Inside Women's Basketball

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The Connecticut Huskies are perfect for the second year in a row, have a historic 78 game win streak and now a total of seven national championship titles!  The Huskies defeated Stanford 53-47 in the lowest scoring national championship in women’s NCAA history.

Two time All-American Tina Charles and Kalana Greene finished their college careers on top.  “We were able to experience this two times,” said an emotional Charles.  “Just the hard work that we put into it and just the support we had from just everybody from the fans, from our student body back at school, just everything, I think this is for everybody and how special it is.”

Charles finishes her career as the all-time rebounder for the UConn Huskies.

It wasn’t a pretty win though, the Huskies were very cold in the first half, shooting just 17% from the field!   “I was worried all year long that what exactly happened in the first half was going to happen,” said Connecticut head coach Geno Auriemma.

Stanford came out with an excellent game plan and appeared to have Connecticut rattled.  Nnemkadi Ogwumike’s main assignment was to guard Maya and it work, Moore had just 5 points in the first half.  “I thought Stanford did a great job in the first half, just being physical, trying to jam up our cuts, not letting us kind of move where we wanted to,” said Moore about the Cardinal.  “It forced us to have to work harder off the ball to get open and just being tougher with the basketball.”

But the scoring woes weren’t just for the Huskies.  Jayne Appel was held scoreless in the game for the first time in her college career.  She suffered sprained ankle which the trainers re-taped, but was never able to get in a scoring rhythm.

As usual, Geno found a way to motivate his team at half-time.  Trailing 12-20 at the half, the Huskies began the second half with a 17-2 run to take a 29-22 lead with 12 minutes left in the game.  Moore flipped the tables on the scoring woes, she dropped 18 second half points and finished with 23.  Stanford shot just 27% from the field.

Maya Moore scored 54 points over the two games in this Final Four, tying her with Diana Taurasi in 2003 for fourth place on the all-time list. Moore’s 18 second half points are tied for fifth highest output in a championship game.

UConn is the first NCAA Division I women’s basketball team ever to post back-to-back undefeated seasons, and first Division I team of either gender to do so since John Wooden’s UCLA teams of 1972 and 1973.

The UConn win streak will continue to next season, if they win their first 10 games they will pass UCLA’s all time win streak.

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UCONN vs STANFORD….THE RUBBER MATCH!!

The all-time series between Stanford and Connecticut is tied at 5-5 heading into Tuesday’s national title game.  UConn is on the well publicized win streak that now sits at 77.  That streak started after UConn lost to Stanford two years ago in the national semi-finals.  Since then, Stanford has a won 69 games of their own and lost just 5 times.  Two of those loses were to Connecticut.

Stanford and Connecticut meet on the season’s final weekend for the third straight season with Tuesday’s matchup being the rubber game!  Two years ago, the Cardinal upset the Huskies, 82-73 in the national semifinal in Tampa, Fla. before Connecticut got its revenge last year, eliminating Stanford with an 83-64 win in the national semifinal in St. Louis. The best two out of three will be decided tomorrow!

Click Here to Watch Photo Gallery of Maya Moore and All-Americans

SAN ANTONIO, TX; For the second year in a row, Connecticut’s Maya Moore has been named the State Farm Wade Trophy Player of the Year winner.  Moore is only the third player to take home the Wade Trophy two times.

Moore became the fastest player in Connecticut history to reach the 2,000-point milestone and the only junior to do so.  She currently is fourth on the all-time rebounding list at Connecticut with 940 rebounds and is seventh on the all-time scoring list with 2,111 points.  Her dominance on the court has pushed the Huskies to a unanimous No. 1 ranking in the USA TODAY ESPN Top 25 Coaches’ Poll throughout the entire season.

State Farm also announced the Coaches’ All-American team.  The members of the  Team are as follows: Jayne Appel (Stanford), Tina Charles (Connecticut), Victoria Dunlap (Kentucky), Kelsey Griffin (Nebraska), Amber Harris (Xavier), Jantel Lavender (Ohio State), Maya Moore (Connecticut), Nnemkadi Ogwumike (Stanford), Danielle Robinson (Oklahoma), and Monica Wright (Virginia).

MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE – Revenge is a dish best served cold!  Brittney Griner delivered 27 points, 10 blocks and 7 rebounds to defeat top seeded Tennessee 77-64 avenging their season opening loss the Vols.

“I knew I had to come out and play my game,” said a glowing Brittney Griner in the post game press conference. “Watching film helped me a lot. I could see my mistakes from when we first played them (Tennessee).”

Griner recorded her 200th career block at the 18:55 mark of the first half, adding to her NCAA single-season record which now stands at 209.  The 6’8″ freshman also posted her 26th block in the NCAA tournament, just 4 blocks behind current record holder Alison Bales of Duke.

With overwhelming crowd support for the Vols, Baylor handed Tennessee its first-ever loss (17-1) when playing an NCAA regional game in the Volunteer State.   The Bears are now 4-1 against No.1 seeds in the NCAA tournament and advance to just their second Elite 8 in program history!

“I’m really excited,” said Griner. “I’m just taking in every moment, trying to stay focused on the game and at the same time take in everything that’s happening. This is just really special.”

The Vols were plagued with foul trouble limiting the amount of time bigs Kelly Cain and Alicia Brewer could play together in the second half of the game.  Because of that Griner was able to have her way in the pain.  The freshman sensation was also 11 of 13 from the line, punishing Tennessee when they did foul her.  With 8 minutes in the game, Baylor put together a 21-1 run that finished off the Vols.

Shenika Strickland lead Tennessee with 18 points.  For Baylor, Morgan Medlock had 12 points and Kelli Griffin had 10.  The Bears advance to play second seeded Duke on Monday.

ATLANTA – The Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA), in cooperation with State Farm, announced the finalists for the 2010 State Farm Coaches’ All-America Team for the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I. The 40 finalists, who are voted upon by WBCA-member coaches in each of the eight WBCA geographical regions, are now in the running for selection to the 10-member State Farm Coaches’ All-America Team.

Tennessee's Angie Bjorklund

The finalists are:

The State Farm Coaches’ All-America Team for NCAA Division I will be announced in the Alamodome on Center Court between open practices on Saturday, April 3, at 1:05 p.m. CT as a part of the NCAA’s Super Saturday events in San Antonio, Texas.

Watch Semi-Final Hilites

The D-II national championship is on Friday, March 26 at 7:00 pm at the St. Joseph Civic Arena in Missouri and will air live on ESPN2.

Fort Lewis 79 Franklin Pierce 64

Sixth-ranked Fort Lewis’s balanced attack was too much for Franklin
Pierce and their star forward Johannah Leedham as the Skyhawks upset the
Ravens 79-64.

Averaging 27.1 points per game before the tournament, the Skyhawks held
Leedham to only 13 points. According to head coach Mark Kellogg,
shutting Leedham down was a key part of Fort Lewis’s strategy coming
into the game.

“We knew we had to focus the game plan on her and build around it,”
Kellogg said. “It happened to be probably the worst of her career at
the right time for us. But we would like to think that we had a heck of
a lot to do with that.”

Franklin Pierce’s point guard, Cynthia Gaudet, outscored Leedham,
finishing with 23 points. However, it wasn’t enough. After losing the
lead within the first five minutes of the game, the Ravens never got
ahead again. Fort Lewis took control and never looked back, leading by
as much as 20 points down the stretch.

“I’m elated at the moment, to say the least,” Kellogg said.
“I’m happiest A, for the kids, but B because we bought into
the game plan that we put together in 24 hours or less, playing against
the kid who scored the most points in Division II I think ever.”

Fort Lewis’s balanced scoring was the key. The Skyhawks were led by
forward Allison Rosel with 22 points, followed by Laura Haugen with 19,
Katie Mackey with 11 and Abby Jackson with ten.

