The University of Antelope Valley Pioneers (26-5) made history Wednesday evening with a 100-93 win over the Mustangs of Morningside College (18-11), in intercollegiate NAIA Div. II Women’s Basketball Championships action inside the Tyson Events Center in Sioux City, Iowa.

The win is the first at Nationals in program history in just its second trip, and with it, the Pioneers advance to face a talented Oregon Tech team that UAV defeated earlier this season, 90-80 in Klamath Falls.

UAV is the first Cal Pac team to win an NAIA Championships contest since 2006, are now tied for the most wins in season (26) with Menlo during the 2012-13 season, and set a new record in points scored in an NAIA Championships game with 100, breaking Holy Names previous record of 90 points in 1999.

After the game, head coach Deon Price commented, “We kept battling and fighting until the end. We overcame silly mistakes because this group was relentless, and we never lost focus. I give a lot of credit to Morningside for playing a great game, but our girls kept fighting and got it done. This is a great win for our team, for UAV and for the Cal Pac – and hey, at the end of the day we’re just playing basketball.”

Senior guard Samantha Earl (Clovis, CA) set a new career high with 32 points and shot 11-for-16 from the field, also totaling eight rebounds and three steals. Sophomore forward Alexia Budd (Los Angeles, CA) secured a double-double with 19 points and 10 boards, and junior forward Tylen Price (Lancaster, CA) finished one-point shy of 1,000 for her career with 13, also adding nine rebounds and three assists.

Senior guard T’Airah Pryor (Long Beach, CA) added 12 points and four rebounds, senior guard Alyssa Gonzales (Bakersfield, CA) scored 10 and dished out a game-high five assists to go along with two steals, and junior guard Asia Young (Kansas City, MO) shot 2-for-3 from beyond the arc, finishing with six points.

UAV hit 32-of-74 field goals (.432), 12-of-28 three-pointers (.429), 24-of-31 free throws (.774), and outrebounded the Mustangs, 49-45. UAV committed 21 turnovers and stole the ball 11 times. Morningside made 32-of-78 shots (.410), 10-of-27 three-pointers (.370) and 19-of-27 free throws (.704) and committed 18 turnovers and stole the ball from UAV 12 times.

Next game: Coached by Price, the Pioneers advance to the round of 16 and play the No. 7 seed in the Liston bracket, the Oregon Institute of Technology Owls, on Friday, March 8 at 11:45 a.m. PST.