Posting Up - Scoreboard - Top 25 - Features - Notables - Team of the Week - Live Audio - Schedule

Around
the Nation

Posted March 19, 2003

No, we're not the team to beat, really

What we have here are two teams, neither of whom wants to be considered the team to beat, so we’ll oblige and label both the Rochester Yellowjackets and Trinity Tigers women’s basketball teams as the as underdogs, even though they are going head-to-head in Friday’s national semifinal.

The two teams have more in common than just the desire to sneak up on everyone, however.

Photo by Chris Landon/FinishPhoto.com Anne Gotstein was looking on the Web for information, but Mark Simon hadn't finished this story yet.

“My homework tonight was to find out as much as I could about them,” Rochester senior forward Anne Gotstein said Sunday. “From looking at their roster and stats, it looks like we’re going to be playing against ourselves because we are so offensively balanced.”

Statistically speaking the Tigers (26-5) have seven players averaging better than seven points per while Rochester (24-4) has six scoring better than six points per game. Shots have been meted out pretty evenly. Each has four players that have taken more than 200 shots but fewer than 300 shots from the field. Both have a Smith in the backcourt that can score (Rochester junior guard Erika leads the team in scoring at 12.9 points per game, while Trinity guard Jenna, a sophomore transfer from Baylor ranks fifth at 8.4 points per game). Both have a starter out for the season with injury (Trinity’s Amy Howe and Rochester’s Hallie Frederick).

Defense is the trademark for both squads. Each has held its opponents to 36% shooting from the field this season. Rochester allowed 59 points per game. Trinity was slightly better at 56.

“Our defense is what gives us an advantage,” said Trinity coach Becky Geyer. “We pressure you a lot — ball pressure. We make you shoot it with a hand in your face.”

Both share the distinction of being the only teams to beat almighty Washington University this season. Most people didn’t expect that, but both teams have made a habit all season of proving that they belong with the nation’s elite.

“We wouldn’t be having this conversation if we didn’t play Washington University every year,” said fourth-year Rochester coach Jim Scheible, who told the first of his three sets of recruits that they would be playing for a national title by the time they are seniors. “They set such a high standard. You either get sick of trying to challenge them, or you keep trying. We got a good confidence boost when we beat them. It’s like you’re climbing a mountain and bulldoze the top right off. You feel like you can do anything. But Trinity beat them by 18. That got our attention because we knew how hard it was to beat them by single digits.”

The Tigers did so one night after having stunned No. 4 ranked unbeaten Hardin-Simmons on its home floor. The turning point for the next win may have come just a few minutes after that triumph.

Christine Gladchuk tied a team high with four assists in the win at Hardin-Simmons.

“When we’re playing well, we’re as good as any team in the country,” Geyer said. “I’ve said that since Christmas.”

Off the court, both have players with interesting backgrounds. Gotstein, who plays five musical instruments transferred in from Washington U., could have gone to MIT instead, and is heading along with Sarah Sullivan to graduate school to study biomedical engineering. Trinity’s fourth-leading scorer, Megan Selmon, was the player of the year in the SCAC last season, but missed the first semester because she was studying in Northern Ireland as part of the prestigious Woodrow Wilson Fellowship she earned. Selmon has already earned acceptance at both Harvard and Yale for post-graduate studies in government. Both coaches are on the national tournament selection committee. Scheible heads the east region and Geyer is the south region and national chair.

Both teams also have a strong faith, not just in each other. Look closely and you’ll see a few Yellowjackets praying during the national anthem. The Trinity players do something similar as well in the locker room just before coming out on the court.

“I think it helps us all come together,” Gladchuk said.

Both teams have bonded united in a single goal. They both have a long trip home and they want to leave Terre Haute with a championship. Just let one thing be known:

“It looks like we’re probably the underdogs at this point,” Scheible said near the close of the conversation.

“Please don’t write that we’re the favorites,” Geyer said. “We’ve enjoyed being in this position all year.”

COULDN'T GIVE IT UP: Eastern Connecticut State senior center Morgan Perry wants to clear up a misconception that some people have of her transferring in last summer from Division I Central Connecticut State.

“I don’t think anybody realizes that I didn’t transfer to play basketball,” said Perry, who was ready to abandon playing after what she termed a generally unpleasant all-around experience going the Division I route. “It wasn’t a winning/losing thing (Central Connecticut has struggled in the Northeast Conference). I actually had no intention of playing here, but then I thought about it and realized that, 10 years from now, I would have wished that I played. So I told coach (Denise Bierly) my situation. She told me she’d love to have me on the team, so I decided to give it a try.”

