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Coverage of the women's Final Four Updated March 19, 1999 |
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Wash U. Runs the Table,
Wins Title
"A sophomore?" Durbin rhetorically asked Rodgers. "You're a sophomore? Can't we get you to graduate sooner? Can't you take summer courses?" Rodgers laughed and Durbin laughed and several of the St. Benedict players turned around and laughed, too. The heavyweight battle of the trenches had been left on the court. The mutual respect the teams showed for one another was as impressive as the game. So was the following realization: This may only be round one. Fischer and Rodgers and Sue Tucker will be back for Washington (30-0). Laura Wendorff and Molly Mark and Jenny Blaser will be back for St. Benedict (28-2). The two finalists only lose four players between them. "It was an experience of a lifetime," Mark said of her team's first trip to the finals. "And it would be nice to have it happen again next year. We want to do it again." In the third-place game, Salem State made amends for its sub-par performance in the semifinal round by defeating Scranton, 75-65. The win by Salem (29-1) ties the school record for most victories in a season, equaling the total achieved by its national championship club of 1986. Scranton, which lost an emotional 74-65 semifinal game to Washington in the semifinals, did not play with the same fire and intensity that it had shown on Friday night. The Royals finished at 28-4. St. Benedict took its best shot at Washington and came out second best. In that regard, the Blazers were like every other team in the country that faced the Bears this season. "With the way things went this year," said Washington coach Nancy Fahey, "you always felt you were going to get teams 'A' game. We always seemed to." Just two teams in the history of Division III have ever won back to back women's national titles. Capital was the first, in 1994 and 1995. Washington will also finish 1998-99 as the only undefeated team in any division -- men's or women's -- in the nation. The Bears, winners of 38 in a row, have faced challenge after challenge since beginning their two-year run in March of 1998. Wisconsin-Oshkosh and Southern Maine made the Bears sweat it out late in the 1998 tournament. Oshkosh, Scranton and St. Benedict did the same over the last three rounds this season. When St. Benedict made its move last night, Fischer and Rodgers rose to the threat to their national crown, helping turn a 60-58 lead with 4:08 remaining into a 69-58 advantage with 1:23 to go. St. Benedict had just charged back behind Mark's eight consecutive points to pull to within two. Mark had been on the bench with four fouls, but returned to hit back to back 3-pointers and convert two free throws. Fischer, who had been limited to 4-for-14 first half shooting, ignited the 9-0 run by muscling past the 6-1 Wendorff in the lane, converting the layup and drawing a foul. Her three-point play made it 63-58. Fischer came back on the following possession to hit a jumper from the right baseline. Combined 4-for-4 foul shooting by Tucker and Sara Ettner that sent Washington out to an 11-point lead with 83 seconds remaining. Rodgers, who scored 21 points in Washington's semifinal win over Scranton, was 9-for-16 from the floor and had five offensive rebounds. Robyn Ruschmeier scored 14 points for St. Benedict and had five rebounds. Her presence, however, was not enough to offset the inside performances of the 6-2 Fisher and the athletic 5-10 Rodgers. "I'm glad it's over in a way," said Fahey, whose team won at Southern Maine to take the 1998 title. "But this is an amazing group of young ladies I have here. I feel in another way, I could go on forever." St. Benedict, the West sectional champ and members of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Conference, made no excuses for their defeat. In the Blazers' estimation, they did everything