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Danbury
Coverage of the women's Final Four
Fourth-round tournament games
Southern Maine 65, Rowan 62
By Jim Stout
D3hoops.com
GLASSBORO, N.J. -- If this isn't the best Southern Maine women's team in program history, then it's certainly one of the Huskies' deepest; And one of their most flexible; And one of their most resourceful.
Saturday night in the Atlantic Sectional championship game, depth, flexibility and resourcefulness allowed Southern Maine to outlast host Rowan, 65-62, and advance to Friday night's NCAA Division III Final Four at the O'Neill Center in Danbury, Conn.
Southern Maine, champions of the Little East and 25-5 overall, will be playing in the national semifinals for the second time in three years and for the third time overall. The Huskies will meet South Sectional winner St. Thomas, which won at Hardin-Simmons last night, 68-52.
In a strange twist of events this season, Southern Maine will be in a building Friday night where it has played some of its best and some of its worst basketball of 1999-2000.
The Huskies lost one of their five LEC games at the O'Neill Center Jan. 5 to Western Connecticut, 56-51. They then turned around and won the Little East playoffs in Danbury, beating Eastern Connecticut by 14 points and Plymouth State by 47.
Rowan, which lost its two leading scorers late in the regular season yet still managed to advance through the sectional semifinals, finishes at 24-4.
Southern Maine turned a 39-39 game into a 52-41 advantage with 7:35 to play in the game before having to hold Rowan off in the final three minutes. The Huskies have not lost to a non-LEC team this season, beating, among others, Rowan, College of New Jersey, Clark (twice), Salem State, Colby and Bates.
"I think we used our depth (Friday night) more than (Rowan) did, and that may have had an affect on the game tonight," said Southern Maine coach Gary Fifield, who opened the second half with four perimeter players and sophomore center Jaime Zahm.
"We felt we had to get them into a transition game and try to wear them out, knowing that they weren't as deep as they'd been."
One of the keys to that strategy was the deployment of sophomore reserve guard Niki Dominiczak, who helped spark the Huskies' up tempo game in the second half and helped double-team Rowan's 6-foot-2 freshman center, Kathy Darling.
The faster pace in the second half forced Darling to run up and down the court more than she probably would have liked. It also provided Southern Maine with some easy transition baskets, something it desperately needed after shooting 35% from the floor in the first half.
"I thought (Darling) kept up pretty well, considering the pace," said Zahm. "We wanted to be able to wear them down and tire them out."
Zahm finished with a career-high 19 points after scoring 18 in the Huskies sectional semifinal win against Clark. She also pulled in 13 rebounds. Darling, who replaced starting center Jessica MacNeill (knee sprain) late in the regular season, was limited to 4-of-14 shooting and three rebounds.
In addition, Southern Maine went into the lane area more often to Dominiczak and Amanda Kimball (12 points, 8 rebounds) for short jumpers in the second half. There was plenty of room to move.
"(Southern Maine) does a nice job of setting screens and getting back-door cuts and shots from the paint," said Rowan coach Candace Crabtree. "They have two great shooters (Julie Plant and Trish Ripton) so it's hard to double them."
Southern Maine seemingly had the win salted away at 56-45 with 3:33 to play in the game.
Rowan, however, scored two or more points on its final seven possessions, drawing with 61-59 with 19 seconds remaining and 63-62 with nine seconds left.
But Ripton, the 25-year-old senior swing player who began the season as a volunteer assistant coach, hit her fifth consecutive foul shot of the final half minute, giving USM a 64-62 cushion. Though she missed the second of two shots, Dominiczak tipped the rebound to Zahm, who got it to Plant to finish the job.
Ripton also fed Dominiczak for an uncontested layup with 67 seconds remaining, providing Southern Maine with breathing room at 59-54.
"It's very gratifying to be finishing this way," said Ripton, who began her career as a starter for the University of Maine. "It's all coming to an end, but I hope it comes to an end with a national championship."
Rowan's last-gasp rally was led by forward Lisa Guide, whose back to back shots from the left baseline with under two minutes to play slashed the Southern Maine lead to 57-54. Kristi McCullough's three-point play with nine seconds left made Southern Maine squirm even more.
The damage had been done, though. Rowan lost a combined 30 points and 14 rebounds a game when MacNeill and guard Meelena Edwards went out three-quarters of the way through the season. The Profs battled through the adversity, though, and nearly overcame Southern Maine last night.
"The last five minutes of the game I thought we did an awesome job of coming back," said Crabtree. "The last few weeks of the season, we talked all the time about playing with heart, and we did that again in the end tonight."
Ripton, Zahm, Darling, Donna Clark of Rowan and Marisa Garrity of Clark were named to the all-sectional team.
Scranton 72, St. Lawrence 59
CANTON, N.Y. -- Scranton advanced to the Final Four, defeating St. Lawrence 72-59 in Saturday's NCAA sectional final. The victory sends the Lady Royals (26-3) to the Final Four for the third time in four years.