ECSU had been to the NCAA's the past two seasons and returned several key components from last season’s team, most notably junior All-American Allison Coleman. The top newcomer, one that helped push them over the top into the Final Four was Perry, a third-team all-Northeast Region selection, who was a strong inside presence with a nice shooting touch. Perry, fellow starters Deanne Prior, Kathleen Burdelski and Meghan Phelps, along with reserves Sarah McDonald and Katie Kline have all raised their level of play in the postseason to match Coleman, who has had a sensational tournament, averaging 22.8 points per game and 13.0 rpg. Perry did so especially on the defensive end, forcing Bowdoin senior center Kristi Royer into a 6-for-19 shooting performance.

“Morgan has provided great stability and leadership,” said Bierly. “The reason we’re here is because all our other kids have stepped up. They should be proud of what they have accomplished.”

Perry is. She’s having a great time now and she’s glad to have decided to play.

“Oh my goodness, of course I am!” she said. “Basketball hadn’t been a good experience for me. I’ve been here one year and it’s like a big wave of difference. It’s too bad it will be over soon.”

SHUTTING DOWN EAU CLAIRE: There may have been some people stunned by the final score of the Central Sectional semifinals, but Pacific Lutheran coach Gil Rigell was not among them.

“We weren’t surprised by it,” Rigell said a few days after his team's 43-41 last-second loss to top-ranked UW-Eau Claire.

A couple of weeks ago, we labeled Eau Claire as the team to beat, so we thought it was only fair to look more closely at how it was that they were almost beaten.

The one luxury that PLU (21-8) had, and should have again next season, is one had by none of Eau Claire’s three potential opponents this weekend — an athletic, 6-3 inch junior center named Courtney Johnson, who ranked among the national leaders in blocked shots. The five blocks she had in this game were more than any team had blocked against the Blugolds in any game this season. Two of the blocked shots came in the first six minutes and served as intimidation for any player that came into the paint.

“She bothers shots, she blocks shots, and she alters shots,” Rigell said, which may also explain why his team is among the nation’s best defensively. “She’ll usually alter about eight or 10 shots per game. She definitely causes problems for an inside game.”

Johnson was one reason that Eau Claire tallied its lowest point total of the season by far (the second lowest is 57 and in only one other game, against Division II South Dakota State, did the Blugolds score less than 60). Another was that PLU limited the Blugolds' shot opportunities. The Blugolds got only 65 shot opportunities (13 from the line). They averaged 79 the rest of the season. They also prevented Blugolds top scorer Kristi Channing (2-for-12 from the field entering the final minute) from getting any open shots.

“We dictated the pace of the game from start to finish,” Rigell said. “They are known for going on big runs, for opening up the game scoring pretty well. We forced them to do some other things and I think they didn’t know what hit them.”

Wisconsin Eau Claire kept the game close because of its offensive rebounding, something that PLU had no answer for, and good defense of its own. The Blugolds recovered 20 of their own missed shots and turned that into a dozen points. They yielded a few good looks but not a lot, and the Lutes were never able to pull away.

PLU led by as many as six points before Eau Claire rallied. Katie Murphy tied the game at 41 with a 3-pointer for Eau Claire with a 3-pointer with 3:35 remaining. Neither team scored again until Channing got free for her only open shot of the night, and drained it for the game-winner with three seconds remaining.

“We definitely had a great opportunity to win the game,” Rigell said.

There was no satisfaction in a moral victory for Rigell. Almost beating the No. 1 team in the country after topping Gustavus Adolphus in the second round wasn’t going to be enough this season. There was a time when it would have been — like five seasons ago when PLU upset Hardin-Simmons and lost a close game to St. Benedict in the sectional finals. Now all that can be done is look to should be a very promising season in 2003-04. The Lutes will have to find a way to replace senior leader Hillary Berg, but other than that the team should remain intact.

“Eau Claire is a great team and I think they have what it takes to win it all,” Rigell said. “If they do win it all, I think that says a lot about us. We’ve been at the forefront of (the Northwest Conference) as far as knocking on the door nationally and showing people that something is going on here. Hopefully we’ve earned some respect, not only for our program, but for our conference.”

Notes for Around the Nation are compiled with the help of sports information directors across the country. If you have suggestions or information for this column, please send it to mark@d3hoops.com.

Previous columns
2007-08 columns
March 6: Faith restored
Feb. 27: John Jay, Cinderella
Feb. 21: No safety net
Feb. 14: Ursinus better enough
Feb. 8: Hope-TMC on collision course
Jan. 31: Plattsburgh's big shot
Jan. 24: UMD answers call
Jan. 18: Like Bosko, like son
Jan. 11: Keystone stakes
Dec. 13: Unstoppable
Dec. 7: UWW aiming deeper
Nov. 30: Coach's shadow lingers
Nov. 15: Strong duo
2006-07 columns
2005-06 columns
2004-05 columns
2003-04 columns
2002-03 columns
2001-02 columns

Contact Us
About us
Feedback
Privacy Policy
Send Game Scores
Send Press Releases
Team of Week Nominations
User Survey