CAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL RECAP - MAR. 3
Towson 64, Old Dominion 56 (OT)
Box Score
NORFOLK, Va. - Shanae Baker-Brice scored nine of the Tigers' 14 points in overtime to lead the Tigers to a 64-56 win over Old Dominion in the regular season finale for both teams on Wednesday evening. Towson (15-14, 9-9 CAA) earned their first ever win over Old Dominion, who captured the Colonial Athletic Association regular season title.
"I'm extremely proud of our kids tonight", said Coach Joe Mathews. "We challenged the kids in shoot around today to step up and come ready to play and they really responded."
With the score tied at 50-50 at the start of overtime, the Tigers struck first as Baker-Brice drained a three-pointer. Old Dominion scored the next four points in the extra session to take a 54-53 lead with 2:29 to play. Katrina Wheeler hit a pair of free throws at 2:05 to jump start a 10-0 Towson run. Baker-Brice capped the run with a pair of free throws with 14 seconds remaining and the Tigers led 63-54. Old Dominion got one final basket before Haliena Snowden hit one of two from the line to seal the victory.
The game was a tight battle from the start. With the score tied at 4-4, the Tigers went on a 7-2 run to take an 11-7 lead with 13:57 remaining in the first half. The two teams traded baskets over the next several minutes as a Baker-Brice jumper at 6:59 tied the game at 20-20. Old Dominion closed the half on a 10-5 run to take a 30-25 lead into the break.
Towson scored the first four points of the second half to make it a 30-29 with 18:51 to go. The Lady Monarchs went on a 6-1 run to take a 36-30 lead with 15:41 to go. The Tigers responded with an 11-0 run to take a 41-36 lead with 10:13 to go. Kandace Davis hit a lay-up at 7:05 to give the Tigers a 44-38 lead. The two teams traded baskets and Tia Lewis made one of two from the charity stripe to tie the game at 46-46 with 2:51 to play. The Tigers and Lady Monarchs traded baskets and the score was tied at 48-48 with 2:21 to play. Kquanise Byrd made one of two free throws at 1:35 to put the home team up 49-48. Krystin Fields stole the ball and hit a lay-up with 34 seconds remaining to put Towson up 50-49. The Tigers got called for a foul with 11 seconds remaining but Jessica Canady hit just one of two from the line. Old Dominion got the rebound off the miss but did not get a shot off sending the game to overtime.
For the Tigers, it was their first win in 15 tries against the Lady Monarchs. Baker-Brice led all scorers with 20 points, her 13th 20+ point performance of the year. She would also add eight rebounds, two assists and three steals. Wheeler recorded her second straight "double-double" and fifth of the season after finishing with 11 points and 12 rebounds. Snowden was the third Tigers in double figures with 10 points and eight rebounds. Fields earned her second start of the season and posted a career-high nine points, four rebounds and two blocks. Davis finished with eight points, seven rebounds and three blocks. The three blocks puts Davis over 100 for her career, the fourth player in school history to do so.
Canady led Old Dominion with 11 points and seven rebounds. Byrd and Lewis came off the bench to score 10 points apiece for the Lady Monarchs.
Towson returns to action on Thursday, March 11 when the CAA Championship begins at James Madison. The Tigers will be the seventh seed and face tenth seeded UNC Wilmington at 5 p.m.
William & Mary 71, Drexel 65
Box Score
WILLIAMSBURG, Va. - The William and Mary women's basketball team closed out the regular season in style Wednesday night, downing Drexel 71-65 at Kaplan Arena. With the win, the Tribe improves to 12-17, 5-13 in the Colonial Athletic Association, while the Dragons fall to 17-12, 11-7 in conference play.
On Senior Night, it was senior Robyn Barton (Lake Oswego, Ore.) kickstarting the Tribe into high gear with three quick three pointers to boost her team out to a 15-2 lead with 15:25 remaining in the first half. While the Dragons would chip away at the lead, W&M had another 6-0 spurt in them later in the half that included Barton drawing a foul and an attempt at three points the old fashioned way. Despite shooting over 48% in the half (16-33), W&M headed into the lockers down one, 36-35, setting the stage for a terrific comeback in the second half.