“I’m so proud of the effort; so proud that they bought in and that
that they saw the reward for it,” Kellogg said. “I thought that
offensively, our balance won out.”

After upsetting the second-seeded Ravens, Fort Lewis is now heading to
the championship game on Friday night. Senior Laura Haugen couldn’t be
happier with how her team has performed this season.

“I don’t even know if it’s hit me yet,” Haugen said. “It’s
amazing; we’ve been looking forward to this since day one freshman
year. That was our final goal. We’ve been working so hard through
preseason for four years and all those crappy practices and tough
losses, it’s all paid off.”

Kellogg is also looking forward to the prospect of winning a national
championship in a few short days.
“It’s a little bit of a team of destiny to me right now,” Kellogg
said. “There’s just this will and this want right now with this team
and they’re just not ready to pack it up quite yet. It starts with
those five seniors.”
Haugen agreed that the Skyhawks will leave it all on the floor Friday.

“Our careers are coming to an end and we’ve got to play like it’s
the last time we’re ever going to play,” Haugen said. “We know
that everyone else is going to play the same way – win or go home.”

Emporia State 97 Gannon 94

The second game of Wednesday night to decide the final two teams in the
Women’s Division II Tournament was a match-up between the 37-0 Gannon
Lady Knights and the 25-5 Emporia State Hornets.

The game was back and forth the first half as there were five lead
changes and six times that the score was tied.  The biggest lead for the
Lady Knights was just four points in the first 20 minutes, setting the
tone for how the pace of the game was going to be.  To end the half
Emporia State was up one point over the Lady Knights.

Gannon came out of the gate being more consistent from the field than
Emporia State.  Being 50 percent from the field boosted the Lady Knights
into an early lead, yet Emporia State hit 39.1 percent beyond the arc,
giving them the advantage by one heading into the locker room.

Cassondra Boston, a big scoring threat for Emporia State, shot just
3-11 from the field in the first half.  Alli Volkens, also a key player
for the Hornet’s, sat most of the first half due to foul trouble with
two.

Head coach Brandon Schneider for the Emporia State Hornets was very
aware of the lack of focus that his team had in the first half.

“I thought we lost our composure a little bit in the first half,”
Coach Schneider said.

The second half wasn’t any easier for the Hornets, as the number one
ranked Gannon team took an 18 point lead with just 8:45 left to go in
the game.

“Being down 18 was tough but I mean if we could come together and
just be who we know that we can be that we could maybe pull out the
win,” Jamie Augustyn said.

Senior Guard Jamie Augustyn contributed 15 points in the game, hitting
five three point shots to help her Hornet team.

Emporia dropped into a zone defense to try to stop the bleeding that
Gannon had so fiercely enforced with only eight minutes to go in the
game.  What happened in the next six minutes was seen as unlikely by
many.

With big shots by senior point guard Cassondra Boston, junior forward
Alli Volkens, and sophomore guard Brittney miller, the hornets had cut
the 18 point deficit and the game was tied with nine seconds left to go
in regulation.

Overtime.

Much like the pace of the first half, the five minutes of overtime was
neck and neck between the two battling teams.
Kristina Freeman, senior guard for Gannon University, tried to keep her
senior season going as she contributed 17 points for her squad.

“The whole game, the big part of my game play was being aggressive.
It could’ve been anybody out there, it just happened to me tonight,”
Freeman said.

Despite Gannon’s confidence as a team, Emporia seemed to play with
more heart and determination, overcoming diversity and getting the ball
into the post, where Volkens could do her job, after sitting out of the
game for most of the first half and playing the majority with four
fouls.

A turning point of the overtime win was two free throws made by senior
guard Lacy Corker to put the team up by two with 21 seconds left to go
in overtime.

The confidence that Emporia had, even when they were down 18, was
apparent with the come back win to get to the championship game.

“Even when we were down 18 there was so much time left on the clock
and we have so many great players on our team that I feel we can always
step up and take over the game.” Corker said.

“It’s a great feeling, I’m still kind of in shock,” Augustyn
said.

