Women's Basketball
Lee Leads UC Women Past Glenville
March 5, 2006
By Mike Whiteford
Staff writer, The Charleston Sunday Gazette-Mail
The quality of play even met the approval of Lisa Lee, the team’s staunchest perfectionist.
Lee and her University of Charleston teammates showed scarcely a flaw and repaid an old nemesis, Glenville, with an 81-59 victory in the finals of the West Virginia Conference women’s tournament Saturday night at the Charleston Civic Center. A crowd of 2,000 attended.
The victory virtually assures the Golden Eagles (28-2) of home-court advantage in the NCAA Division II East Region tournament, an eight-team event scheduled for Friday, Saturday and Monday March 13. Pairings are expected to be announced tonight.
No. 1 Glenville (28-2), which knocked off UC in the tournament semifinals in each of the last three seasons, will qualify for the East Regional as an at-large team. Wheeling Jesuit and West Liberty also are expected to go as at-large teams. The East Regional winner advances to the eight-team Division II championship tournament.
Lee, the WVC’s player of the year, added the tournament MVP award Saturday by scoring 20 points and collecting nine points, three assists and four steals.
It was also the first game, she said, in which she and the Golden Eagles played totally up to their capabilities.
"This is the first time I can actually say we played well because I always want to do so much better,’’ said Lee, a 6-foot senior from Charleston. "But I’ll settle for this one. We played outstanding, great, good, amazing, whatever. This game I’ll honestly say we played great.’’
UC, ranked No. 6 in last week’s Division II poll, shot 51.7 percent from the field, including 8-for-12 from 3-point range, and never trailed after the game’s opening four minutes. The Golden Eagles built a 39-26 halftime advantage and increased the lead to 58-38 with 9:31 left in the game. Sophomore Emily Jones came off the bench to hit 4-of-4 from 3-point distance and add 20 points, and Rachel Pike contributed 14 points.
"They just took the game from us, did what they wanted to do, when they wanted to do it. It’s frustrating,’’ said Glenville coach Steve Harold. "Two times this year we’ve given up 80 [points], and it happened to be to them.’’
It was not one of the Pioneers’ better games, Harold added.
"I thought [Charleston] played a super ballgame,’’ he said. "But I don’t think we gave our best effort. I don’t know what it is about a big game, but we just haven’t come through in the big ones.’’
UC coach Sherry Winn liked the Golden Eagles’ team play and the depth of their scoring options.
"When we think about team,’’ said Winn, "I think that any one of our players can step up and have a phenomenal game. And that’s what it means to be a team. We just have so many who can score. And if you want to put your best defender on Courtney Thomas or Lisa Lee, who’s going to stop Rachel Pike and who’s going to stop Erica McElroy or Laura Kinsler or Emily Jones? It just goes on and on.’’
UC completed its regular season on Feb. 20, giving the Golden Eagles nine days to rest and prepare of the tournament. Winn planned the schedule that way to ensure that her players would open the tournament with rested legs.
The additional rest may have made a difference Saturday, she said.
"I really believe that legs are important at the end of the season and rest is so critical,’’ she said. "And I think that because we had that rest, we could go harder in the final game. I don’t think it had anything to do with conditioning because [Glenville is] a well-conditioned team.’’
Rachel Redick led the Pioneers with 17 points, Casey Taylor added 16 and Denae Dobbins, who battled foul problems, scored 11. Glenville shot 37.5 percent (24-of-64) from the floor.
The Pioneers, who lost to UC in Glenville 85-77 during the regular season, have qualified for the East Region in each of the past four seasons. Glenville was ranked No. 4 in last week’s Division II poll.
The all-tournament team consisted of Lee, Pike and Courtney Thomas of UC, Redick, Taylor and Dobbins of Glenville, Lenva Kalvans of West Liberty, Sarah Setcavage of Wheeling Jesuit, Danielle Cornish of Fairmont and Sarah Van Horn of Wesleyan.
UC’s Laura Kinsler won the George Springer Sportsmanship Award, and Redick the Commissioner’s Heart and Hustle Award.