Coming out of the break, a lay-up by senior Tiffany Benson (Virginia Beach, Va.) and a three by classmate Kelly Heath (Suffield, Conn.) staked W&M on a 7-2 run and four-point lead just two-and-a-half minutes into the period. Drexel had one more run in them, going up six at 48-42 with 12:35 showing on the clock, but the Tribe closed the gap with a six-oh run and the lead never got bigger than three until captain Katherine DeHenzel (Bowie, Md.) hit the first of five consecutive free throws in the final 32 seconds. Those five came after a jumper from deep on the baseline by the junior captain, as she was personally responsible for a seven-nil run that put the game away and opened a 71-63 lead with nine seconds remaining. Drexel's Kamile Nacickaite closed the scoring with a lay-up with one second showing as the Tribe defense laid back, raising her own total to 20 in the game.
Sophomore Taysha Pye (Bronx, N.y.) led all scorers with 21 points, 10 in the first and 11 in the second half, and DeHenzel and Barton each also reached double-digits with 13 and 11, respectively. Barton also had a career-high four assists in the game, and three rebounds while shooting 4-6 from the field and 3-5 from deep. As a team, W&M shot 48.3% in the game (28-58) and out-rebounded the Dragons 36-28. In the second half, the Tribe defense stiffened considerably, holding Drexel to just 39.3% shooting (11-28) after allowing 47.8% (11-23) before the break.
William and Mary heads into the CAA Tournament, March 11-14 in Harrisonburg, Virginia, as the No. 11-seed. The Tribe takes on No. 6 Hofstra at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 11. It is the second year in a row, and sixth time since 2001-02 that the two schools have met in the conference tournament, and W&M will be hoping for a repeat of last year's outcome, a 63-62 victory for the Green and Gold.
James Madison 76, George Mason 38
Box Score
FAIRFAX, Va., March 3, 2010 -- James Madison (13-5, 23-6) got a balanced scoring effort en route to a 76-38 win at George Mason (3-15, 10-19) in Colonial Athletic Association women's basketball Thursday evening at the Patriot Center.
The Dukes, who won their fifth straight game, locked up the number two seed for the upcoming CAA Tournament, which opens March 11 with first-round games at the JMU Convocation Center. JMU will play the winner of the March 11 Towson-North Carolina Wilmington game in a 5 p.m. game in the March 12 quarterfinals.
Dukes' junior guard Dawn Evans (Clarksville, Tenn./Northeast) led all players with 19 points, and freshman guard Tarik Hislop (Silver Spring, Md./Paint Branch) added 14. Junior guard Courtney Hamner (Manassas, Va./Osbourn Park) scored a season-high 13 and tied her career high with seven rebounds, and junior center Lauren Jimenez (North Bergen, N.J./North Bergen) finished with 10 points and a game-high nine rebounds.
Mason was led by freshman guard/forward Amber Easter (Hampton, Va./Bethel) with 13 points and redshirt junior guard Ashleigh Braxton (Woodbridge, Va./Forest Park) with 11.
JMU trailed 23-22 at halftime and never led by more than one point in the first half. But in the second half the Dukes pulled away with a 25-2 run over a span of just under eight minutes, building a 50-29 lead at 10:55. Seven JMU players scored, led by Hislop with eight and Evans with six. Meanwhile, Mason hit only 10 percent (1-10) from the field and committed six turnovers.
In the second period JMU outscored Mason 54-15. In that half the Patriots shot only 21.4 percent (6-28) while JMU connected on 63.6 percent (21-33) from the floor.
Mason opened the game by jumping out to a 11-5 lead with 12:41 remaining before the Dukes ran off six straight points to tie the game at 11 at 9:15. In the final six minutes of the half there were six lead changes and another tie, and the Patriots took a 23-22 lead into intermission.
