West Virginia Team Exceeds Goals With First Region Crown
March 21, 2005
By Rod Gardner
Special to The Sentinel-Record
The Charleston Lady Golden Eagles have accomplished their preseason goal of improving upon last season's NCAA Division II East Region appearance. Following a season-ending loss to eventual national champion California (Pa.) , the Lady Golden Eagles set their sights on bringing regional and national recognition to the West Virginia program.
Charleston accomplished that mission March 14 with a victory over Anderson (S.C.) College in the East Region final, and now heads for the Elite Eight tournament at Summit Arena. No. 8-ranked and 29-4 Charleston faces face No. 2-ranked and 32-2 Washburn University (Topeka, Kan.) in Wednesday's 6 p.m. quarterfinal.
"We do not have a senior on our team and prior to this season we had never won a region-tournament game," Charleston coach Sherry M. Winn said. "This is obviously our first trip to the Elite Eight and we are thrilled to be going. Some of our young players developed quickly and every one of our four losses were turning points because we learned and grew from them.
"I'm nervous about Washburn, though. They (Lady Blues) are excellent defensively and I can't find any weaknesses. We are just going to have to go out there and play the best we can." Ironically, Charleston's path to the Elite Eight also included a 98-81 victory over defending national champion California (Pa.) in the semifinals of the East Region, probably the Lady Golden Eagles’ best game of the season.
"We were phenomenal in that game," Winn said. "We only turned the ball over 10 times and did everything else very well.
California-Pennsylvania was a great team and defeating them helped our confidence. We feel good about the way we are playing and we hope to go into Hot Springs and play as well as we did in our region tournament."
Lisa Lee, a 6-foot junior guard-forward, has team-high averages of 20 points and eight rebounds. She has also blocked a team-high 24 shots, dished out 70 assists and collected 84 steals.
"Lisa Lee is phenomenal for us at the point," Winn said. "She can dribble and distribute like a point guard, but can also post up and rebound."
Courtney Thomas, a 5-8 sophomore guard, averages 14 points and four rebounds, and also leads Charleston in assists (135) and steals (87). Laura Kinsler, a 5-10 junior guard, averages 11 points and six rebounds and 6-foot sophomore forward Rachel Pike chips in 10 points and six boards.
Other contributors are 5-10 freshman guard Emily Jones, 6-2 junior center Mandy Ebel and 5-7 sophomore guard Erica McElroy. Jones averages eight points and four rebounds; McElroy and Ebel both average six points and four rebounds.
Winn's Lady Golden Eagles have gone 71-22 the last three seasons (20-10 in 2002-03, 23-8 last season and 28-4 this campaign). Previously, Winn coached two seasons at the University of Minnesota-Morris and five years at Montana State University-Northern, where her teams went 139-20.
Charleston (W.Va.) Eagles 2004-05 record: 29-4
Conference record: 17-1, tied for first, West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic
Regional ranking: third, East Region
National ranking (USA Today/ESPN Division II): eighth
Head coach: Sherry M. Winn, 82-38 in four years at Charleston, 221-58 in 11 seasons.
Projected starting lineup: Lisa Lee, 6-0 junior forward (19.5 points per game, 8.3 rebounds per game); Rachel Pike, 6-0 sophomore forward (9.5 points, 5.6 rebounds); Courtney Thomas, 5-8 sophomore guard (14.1 points, 3.6 rebounds); Laura Kinsler, 5-10 junior guard (10.8 points, 6.1 rebounds); Erica McElroy, 5-7 sophomore guard (5.9 points, 3.7 rebounds).
Team statistics: Scoring offense, 78.3 points per game; scoring defense, 57.6 points; field-goal percentage, 46.2 percent; field-goal percentage defense, 34.0 percent; three-point field-goal percentage, 32.1 percent; three-point field-goal percentage defense, 27.2 percent; freethrow percentage, 66.8 percent; rebounding margin, plus-6.7; turnover margin, plus-2.9. The road to Hot Springs: def. Clarion (Pa.), 79-57; def. California (Pa.), 98-81; def. Anderson (S.C.) College, 88-71.
Noteworthy: Lost conference tournament game to Glenville State, 63-42, beat defending national champion California for the region title. ...First-round win in regional against Clarion was school’s first NCAA Tournament victory. ...Second West Virginia school to reach the Elite Eight, Glenville State going in 2002. ...Lee was named Most Outstanding Player of region. ...Thomas was named to all-region team. ...Lee is a two-time all-West Virginia Conference selection. ...Thomas is a second-team, all-conference selection. ...Downed 11 th-ranked Bentley, 67-52 on Nov. 19. ...Lost to No. 12 Fairmont State, 66-58 on Feb. 10. ...Fourteen straight wins from Dec. 15-Feb. 5. ...Winn played for the 1984 and 1988 U.S. Olympic handball team. ...She also owns 11 school records including most points in a season (682), scoring average (22.7) and most points in a game (44). ...Winn was named Conference Coach of the Year.