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Posted March 5, 2009

Division III's mainstays

So you thought maybe, just maybe, that the remarkable runs of success by Bowdoin and Southern Maine in the D3hoops.com era would come to an end with coaching changes for both schools this past offseason.

Bowdoin athletics photo Maria Noucas leads Bowdoin in steals. Bowdoin averages more than 10 steals per game.

Not so fast my friends. They're back in the NCAA Tournament as conference champs this weekend, with Bowdoin hosting Castleton State, and Southern Maine facing Emmanuel at Amherst.

Bowdoin won both the NESCAC regular season title and the postseason tournament in a season held together by band-aids. Three key players missed significant time due to injury, with star forward Jill Anelauskas going down for the season with a knee injury four games into the year and forward Leah Rubega missing three weeks just before league play with torn cartilage in her knee.

"It's been a challenging season, but a rewarding one," said first-year Bowdoin coach Adrienne Shibles, who replaced Navy-bound Stefanie Pemper. "We were focused on telling the team that no matter what injuries we had, we had the depth to face any challenge. I've had faith in this team from Day One."

Day One was actually a trip to Poland and Ireland, arranged by Pemper for her team before she left. That made for a good team bonding experience in which Shibles got to know her players.

"When we started the school year, we didn't feel like strangers," Shibles said.

Bowdoin got its world rocked when it lost to Brandeis by 27 in the second game of the season, then lost at home to Southern Maine to slip to 3-2. But since then, the Polar Bears are 20-2, including a current nine-game win streak that began with a buzzer-beating basket by Rubega at Amherst and ended with a little Morrell Gym magic. Bowdoin won the conference title, improving to 30-0 in home conference tournament games, 47-44, despite shooting just 14-for-60 from the field.

Bowdoin athletics photo Adrienne Shibles, left, coached at Swarthmore earlier in the decade. Assistant coach Alison Smith started for Bowdoin's national runner-up team.

"To beat Amherst twice is a great credit to our group, because (Amherst) is a fantastic defensive team," Shibles said. "All season, I've told the team that defense would win a championship. Our defense is what kept us in that game.

Bowdoin's defense averaged 10 steals and allowed only 53.6 points per game, and it ratcheted up the pressure as a way to compensate for the injuries and keep opponents from getting to the rim. The Polar Bears had a rebound margin of plus-7.3 despite having only one regular who stands 6-0 or taller, center Caitlin Hynes. On offense, they take care of the basketball and limit mistakes. That's keyed by first-team All-NESCAC point guard Maria Noucas, who had 21 assists and only four turnovers in the conference tournament.

"She is the consummate floor general," Shibles said. "Through all our injuries, she's been very consistent. She's our glue."

The scoring attack is a balanced one, one that wins with team play. In one stretch early in the season, Bowdoin went through nine games in which eight different players led the team in scoring. Rubega (10.4 points) and guard Katie Bergeron (10.2 points) pace the offense and freshman guard Jill Henrikson (9.1 points), the NESCAC Rookie of the Year, has also stepped up her game significantly.

The result is the 23-4 mark, one that fits right in with the amazing run of success that Bowdoin has had in recent years. Shibles, returning to the collegiate game (she spent 10 years at Swarthmore) after a stint as athletic director at Gould Academy (a prep school in Maine) was named NESCAC Coach of the Year.

"Change is challenging for anyone," Shibles said. "Considering the shoes I was attempting to fill here, it's been smooth. I credit that to the seniors. Jill, Maria, and Alexa (Kaubris) have been fantastic. They knew they could either wallow in the news of Stef leaving, or they could be true leaders and leave an important legacy. They've done everything to make the transition a good one."

The transition from Gary Fifield to Mike McDevitt as head coach of Bowdoin's in-state rival, Southern Maine, was a good one as well. It just took a different path than usual to show it.

McDevitt was the school's top assistant after a long stint as head coach at St. Joseph's (Maine). The only thing that changed when McDevitt slid down a seat was that the head coach was now tall and bald, rather than short and gray-haired.

The Huskies returned only four players from the team that got stunned by Brandeis in the first round of the NCAA Tournament last season, and finished third in the Little East with a 9-5 mark. For most programs, that's a pretty good year, but a typical season at Southern Maine is one with one or two league losses. This was a case in which the rest of the Little East caught up, with the league putting three teams in the NCAA Tournament, with four, including the Huskies, winning 20 games.

Southern Maine athletics photo Stacey Kent missed six games for Southern Maine in midseason. The Huskies lost three of them.

"I don't know that anyone got frustrated," McDevitt said. "We were mature enough to realize that when we played at Western Connecticut, Eastern Connecticut, Keene, and Rhode Island College, that these were pretty good teams. Southern Maine has done a great job of setting the standard, and a lot of teams have followed."

An NCAA bid for Southern Maine wasn't a sure thing come tournament time, but the Huskies ensured they'd be there with a dramatic, sudden improvement. Twice during the regular season, they lost to Western Connecticut State, and in the Little East semifinals, they trailed the Colonials by 10 at halftime. But a rally keyed by a defense that forced 27 turnovers, got Southern Maine a come-from-behind win, and they prevailed in the title game at Eastern Connecticut by making a couple key baskets late, when an early lead slipped away in the final two minutes.

"We basically picked a good time to play our best basketball of the season," McDevitt said. "Confidence (is the biggest difference). When we staved off elimination against (Western Connecticut), we felt like we had nothing to lose. We played loose and it showed on the court. We didn‘t panic."

