Inside Women's Basketball

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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!

WATCH PHOTO GALLERY FROM THE GAME

The future of women’s basketball shined bright in the Lone Star State during the 2010 Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) High School All-America Game presented by Nike Saturday, as the Red Team held off the White Team to take the title, 101-81.

The White Team got on the board first after Texas A&M recruit Karla Gilbert made her first of two free throws, but the Red Team dominated most of the early game, leading 48-37 at the half. Meighan Simmons (Tennessee signee) scored 15 of her 21 points in the first half to lead the Red Team while Jennifer O’Neill (Kentucky signee) contributed nine of her total 15 points for the White Team in the early going.

In the middle of the second half the Red Team was up by 24 points, but the White Team stayed persistant and eventually were able to cut the lead to 10 with 6:58 remaining, but the damage was already done, and the Red Team coasted to victory.

“It was such an unbelievable honor to be on the Final Four court for the first time and be in the midst of great players and have such high competition,” said White Team MVP and Stanford signee Chiney Ogwumike. “It may not have been demonstrated on the score board but we worked hard and learned a lot by playing thru adversity and trying to come back. This game was definitely a memorable experience for me.”

Ogwumike scored a game high 24 points to lead the White Team, including a perfect 5 for 5 at the free throw line, while Simmons was the high scorer for the Red Team with 21 points. Red Team MVP Chelsea Gray (Duke signee) had eight steals and went 2 for 4 at the 3-point line to contribute 18 points to the Red Team’s tally.

“I was born and raised in Texas and what a great honor for me to coach and be a part of such a prestigious game,” said Red Team coach Teri Morrison. “We had balanced scoring which is rare for an All-America game, and I was blessed to have a team full of kids who were willing to do anything they could.”

For the game, the Red squad shot 46.8 percent and the White Team 38 percent. Both teams had over 40 rebounds, 14 or more assists and double-digits in steals. UConn signee Samarie Walker had a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds to help secure the win for the Red Team. Tiffany Moore (Texas signee), Bria Hartley (UConn signee) and Natasha Howard (Florida State signee) each scored points in double digits for the Red Team.

For the White team, Lindsay Sherbert (California signee) contributed 11 points and seven rebounds, Sara James (Stanford signee) added eight points and seven rebounds while Gilbert assisted her team with seven points and seven boards.

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).

Video highlights and the full story here!
http://www.ncaa.com/sports/w-baskbl/recaps/032710aaa.html

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.

With the sweet 16 tipping off on Saturday, there are a handful of very talented freshman who have had phenomenal performances thus far in the NCAA tournament and may be the deal makers/breakers to help their team advance to the elite 8.

Baylor:  Brittney Griner

There is no denying Brittney Griner is the biggest impact player of the year, not only for freshman, but for all of women’s basketball.  While most people talk about her dunking ability, The 6’8″ frosh is swatting her way into the record books!  She leads the nation in shots blocked with 199 thru the first rounds of the NCAA tournament.  Griner blocked an NCAA tournament record 14 shots in Baylor’s 49-33 win over Georgetown.  Griner has been one of the biggest offensive and defensive threats drawing double and triple teams from opposing teams.  She averages 18 points a game, third best in the Big 12, and was also third in the conference with 8.5 rebounds a game with  two triple doubles on the season! Next up for Griner and company is Tennessee… a rematch of their season opener which the Lady Vols won.  Let’s see if Pat Summitt plays a zone again?

Kentucky: A’dia Mathies

While most media attention has gone to Tennessee, Georgia and South Carolina in the SEC,  Kentucky head coach Matthew Mitchell has been quietly rebuilding the Wildcat program.  In year three, the dividends are paying off as the players have bought into his run and gun, tough defensive system and with the addition of A’dia Mathies, this program has skyrocketed to the top of the polls.   Mathies the SEC freshman of the year, makes basketball look like a track meet!  She has a silky jumper and will pick your pocket faster than a bum in Times square.  Mathies averaged 13 points a game this season and led the SEC in steals.  So far, The 5’9″ guard has made a lot of noise in the tournament with a 32 point performance against Liberty and several key buckets against Michigan State to help the Wildcats advance to their second sweet 16 appearance in program history.  

Georgia: Jasmine James

The Bulldogs Jasmine James has been key in boosting Georgia to the sweet 16.   In her NCAA debut,  the 5’9″ guard from Memphis put up a quiet 8 points and  5 assists in the Bulldogs defeat of Tulane.  Her real coming out party was Monday night against higher seeded Oklahoma State.  James dropped a career high 27 points including 14 in overtime to lift UGA over the Cowgirls.  During the regular season, James averaged 11.7 points and 3 assists a game.  When James takes over, its a done deal.  The problem for Andy Landers is how to flip that switch.  If he can keep James in the “on” position, the Bulldogs have a real chance of upsetting #1 seed Stanford.

Notre Dame: Skylar Diggins

Home town cookin is the word in South Bend.   Skylar Diggins grew up less than five miles from the Irish and is the biggest recruit in Muffet McGraws career.  The results have been fast and furious, the Irish are back on the national scene thanks to Diggins.  Her level of athleticism, speed and will to win are what you find in the best of the best like Diana Taurasi, Candace Parker and Tamika Catchings.  Diggins has single handedly kept the Irish in the post season by scoring 31 points, dishing 7 assists and grabbing 6 steals in Notre Dame’s win over Vermont.  Diggins is fun to watch and a fan favorite.  If she can stay hot, it will be a great game against Oklahoma. 

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.