Both teams made more free throws than field goals in the first half. JMU shot only 24 percent (6-25) from the floor but was 9-for-15 from the foul line. Mason connected on 27 percent (7-26) of its field-goal tries and converted 80 percent (8-10) of its free throws.
Evans, who entered the game ranked third in the nation in scoring (25.8), did not score in the first half. She picked up a second foul at 15:13 and played only seven minutes in the opening period.
Evans hit three three-pointers in the game and in doing so set a CAA season record of 104. She formerly shared the record of 101 with TJ Jordan of Old Dominion, who set the mark in 2006-07.
VCU 67, Northeastern 66
Box Score
BOSTON, Mass. - Senior forward D'Andra Moss scored a game-high 23 points and classmate Kita Waller contributed 20 as Virginia Commonwealth University held on for a 69-66 victory against Northeastern and secured the No. 3 seed in next week's Colonial Athletic Association tournament.
Northeastern held VCU scoreless for nearly five minutes and scored 15 consecutive points to pull within 65-64 with 1:16 remaining.
The Huskies forced a VCU turnover near midcourt with eight seconds to go but sophomore guard Jamie Conroy threw an arrant pass under the basket and the Rams regained possession with 1.4 seconds to go. Moss hit a pair of free throws with 0.1 seconds remaining to give the Rams the victory.
VCU snaps a two-game losing skid and improves its record to 19-11 overall and 12-6 in CAA play, while Northeastern drops to 12-17, 7-11 in conference action.
VCU sophomore forward Courtney Hurt posted her third-straight and 10th double-double of the year with 15 points and 11 rebounds.
Northeastern senior forward Kendra Walton also contributed a double-double with a team-high 15 points and 10 boards. Senior forward Kim Carr added 14 points on 7-of-9 shooting and freshman forward Rachel Pecota chipped in 12 points off the bench for the Huskies.
Neither team led by more than four points through the first eight minutes of the contest as VCU took a 17-15 lead on a 3-pointer by Moss with 11:49 showing.
Moss' basket sparked a 26-7 VCU run spanning nearly 10 minutes and the Rams took a 40-22 lead on a pair of Waller free throws with 1:22 left before the break.
The duo of Moss and Waller combined to score 32 of the Black & Gold's first 40 points. Moss shot 7-of-10 from the field, including 5-of-6 from behind the arc to lead all scorers with 19 first half points, while Waller contributed 13 on a perfect 4-of-4 shooting.
VCU hit 8-of-15 from long range in the opening period, while Northeastern could manage just 1-of-16.
The Black & Gold turned the ball over on consecutive possessions to start the second half and Northeastern scored 12 of the first 17 points and pulled within 45-34 on jumper by Carr with 15:29 remaining.
Northeastern capped off 22-10 run and pulled within 50-44 on a 3-pointer by Walton with 11:24 remaining.
Hurt put-back Waller's missed free throw and hit a 3-pointer on the following possession and VCU went back ahead 62-47 with 6:41 left before Northeastern began its surge.
Delaware 59, Hofstra 41
Box Score
NEWARK, Del. -- The University of Delaware sent its two seniors out in style Wednesday night as the Blue Hens continued their dominance over Hofstra with a 59-41 Colonial Athletic Association women's basketball victory over the Pride in the regular season finale at the Bob Carpenter Center.
Freshman Elena Delle Donne matched her national-leading scoring average with 27 points while also adding 10 rebounds and seven blocked shots and fellow freshman Danielle Parker notched her first double-double of the season with 10 points and 11 rebounds as the Hens (19-10, 11-7 CAA) clinched the No. 5 seed in next week's CAA Tournament at James Madison University at Harrisonburg, Va.
Tesia Harris added 11 points and seven rebounds for the Blue Hens, who improved to 11-2 at home this season. Delle Donne, an All-American candidate who returned to action after missing two games with an ankle injury, overcame a tough 5 for 17 shooting night from the field by draining 16 of 17 free throws. She is vying to become the first freshman in NCAA women's basketball history to lead the nation in scoring.