Georgia Head Coach Andy Landers gets his 750th win and a sweet 16 appearance with the upset 74-71 win over Oklahoma State

It was the Big 12 going down in flames last night as both No. 2 seeded Texas A&M and was dropped by No. 7 Gonzaga 72-71 and 4th seeded Oklahoma State  was upset by 5th seeded Georgia in overtime 74-71.

Georgia after falling in the early rounds of the SEC Tournament, has bounced back in the NCAA Tournament to make their 18th sweet 16 appearance.  Monday’s win was the 50th NCAA Tournament victory for Georgia head coach Andy Landers, ranking him fifth all-time among Division I coaches. It was also his 750th career victory at Georgia.

Jasmine James had a career high 27 points for the Bulldogs.

UGA freshman guard Jasmine James finished with a career-high 27 points, including 14 of the team’s 19 points in overtime.

“It was just a really intense game,” said James about the 15 lead changes in the game. “You never knew which way it was going to go, but it was a very fun game.  I’m just really excited to be able to come out with a win and to be going to the Sweet 16 is a very good feeling right now.”

OSU’s Andrea Riley, one of the nation’s leading scorers, put up 31 points and teammate Tegan Cunningham scored 25, but they were the only major contributors.  The rest of the Cowgirls combined for 15 points.

Georgia will face No. 1 seed Stanford in the Sweet 16. The Bulldogs are 3-6 all-time against Stanford, including a 2-3 mark against them in NCAA Tournament play. The last time Georgia and Stanford met in the NCAA Tournament was a second-round matchup in 2000, and the Bulldogs were victorious 83-64.  Georgia also defeated Stanford in the 1996 Final Four. The Cardinal eliminated the Bulldogs in the 1991, 1993 and 1997 NCAA Tournaments.

Meanwhile, Gonzaga was another victory for the rising Mid-majors!   Vivian Frieson scored a 13 foot jumper with 17.2 seconds in the game to give the Zags the win over A&M and advance to their first ever sweet 16 appearance.

“It means the world to me, me and Heather have been a part of a lot of firsts at this University,” said Frieson about the win. “It felt great to go to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 2007, it felt great to win our first game last
year against Xavier and it feels even better to go to the Sweet 16.”

Gonzaga is now riding a 20 game win streak and will face the winner of the Xavier Vanderbilt match up tonight.

Vermont center Alisa Sheftic celebrates their 64-55 victory over Wisconsin in the first round NCAA Tournament Sunday March 21, 2010. (Joe Raymond/Vermont University)

When 10th seeded Vermont dropped 7th seeded Wisconsin 64-55 it was the first of many firsts for the Catamounts.  This was the first time Vermont beat a Big 10 school and their first NCAA win in school history.   It was just the 4th win in 19 tries for the entire America East Conference.

“We said in the beginning of the year that this was one of our goals to get back to the NCAA and not just compete, but win a game”, said Vermont senior guard Courtnay Pilypaitis.  “I think it feels great to win this game.  Great for our program to get the first win, and now we are just looking to build on that.”

After an opening day where all top seeds won, Vermont triggered a slew of upsets on day two of the tournament all by mid-major schools.  The most surprising is 11th seeded San Diego State knocking off 6th seeded Texas 74-63 on their own court!  The Aztecs jumped out to a 19 point lead on the Longhorns. Jene Morris scored 32 points including a flurry of 3 pointers to shock Gail Goestenkors and company.

“I give credit to San Diego State.  They made big plays, especially Jene Morris,” said Goestenkors. “We obviously couldn’t do anything with her.  She hit ‑‑ from outside she penetrated, hit from inside, and she’s also an outstanding defensive player.  So she pretty much had her way with us.”

From there 12th seeded Wisconsin-Green Bay dropped 5th seeded Virginia 69-67 in the closest game of the upsets.  The Cavaliers needed more support for ACC player of the year Monica Wright who scored 34 points in the losing effort.