Despite shooting just 17% from the field, the Saints trailed by only five points at halftime. They kept the Scranton lead to within three points for the first five minutes of regulation, but the Lady Royals went on a 12-3 run sparked by Heather Mohrman's layup and took a 21-9 lead with 8:51 left on the clock.
The Saints (24-6) then made a 9-0 run, closing the gap to 23-17. Freshmen Megan Dietrichsen and Katie Griffith contributed seven of the nine points in that four minute span. Meredith Eisenhut, who added the other two points on made free throws, netted two more free throws just 47 seconds after Lady Royals guard Jaime Eilbacher hit a three-point field goal.
Gillian McGovern hit a final first half field goal for the Lady Royals, making it 28-21, but Dietrichsen sank two free throws with 34 seconds remaining in the half to cut the Scranton lead to 28-23.
The Lady Royals maintained no less than a four point lead early in the second half and broke away on a 10-2 run to go up 46-34 with 11:47 left in regulation. Despite several valiant efforts, the Saints could not narrow the gap to within nine points. Saint guard Cara Barbierri fouled out with 1:39 left to play and Nicole Leary joined her just seconds later.
McGovern led all scorers with 24 points. She also pulled down 10 rebounds to record a double-double. Mohrman finished the game with 19 points, including a 9-for-10 outing from the free-throw line. Mohrman also collected four steals. Kelly Halpin, who dished out six assists, added 13 points for the Lady Royals.
Eisenhut led the way for the Saints, with 12 points, seven rebounds, six steals and four assists. She went 10-for-12 from the free throw line and was named to the All Tournament team along with McGovern (Scranton), Halpin (Scranton), Amanda Waloven (St. John Fisher) and Denise Igo (King's).
Griffith finished the game with 11 points and four assists for the Saints. Jen Janeway, who also scored 11 points, added six rebounds and two blocked shots. Nicole Leary contributed 10 points and five rebounds, while Sarah Kloepfer added seven points. Dietrichsen finished the game with six points and 11 rebounds.
Scranton head coach Mike Strong has guided his teams to seven NCAA and AIAW Final Four appearances. The Lady Royals won an NCAA Division III championship in back in 1985. Scranton will face Washington U. at the Final Four in Danbury, Conn., next weekend.
Washington U. 86, Baldwin-Wallace 71
ST. LOUIS -- Washington University got all it could handle from Baldwin-Wallace in its NCAA Tournament sectional championship Saturday night in the WU
Field House. But the Bears held on for an 86-71 win that propelled them
into the Final Four for the third consecutive year. WU will play Scranton in the national semifinals, March 17, in Danbury, Conn. The national championship game is March 18.
"It was No. 1 against No. 3, and there was a lot of pride, talent and heart out there," said Bears head coach Nancy Fahey. "Both teams kept going at each other, and it was just a lot of fun to be a part of. You could see the genuine enthusiasm on both sides."
The Bears looked strong early, opening a 10-3 lead just over four minutes into the game. Washington U. extended the lead to 28-17 with 5:46 left in the half, but Baldwin-Wallace came storming back. The Yellow Jackets hit seven of their last eight shots over the final 4:19 of the first half, highlighted by Kim Luthman’s three-pointer with one second left, to forge a 38-38 tie heading into the locker room.
Baldwin-Wallace shot 52% in the first half and turned the ball over just five times. WU was a step better, hitting 56% from the floor. Junior Tasha Rodgers and senior Alia Fischer each scored 13 points to lead WU. Fischer added six rebounds and four blocks and Rodgers collected three steals.
Baldwin-Wallace finally broke through, taking their first lead of the gameat 44-43 with 17:37 left to play. The Bears, trailing in the second half for the first time all year, responded by taking the lead for good on two Rodgers free throws just 28 seconds later. Washington U. pushed the lead back to 11 (58-47) but while BW cut the lead to three twice, Rodgers proved to be too much down the stretch. She scored 10 of WU’s next 17 points, including an 8-for-9 performance at the line.
The victory extended WU’s NCAA women’s all-divisions record winning streak to 66 games and broke Capital University’s women’s NCAA Division III record of 12 consecutive NCAA Tournament wins.
Rodgers tallied a career-high 33 points to lead all scorers. She hit 11 of 14 shots from the field and 11 of 12 from the free-throw line. She added six steals. Fischer finished with 17 points, nine rebounds and four blocks as Washington U. shot a blistering 61% from the field.
Junior Sara Ettner added 11 points and senior Sue Tucker tallied nine points, seven rebounds and five assists. Baldwin-Wallace was led by Holly Koepp’s 16 points.
Fischer, Tucker and Rodgers were named to the tournament All-Sectional team, joining BW’s Emily Clark and Wisconsin-Eau Claire’s Jayme Anderson.
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