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ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – It's starting to sound like a broken record but the UWF women's basketball team has continued to write new chapter after new chapter in the magical journey that has been the 2016-17 season.
 
On Monday night, UWF defeated Rollins, 72-62, to capture the NCAA South Region Championship and punch its ticket for the program's first-ever NCAA Division II Elite Eight appearance.
 
And has been the case for much of the season, it wasn't the same person making big play after big play. Against the Tars, UWF got contributions from starters and role players. It was junior Shami Goodman who came off the bench to score a game-high 20 points on 8-of-11 shooting. Meanwhile, starters Katie Bobos fought through sustaining a cut above her right eye and, after getting stitches behind the bench, finished with 17 points and seven rebounds.
 
And Alex Coyne was forced to leave the game for 2:30 with a knee injury before returning to score seven of UWF's final 11 points. Not to mention Toni Brewer's 11 points and 18 boards while playing a season-high 39 minutes.
 
"I saw a level of toughness in our players that I hadn't seen this season," UWF head coach Stephanie Lawrence Yelton said. "I thought we were tough and had games where we had to grind out through adversity but tonight was above and beyond.
 
"Katie Bobos goes out early with a collision and gets stitches in her eyebrow and comes right back to battle it out. Alex Coyne goes out with a knee injury in the fourth quarter and before I knew what was happening, she runs past me to check in and help us to the victory. It was a special night for UWF basketball."
 
UWF (28-6) shot 39 percent and used its size advantage inside to outscore Rollins 32-18 in the paint. And that size also forced the Tars (22-8) to play from well outside the lane, using 9-for-23 from outside to keep it close until they were worn down by the more physical Argonauts.
 
Rollins came out and grabbed the early momentum, making 3-of-4 from outside for a 9-2 lead with just 2:02 elapsed on the clock. But the Argonauts answered with three triples of their own from Coyne, Katie O'Neal and Goodman, for a 14-3 run to grab a 16-12 lead with a minute to play in the first.
 
The Tars came out in the second and regained the lead 17-16 before another Argo run – this one a 13-4 stretch – put the second-seeded squad ahead 29-21 going into the half.
 
UWF got the game going faster in the third quarter as it continued to apply offensive pressure. The Argos stretched the lead to as many as 18 before taking a 49-35 margin with 10 minutes to play.
 
The Tars continued to fight, trimming the margin to five on two occasions, with the last coming with 2:46 left. The as she has done countless times throughout her career, Coyne knocked down a corner three and followed an empty Rollins possession with a teardrop layup that beat the shot clock, putting the Argonauts up 66-56 with 1:24 remaining – effectively ending any hope of a comeback.
 
Coyne was named the regional's Most Outstanding Player after averaging 11 points and 10 assists with two double-doubles over the three games. Bobos joined her on the all-tournament team as she has a tourney-best 54 points with numerous hustle plays.
 
UWF will find out on Tuesday who it will face in the Elite Eight, set for March 21-24 in Columbus, Ohio.