The win was significant because Wisconsin-Green Bay was granted the first ever at large bid for the Horizon League… they showed their gratitude by claiming their fourth win in eleven tournament appearances.

The ACC took the brunt of the upsets going 2-4 including 11th seeded Arkansas-Little Rock dropping 6th seeded Georgia Tech 63-53.

Other mid-majors that advanced were Gonzaga, Dayton, Temple and Xavier. This goes to show the talent pool is growing and slowly narrowing the gap between the top seeds and the lower seed.  The level of visibility for these “lower seeds” are receiving will also continue to close the gap when coaches hit the recruiting trail this spring.

Making the sweet 16 will be the next step for these programs.

If women’s basketball was a reality show, the main characters would be Geno and Pat! These two have been acting like catty “Housewives” feuding and back stabbing all the way to the national championship.

Tennessee head coach Pat Summitt

For years Tennessee versus UConn was the most exciting rivalry in the women’s game with sold out games, in prime-time with all the drama of two heavyweights going 12 rounds. But all that was put on ice in 2007 when Pat accused Geno of recruiting violations surrounding Maya Moore… a player she heavily recruited to come to Tennessee! When Pat pulled the plug on the annual out of conference game against the Huskies, Geno acted true to character, addressing the situation with arrogance and sarcasm. The stand off has lasted three seasons and is finally coming to an end… or to a head thanks to the NCAA selection committee!

Connecticut head coach Geno Auriemma

Barring any early round upsets, the Huskies & Vols will face off at the final four in the national semi-final. This match-up has the potential to bring the best ratings ever in women’s basketball! The thought of Tennessee being able to end UConn’s win streak and deny them back to back national championships is the kind of drama reality TV producers dream of! It’s the game EVERYONE wants to see!

Quite frankly we are all tired of seeing UConn spank opponents by 30+ points. For a faint moment we thought Stanford or Notre Dame could challenge the Huskies and create the drama we have been missing from “TenneConn”. Well that was nothing but a big disappointment!! After UConn spanked Notre Dame on their home court to win an NCAA record 71st consecutive game, I wished Pat hadn’t pulled the plug! Admit it… you have thought to yourself, this streak would not be this long if Pat would play Geno!

UConn fan has a message for Pat Summitt

I’m not sure who I’m more upset with, Geno for being arrogant or Pat for being stubborn! Either way…neither coach can derail the crash course set in place by the NCAA selection committee. The national championship game will be insignificant compared to the semifinals and so will the ratings! Tennessee versus UConn will be the main event in San Antonio! And maybe at the end of the day the bitter rivalry is just what we need! Everybody loves a little reality TV drama!

ATLANTA – The Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) announced that Hope College junior Carrie Snikkers has been named the State Farm/WBCA National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III Player of the Year. The WBCA presents this award annually to the top players in each of the following WBCA collegiate divisions (NCAA Divisions II, III, NAIA and JC/CC) and high school.

“Carrie Snikkers accomplishments this year made her stand out above the rest for the State Farm/WBCA Division III Player of the Year,” said WBCA CEO Beth Bass. “I am pleased to present this award to Carrie as she has proved to be the best in Division III.”

As a 6’3 center, Snikkers has helped lead her team to a 31-1 record this season as the program makes its third trip to the NCAA Division III Final Four. She was sidelined for eight games this season with a foot stress fracture, but Snikkers still managed to have seven double-doubles and is averaging 20.2 points and 10.8 rebounds per game in the tournament. She set the Hope single season record for blocked shots (66) and holds the school’s career record for blocked shots (166).

During her three seasons with Hope, the team has had an 89-4 record, won three consecutive Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championships and advanced to the Elite Eight each year. Last season, Snikkers was an all-conference first team selection and conference MVP, an ABCA All-Region selection and a State Farm Coaches’ All-American. This year she has already been named to the all-conference first team and been the conference player of the week four times.

As a senior at Unity Christian High School, Snikkers played on the state championship team and was second in the Miss Michigan Basketball voting. She is majoring in communications at Hope.