they could and played as well as they could. Durbin second-guessed himself about holding Mark out for too long in the end, but that was about it; Not too many tears, plenty of heads held high, even a few laughs. "I had a challenge on for our players, with the question being `what does your best game look like?' " said Durbin. "And you know what? That's a pretty good idea of what it would look like." Without question, this was a match decided by the players. Both teams were talented and physical in the post area, and both beat on each other throughout the bout. Nobody had a problem with that, either. "It was definitely a physical game," said Fischer, who had 28 points and 10 boards in last year's final against Joanna Brown and Tracy Libby of Southern Maine. "I think it was good the way the (officials) called it. Sometimes they try to regulate it too much. You just have to adjust to it if they're going to call it the way they did." Trailing by 34-30 at the half, St. Benedict tied the score at 34 early in the second half and led by 48-44 with 12:01 to go. A three-pointer by Beth Ruether, a leaner by Lindsay Merrill, Rodgers' put back and a 3 by Kjersten Kramer regained the advantage for Washington at 54-48. In the third-place game, Salem led at the half, 40-27, after trailing 17-16 midway through the opening session. Adrienne Johnson started an 11-2 run for the Vikings by hitting a free throw, and Terri Niles followed with back to back 3-pointers. Johnson kept the run going by hitting two more from the foul line and adding a jumper from the right wing. Niles (24 points) hit two more three-pointers early in the second half and Missy Smock added a pair of threes, lifting Salem into a 65-46 lead with nine minutes remaining. Scranton knocked its deficit down to 68-60 with 3:30 to play, but could not get any closer. Junior Dee Jackson, a 5-6 guard, scored 17 points for Salem and pulled in 12 rebounds. Scranton guard Kelly Halpin, who was held to 10 points in the semifinal loss to Washington, netted a team-high 17. With the Salem victory, a team from the Northeast region has now finished in the top three in the tournament for two consecutive seasons. NOTES: All tournament team: Alia Fischer (Washington), Tasha Rodgers (Washington), Molly Mark (St. Benedict), Robyn Ruschmeier (St. Benedict), Dee Jackson (Salem). Combined with the semifinal crowd of 1,835 on Friday, the two dates on the NCAA's first venture to a neutral site drew a respectable 3,870. The NCAA is thought to be leaning toward a return to Danbury for 2000.
Championship game WASHINGTON (30-0) -- Nolan 1-3 0-0 2, Rodgers 9-16 5-6 23, Fischer 9-21 1-3 19, Tucker 1-7 5-6, Harold 2-5 1-2 6, Merrill 2-2 0-0 4, Ettner 0-2 4-4 4, Reuther 1-3 0-0 3, Herrmann 1-2 0-0 2, Kramer 1-3 0-0 3, Lahargoue 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 27-64 16-21 74.
Halftime Washington 34, St. Benedict 30. Three-point goals- St. Benedict 5-12 (Mark 2-3, Schwichtenberg 1-5, Peterson 1-3, Korf 1-1); Washington 4-12 (Tucker 1-4, Reuther 1-3, Harold 1-2, Ettner 0-2). Rebounds- St. Benedict 30 (Wendorff 6), Washington 41 (Fischer 14). Assists- St. Benedict 14
(Blaser 5), Washington 16 (Rodgers 4). Team Fouls- St. Benedict 16, Washington 18. A- 1,990
Third-place game SCRANTON (65): Harris 2-5 1-2 5, Milder 3-5 3-4 9, Dougherty 5-12 0-0 11, McGovern 4-16 0-1 9, Halpin 7-17 2-2 17, Eibacher 2-12 0-0 6, Mohrman 1-5 2-2 4, Walsh 1-2 1-1 3, Hurleman 0-2 0-0 0, Kuntz 0-0 1-2 1, Tracy 0-0 0-0 0, Crowford 0-0 0-0 0; TOTALS: 25-76 10-14 65. Halftime: Salem 40, Scranton 27; 3-point goals: Salem 8-18 (Niles 6-9, Smock 2-9), Scranton 5-32 (Harris 0-2, Dougherty 1-2, McGovern 1-5, Halpin 1-8, Eibacher 2-11, Mohrman 0-3, Hurleman 0-1); Rebounds: Scranton 42 (Jackson 12), Scranton 36 (McGovern 8); Assists: Salem 18 (McKeen 5), Scranton 12 (Halpin 3); Total fouls: Salem 15, Scranton 20; Technical fouls: none; Fouled out: none. |
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