UTC Plays Monday Night Game Against Vanderbilt
by Tim Evearitt
posted March 20, 2004
) Photo by Tim Evearitt Nicole Mattison makes a critical free throw for UTC near the end of the game. Click to enlarge. |
The Lady Mocs trailed the Big East power by as many as 11 in the first half, but came out fired up in the second half.
There were 6,391 fans at McKenzie Arena - most of whom were cheering on the hometown favorites.
“I’m so proud of this team,” said UTC coach Wes Moore, the Southern Conference Coach of the Year. “They hung around and hung around. We told them to hang in there at halftime and it would turn around.”
UTC will meet the winner of the second contest of the day - Vanderbilt - on Monday at 7 p.m. at McKenzie Arena. Vanderbilt led David Lipscomb 36-21 at the half and went on to win 76-45 in the game pitting two Nashville schools.
Vanderbilt (25-7) has won nine in a row, including the Southeastern Conference Tournment.
UTC sank several key free throws to ice the game, including shots by Galloway and Nicole Mattison. Tiffany Patton had several key hustle plays down the stretch.
Rutgers had 24 fouls called on them, and it kept All American Cappie Poindexter on the bench for over 10 minutes. UTC picked up just 7 fouls.
“We felt like we wanted to attack her,” Moore said. “If we got the (fourth) foul, great. If not, she would know that we were going to be attacking her play. It was definitely a clear-out situation. It wound up that we got the best of both worlds.”
UTC outrebounded the taller Rutgers 38-35 despite the recent loss of leading rebounder Shamya Sermons and post player Lindi Sippel.
The Lady Mocs had only five turnovers. They had balanced scoring with 15 from Tiffani Roberson, 14 from Galloway, 13 from Katasha Brown, 11 from Miranda Warfield and 9 from Tiffany Patton. Heather McDivitt added 2.
Chelsea Newton scored 16 for Rutgers, while Nikki Jett had 15 and Shalicia Hurns 14. Cappie Poindexter was held to 9.
The Lady Mocs (29-2) own the nation's longest winning streak at 27 games and are making their fourth consecutive NCAA appearance. UTC was the 10th seed in the Midwest Region and Rutgers, which finishes 21-12, was the 7th seed.
First Half Action
In spite of poor shooting from the field, the Lady Mocs were not letting the Scarlet Knights out of sight. They trailed Rutgers in Round One of the NCAA tournament at halftime 35-29.
Rutgers made the first basket of the game but the Lady Mocs responded and took the lead, 5-2.
The Lady Mocs saw their 7-6 lead evaporate as the Scarlet Knights ran off seven points to lead 14-7
Tiffani Roberson picked up a loose ball under the UTC basket and put it in to cut Rutgers' lead.
After a TV timeout, both teams could not get a basket until Heather McDivitt hit a short jump shot at about 10:00 minutes to make it 14-11.
The Lady Mocs missed a number of wide open shots while Rutgers’ Nikki Jett and Courtney Locke each canned three-pointers.
UTC’s offense seemed out of sync but Katasha Brown’s two free throws made it 20-13 when another timeout was called. Stats at the time showed the Lady Mocs shooting 18.2% from the field to Rutgers' 64.3%.
The Lady Mocs did not seem to be comfortable and the score showed it.
Few fouls were called as the officials let the teams play. The Lady Mocs finished the half with just three fouls to eight for their opponents. All-American Cappie Pondexter finished the half with three fouls.
Rutgers took a 10-point lead but the Lady Mocs cut that in half on Katie Galloway’s short jump shot in the paint and Miranda Warfield’s long three pointer.
It was 28-20 until Tiffani Roberson was fouled in the act of shooting. She-missed both shots.
UTC shot just 30% (9-30) in the half while Rutgers made 53.6% (15-28).
Tiffani Roberson led the first half scoring with 9 points, also grabbing 6 rebounds. Miranda Warfield had 7 points.
Michelle Campell’s basket in the paint gave Rutgers a 10-point lead, 30-20.
The teams traded baskets but at 3:09 the Scarlet Knights had their biggest lead, 33-22.
UTC seemed to revive when Galloway hit a long 3 that banked off the glass as time was running out on the shot clock.
Second Half
UTC took the lead for the first time in the game at 12:37 on two free throws by Patton, 47-45.
Rutgers had two players in foul trouble for part of the second half - Cappie Pondexter with 3 fouls and Shalicia Hurns picked up her third foul at 11:24.
The Lady Mocs lead jumped to six before a Rutgers layup by Chelsea Newton.
Hurn re-entered the game but picked up her fourth foul just as the scoreboard went down. The game was stopped for several minutes to get it working again.
Then Chelsea Newton went into the crowd to save the ball but cut her hand and left the game.
Play resumed at 7:28 with the Lady Mocs in possession leading 59-56 setting up the frantic finish for UTC.
The Scarlet Knights had to play cautiously with several key players in major foul trouble.
Galloway, a senior from Lookout Valley, said afterwards, "There's just something about our team. There's something in our hearts. We knew we could win it in the end."
She said, "Our fan support was totally behind us, and we fed off that."
Galloway said her last three pointer from in front of the Lady Moc bench "felt good. I knew it was going in as soon as it left my hand."
Coach Moore said the win shows the Lady Mocs "can compete with one of the best programs in the country, which Rutgers is."
He said he was glad that veterans on the team finally made it past a first-round NCAA game.
He said the Lady Mocs did not try to stay close to the quick Rutgers guard and that helped cut down on the UTC fouls, while he said they played aggressively on offense, especially in the second half.
Coach Moore said it was nice to be at home in front of the partisan fans after having to make two trips to Penn State to face "a very hostile crowd."
For the game, Rutgers was 46.8 percent from the field after cooling off from the first half shooting. UTC ended up at 40.7 percent from the field.
UTC hit just 3 of 14 three pointers, while Rutgers had 6 of 10.
UTC had 27 of 38 free throws, while Rutgers had 5 of 7.
Rutgers Coach Vivian Stringer had little to say at a postgame press conference, and she was obviously upset at the officiating.
She said, "We have to figure out how Rutgers can host a first round game. This (one-sided officiating) always happens."
Lady Mocs Stats
PLAYER - REB AST PF PTS
K. Brown 2 1 1 13
K. Galloway 3 4 0 14
T. Roberson 9 2 2 15
T. Patton 10 1 0 9
N. Mattison 6 1 4 10
H. McDivitt 2 1 0 2
M. Warfield 4 1 0 11
Totals 36 11 7 74
) Photo by Tim Evearitt Tiffani Roberson plays aggressively on defense against Shalicia Hurn. Click to enlarge. |
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