HAYS, Ks. — Snake bitten no more, Missouri Western is ready to bring on Birmingham, Alabama, and the Elite Eight. 

Griffon Women's Basketball's (24-9) Cinderella story continues with Monday night's 70-69 win over No. 1 seed Fort Hays State in the NCAA Central Regional Championship to advance to their first Elite Eight since 1995. Coming into the night, No. 7 Missouri Western's trek to the top of the region was far from on track. The No. 4 nationally-ranked Tigers (30-4) beat MWSU twice in the regular season, had home-field advantage at Gross Memorial Coliseum and and held a 21-point lead with two minutes left before halftime.

That's when hometown hero Jaelyn Haggard stepped in. With just two points in the first half, the graduate student from Central High School came through with clutch shot after clutch shot. Haggard scored 17-second-half points, including an NBA-range 3-pointer with over a minute left to give MWSU their largest lead of the night at 67-64. 

Even then, Missouri Western still wasn't out of the woods. Fort Hays' Katie Wagner had 17 points of her own and took the lead on a bucket and a foul with just 12 seconds left. Who else to answer the bell but Brionna Budgetts — MWSU's only starter without any points at the time. 

Just four seconds later, a little bully-ball into the paint for a bucket by Budgetts changed everything, and a few more seconds after when FHSU failed to score, it made history. For the second-straight game, MWSU beat a team who swept them in the regular season, and for the second game this tournament, they beat a top-25 team. With 12.6 points and three assists per game, Budgetts was named the tournament MVP. 

Corbyn Cunningham's 17 points matched Wagner's total, both scoring the most out of any starters for either squad. This win for the Griffons snaps a four-game losing streak against FHSU. Their last win over a top-five Tigers team — a 77-75 triumph in 2016 when FHSU was No. 3 and the Griffons last made the Central Regional. 

Up Next

Missouri Western is heading to Birmingham next week and awaits their next opponent in the Elite Eight. All remaining teams in the quarterfinals will be re-seeded this week.