Jeffs are lords of the Dance

Amherst fought off Washington U. and took down the Bears 64-55 to win its first national championship, capping a remarkable four-year period in which the Lord Jeffs went 120-9 with three Final Four appearances. It’s the first women's basketball championship for a NESCAC program and the first for a Northeast region team since 1986.

The Lord Jeffs played stellar defense early, holding the Bears to 10 points in the game’s first 16 minutes. Washington’s defense was equally good and Amherst made just 10 first half field goals, but four of them were three-pointers. The Bears made a late first half surge to trim Amherst’s lead to 24-20 at the break.

Washington U. scored the first six points of the second half to seize the lead. The teams traded leads until Shannon Finucane splashed home a rainbow three-pointer to put Amherst back in front 30-28. The Lord Jeffs stayed in front until Alex Hoover drove baseline through the Amherst defense and fed Brianne Monahan who stepped back across the three-point line and drilled a game-tying jump shot with eight minutes to play. From that point forward, Amherst seized control. Caroline Stedman hit a runner in the lane, Lem Atanga McCormick hit an open three pointer and Stedman hit her third three pointer of the night to push the lead to 47-40. The Bears tried to rally with a couple late three pointers but Amherst made its free throws to repel the Washington U. rally and clinch the title.

Amherst outscored Washington U. 24-14 in the paint and took advantage of the Bears’ poor free throw shooting (15 for 26, or 57 percent). Stedman paced the Lord Jeffs with 19 points and Kim Fiorentino followed up Friday's shutdown defensive performance with 10 points and eight rebounds. Kathryn Berger notched 11 points and 10 rebounds for the Bears.

In the third place game, Chelsie Schweers capped her career with 23 points and the Captain reserves helped push Christopher Newport to a 64-58 win over Illinois Wesleyan. Schweers was named the D3hoops.com 2011 Player of the Year. The Coach of the Year went to Nancy Fahey of Washington U. and the Rookie of the Year to Vassar's Cydni Matsuoka.

The 2011 All-Tournament team was Stedman, Amherst forward Jaclyn Daigneault, Berger, Schweers and Illinois Wesleyan forward Nikki Preston. Stedman took home the Most Outstanding Player award.