the tournament will be hosted by Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky. The Lions and Panthers will play in the second game of the day, with a scheduled tip-off at 7:00 PM. This will follow the 5:00 PM matchup between Transy and Anderson.
The Lions secured their spot in the semi-finals after a 72-61 victory over the #7 seeded Rose-Hulman Fightin' Engineers on Saturday at the Harrington Center. Madison Drummonds led the team with an outstanding performance, falling just three assists short of a triple-double. The senior finished with a team-high 17 points and 12 rebounds, marking her fifth double-double of the season. Also contributing in double figures were Morgan Jenkins (16), Karlee Mills (12), and Anyiah Murphy (11).
The Panthers, the tournament's #3 seed, advanced to the semi-finals following a 66-53 win over #6 Berea on Saturday. Standout forward Grace Bezold led the way with 25 points and 9 rebounds, while Sammy Berman added 22 points.
The Mount and Hanover split their regular season matchups, with each team winning on the other's home court. On January 18th in Cincinnati, Hanover triumphed in a high-scoring affair, 82-76. On January 29th in Hanover, the Lions bounced back to win 63-56. Drummonds has averaged 19.5 points and 7.5 rebounds per game against Hanover this season, while Mills has averaged 15.0 points and Murphy 12.0 points. As a team, the Lions have shot 43.7% from the field in their matchups against Hanover, compared to just 38.5% for the Panthers. Additionally, the Lions have dominated the rebounding battle, outrebounding Hanover by an average of 5.0 boards per game.
The winner of this third meeting between the two teams will advance to the HCAC finals on Saturday, where they will face the winner of the #1 Transylvania vs. #4 Anderson game.