Senior Stacey Kent has been the team's top scorer all season (15.5 points) and Kaylie Demillo set a school record for 3-pointers with 74. But when Western Connecticut shut both down, it was sophomore forward Kristi Violette who led the way with 22 points and eight rebounds. She's averaged 16.2 points in her last four games, coinciding with the run to the title and NCAA bid.

"The personality of this team is very determined and mature," McDevitt said, describing not just the key to the Little East title game win, but that for their success this season. "They realized what situation was, didn't get too high or low and continued to work hard towards being successful."

The Rams were 3-22 in 2005-06 when this year's seniors were freshmen. Though they showed some improvement the next two seasons, the Rams still did not have a winning record. Their last winning season came in 2003 when they finished 16-11 and 12-6 in the Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.

Those facts alone made Cornell's run to second place in the IIAC and the NCAA tournament a surprise for people outside the program. At 21-6, the Rams set a school record for wins and won the IIAC Tournament with a 58-56 victory over Wartburg.

"We had to start all over," said fifth-year Cornell coach Mike DeGeorge. "There was a gap in recruiting with the previous coaching situation and the way that ended. So, my second or third year here, we didn't have a junior or senior on the roster.

"This group has grown up and had to take their lumps," he added. "They weren't physically strong enough. They didn't defend the way you needed to and they didn't understand their roles. The last three years, we've really worked with them to improve all those things. Seniors have a sense of urgency and a sense of purpose to winning. It's hard to get kids to understand that until they are seniors. They've been just tremendous leaders. We play for our seniors and it's shown on the floor."

Two seniors who have had a great impact on this year's team are guards Griffin LaDew and Michael Tierney. They have led the Rams in scoring in 21 of 27 games this season. LaDew leads the Rams with 14.3 points per game on 45.1 percent shooting. LaDew is hitting 38.5 percent of his three-pointers.

When he is not scoring the basketball, LaDew remains active by handing out 56 assists against 30 turnovers. He also has a team-leading 41 steals.

Tierney scores 14 points per game. He shoots 48.6 percent from the floor and rebounds well from the guard spot. Despite Tierney's 5-10 frame, he is second on the team with 5.1 rebounds per game.

"They're playmakers and create a group confidence because of how confident they are," DeGeorge said of LaDew and Tierney. "They're both fearless. They are not afraid of losing and are willing to do what it takes to win. They both stepped up in terms of all aspects of the game.

"We know that we've got a great chance if it's close because they're both going to make plays," he added. "Griffin's our school's all-time leading scorer and Michael has had some injuries where he hasn't been able to perform consistently throughout his four years."

"We were kind of getting a feel for the games," Tierney said of his freshman year. "We were all young, didn't have any upperclassmen to lead the way. Now we expect to win. Early on, we just wanted to get in and play, feel things out. Now we go into games with a level of confidence. This is our last year; we've got to get some stuff done. We go into games expecting to win."

The Rams developed that chip on their shoulders on a spring trip to Greece last year. In a foreign country, Cornell learned more than how to play the game. They have a bond forged by adversity.

"[That] was a great experience for our kids," said DeGeorge. "They really grew up. Our posts got stronger and that senior leadership really developed throughout the off-season. Those little pieces put us over the top.

"It made a tremendous difference just in terms of playing on the road," he added. "We played in a foreign country where I was trying to get an explanation from the officials and don't speak the same language. The ball's different and guys were smoking in the stands. It was not a normal basketball environment. I think being in foreign settings helps you focus on what's important for you to be successful."

"We got a few more practices in the offseason and few more games which helped to keep guys in the gym working out throughout the summer," Tierney said. "When we were over there, nobody spoke English. It was just us and we relied on each other all the time."

If the Rams are hoping to advance in this year's NCAA tournament, they have to revert back to the road warrior mentality. When the brackets were released, Cornell was placed opposite UW-Stevens Point.

The Pointers are 23-4 and ranked fourth in this week's D3hoops.com poll. Not only are they highly regarded this season, UW-Stevens Point has been a good program for several years. They won back-to-back NCAA championships in 2004 and 2005.

"Making the tournament was an emotional journey," Tierney said. "We've been through a lot here, a lot of hardship, heartache. To make it and prove to the college community, as well as the local community, that this program can be a respected program was just great. Every team in this tournament from here on out is going to be good. We're going to fight like hell, do everything we can and whatever happens happens."

"You don't go through that league and win that league without being a great team," DeGeorge said of the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. "It's the best league in the country. We have to defend on the perimeter at all five spots. At the other end, they're very good defensively and quick in their rotations.

"Our ability to break them down and take what they give us is going to be really a key battle," concluded George. "We're going to be bigger than they are and they have a little better quickness than we do. Who's going to win out on that battle will probably determine the outcome."

If you have a tip or note, send it to atn@d3hoops.com.

2008-09 columns
Feb. 20: York (Pa.), no cliche
Feb. 13: St. Thomas writing history
Feb. 6: George Fox on hunt
Jan. 30: Brother, brother
Jan. 23: Growing a program
Jan. 16: Dudek's rare feat
Jan. 9: Ravin' about Anderson
Dec. 18: Chicago marooned at 0-9
Dec. 12: De Luca back on track
Dec. 4: Ithaca surprises
Nov. 21: Augie gets some delp
Nov. 13: Is repeat possible?

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