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Burney, Cougars heading to tourney
Toni Burney better get her dancin' shoes ready.
Burney, a sophomore at the University of Saint Francis in Fort Wayne, and the Cougars lost to Indiana Wesleyan University in the Mid-Central Conference Tournament Championship Monday, which took place in Marion.
Although the Cougars lost in the championship game, 58-49, they earned an at-large bid in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Tournament (NAIA).
Saint Francis is 26-7 this season and ranked third in the NAIA. Ind-iana Wes-leyan finished the regular season with a 33-0 record and are the top-ranked team in NAIA.
The Cougars had chances to tie or take the lead in Monday's game with less than two minutes to play, but had to foul Indiana Wesleyan players and the Wildcats took advantage, hitting three free throws to go along with a fastbreak layup in the final seconds to secure the win.
Burney -- a sophomore -- finished the game with eight points.
The former North Putnam and Greencastle standout helped the Cougars advance to the MCC Finals after scoring 12 points and dishing out 11 assists in the Cougars' 73-69 win over fourth-ranked Bethel College Friday.
Burney is in her first season at Saint Francis.
She is averaging close to 6.5 points per game this season while only playing an average of 12 minutes per game. Burney is also averaging nearly 2.5 rebounds while dishing out more than 100 assists this season and making more than 40 steals.
Prior to coming to Saint Francis, Burney played for Danville Area Community College in Danville, Ill. She was named All-Conference Co-Player of the Year in the Midwest Athletic Conference while playing at Danville, and averaged 11.7 points per game in her career.
In 30 games with Danville, Burney tallied 67 steals while scoring 352 points. She also averaged 3.8 rebounds per game and dished out 91 assists.
Burney's high school career consisted of two years playing for North Putnam and one year playing for Greencastle.
She finished her high school career with 972 points, missing her senior season due to a knee injury.
Williams still going strong
Former South Putnam basketball player Ronnie Williams' career is also still going strong.
Williams is still playing for Danville Area Community College, where he took part in 18 games this season.
He tallied 21 points this season for an average of 1.2 per game, while also collecting six rebounds and dishing out 14 assists. Williams shot 5-for-6 from beyond the arc this year.