Central Methodist advances to the second round. Photo/NAIA

Central Methodist University  outlasted Biola (Calif.), 52-49, in a first round game of the 2017 NAIA Division I Women’s Basketball National Championship.

“I felt like we had a really great start to the game,” said Central Methodist head coach Mike Davis. “I thought our kids fought very hard. To get behind like that at the end, but battle back showed a lot of character.”

Central Methodist is now 24-9 and will face No. 1 Lindsey Wilson Friday morning at 9 a.m. MDT in the second round.

No. 6 Montana Western pulled off a 63-53 upset win over No. 3 Columbia (Mo.) Wednesday evening.  Columbia’s Raegan Wieser led in scoring with a game-high 18 points.  The Cougars end the year with a 26-7 record and fall to 3-13 all-time at the championship.

No 4-seed Georgetown (Ky.) turned up the defense in the second-half for an 81-72 victory over No. 5 Park (Mo.) in the first round of the 2017 NAIA Division I Men’s Basketball National Championship in Kansas City.   Trailing 39-37 after the game’s first 20 minutes, Georgetown limited Park to 27.3 percent (9-of-33) shooting in the second half and turned the slim deficit into a lead.

Recaps/NAIA.org