Hofstra (18-12, 11-7 CAA), which had a four-game winning streak snapped and dropped to 7-7 on the road this season to earn the CAA Tournament No. 6 seed, shot just 25 percent from the field and managed just 3 of 17 shooting from beyond the three-point arc. Shante Evans, the CAA's leading rebounder, led the Pride with 14 points and eight rebounds while Nicole Capurso came off the bench to add 11 points and Candice Bellocchio and Aamira Terry each pulled nine rebounds.
Delaware, which needs just one more win this season to reach the 20-win mark for the eighth time in the last 11 seasons, continued its dominance over Hofstra as the Hens improved to 44-9 all-time vs. the Pride, including an incredible 25-1 mark in games played in Newark.
"This was a very good win for us," said Delaware head coach Tina Martin.
"I was very happy with an overall team effort. We were very focused and it's a great way to enter the tournament. All that matters to us right now is that we need to prepare and really need to be ready to go for tournament time. We're going for 20-plus wins. I think we're a very competitive team. It's a great way to end the regular season and now we need to get ourselves ready to go battle in the tournament."
The game marked the final regular season home game for forward Ariene Jenkins and center Farrah Ferguson. Jenkins had a rebound in two minutes of action while Ferguson had a blocked shot in two minutes of play.
Delaware jumped out to a 26-19 lead at intermission following a sloppy first half in which the Blue Hens shot just 10 of 31 from the field
(.323) and Hofstra managed just 6 of 26 shooting (.231), including missing its first five attempts. After the Pride overcame an early seven-point deficit by taking the lead at 16-15 on two Bellocchio free throws with 7:01 left, the Hens took over the rest of the stanza by outscoring Hofstra 9-0 over the next five minutes to go up 24-16.
Delaware pushed the lead to double digits early in the second half as Lauren Carra started the half with a layup and then added a three-pointer at the 16:08 mark to give the Hens a 33-23 advantage. The Pride answered with a three-pointer by Capurso to narrow the deficit to seven, but that was as close as they would get the rest of the way as Delle Donne, who scored 18 second half points, followed with a jumper and added three free throws minutes later to push the lead to 38-26.
The Hens pushed the lead to 18 points with 6:40 left after Jocelyn Bailey converted back-to-back layups for a 50-32 lead and enjoyed their biggest lead of the night at 59-39 on a conventional three-point play by Delle Donne with 1:51 remaining.
Georgia State 54, UNC Wilmington 50
Box Score
WILMINGTON, N.C. - Georgia State claimed a 54-50 road win over UNC Wilmington in the CAA regular season finale. With the win, the Panthers finish with a winning regular season (15-14) and the No,. 9 seed in next week's CAA Tournament.
Brittany Graham led the way with 12 points, including 2 free throws with 3.9 seconds to ice the win. Freshman center Cody Paulk added 10 points and 9 rebounds.
The visiting Panthers trailed by six in the first half, but six final points by Paulk gave GSU a 20-18 lead to take into halftime. Trailing 23-22 with 18:06 to play, GSU went on a quick 8-0 run to gain a 30-23 lead they would never relinquish.
GSU was up 46-35 with 6:07 when the host Seahawks (11-18) found the three-point range to rally back to three at 48-4 with 2:31. A lay-up by Shay Rawls made it 50-45 with 1:23. A pair of free throws by UNCW made it 50-47 and then GSU's Crystal Johnson was fouled to go to the free throw line on the one-and-one and she made both for a 52-47 lead at 18.4 seconds. But, a final three by Treasure Johnson made it 52-50 with 10.3 seconds. GSU's in bounds pass was stolen, but the Seahawks traveled to give the ball back to GSU.
GSU called a timeout to set up a final inbounds play to the team's best free throw shooter, Graham, and she was fouled immediately and went to the line and knocked them down.
"The kids had a refuse-to-lose mentality tonight and I am proud of them," Coach Henry said. "They showed toughness. With McKeller still out and Rawls battling a cold, the two freshmen post players (Paulk and Erika Sumpter) had to step up and they did."
"This gives us a positive attitude, a winning regular season, and getting McKeller back, we are ready to go to the tournament," Henry finished.