Quote from: pbrooks3 on February 24, 2008, 03:40:58 PM
Final from the mountain - Sewanee locks up the 4th seed with a solid 56-42 effort accented by good defense in the final 8-9 minutes. Acacia Mack did a nice job running the point and milking possessions before dishing to teammates for baskets in the late going.

pbrooks,
Really good effort by both teams today. Our defense did step up in the second half, but the fatigue factor for Centre probably helped us out a good bit in those last ten minutes. As we all know, the Sunday games can often be tough for the road teams, especially in this case when Centre played so hard against OU on Friday night.

I'm elated that we at least made the tourney next weekend, but I do share your sentiment about Ashley Farrell not getting to play anymore. She was a special player, who had some really big games against us (as well as the rest of the league).

     

Actually, I think it would be fun to see the Sewanee Lady Tigers make the tourney instead of Rhodes. Then again, I'm a little bit biased.

And yes, a huge key to this game for Sewanee will be how well we guard Chelsea Goodman. I like our chances because we will have Steffi Renninger available this time. Steffi did not play in the game in Danville in January (not using that as an excuse, of course). Also, it is Senior Day, and Courtney Childress will hopefully have a big game.

As I see it, Centre is already locked into the #3 seed. If Centre owns the tie-breaker over Sewanee due to wins in the division, then Centre should also get the tie-breaker over Rhodes since Centre beat Rhodes twice.

Anyway, it should be a very good game, and I'm looking forward to seeing it in person.

Since we have one pick for Sewanee over Rhodes and one for Rhodes over Sewanee, I will cast the tie breaking vote in favor of my Lady Tigers! This is a huge game (relatively speaking). If Sewanee wins it will all but lock up the fourth spot from the eastern division for the conference tournament.

This will admittedly be a very tough game for us to win. Rhodes will be motivated to avenge the loss in November, plus they are at home.

GHH,
Thanks very much for your reponse yesterday to my post, and no harm done. I was certain that you didn't mean what you wrote. Knowing about the Lady Scots situation in general, and Alex in particular, I can understand the basis for your frustration.

As for Alex, let me offer up our junior point guard, Acacia Mack (#5), as encouragement. Acacia missed her entire freshman season due to a foot injury that required surgery. It then took most of her sophomore season to feel comfortable in a game situation. As a junior, she has been rock solid for us at the point (10 points last Wednesday). Hopefully Alex will have a similar junior season, and beyond.

Sounds like a good win for the Lady Scots yesterday. Wish I could say the same for us (61-77 loss at Oglethorpe).

Anyway, good luck with the rest of the season, especially against Piedmont.

GottaHaveHeart,

Now that things have settled down a little bit, I thought I would throw my two cents into this discussion. Obviously I am not posting to comment on the situation at Maryville. That is none of my business. However, I can certainly voice my displeasure at your unfortunate choice of words on Thursday. I believe your comment was something about how you and four other parents could have beaten Sewanee? Not very nice. Even if you really feel this way, saying so in a public forum like this is very unfair to our girls. Please tell me that this was simply said out of frustration with the way things have been going for the Lady Scots this season.

Before I go any further, late me state for the record that I am not a Sewanee coach or the parent of a player. I am a Sewanee alum who lives in Knoxville and has close ties to our basketball programs. I come to several games at the Cooper Center each season, and not just because our two teams play each other every year. We also have quite a few common opponents, and I enjoy checking those teams out as well. I also read this board on a regular basis, so I am fairly familiar with Maryville's personnel.

I bring up personnel because I know that this is part of your frustration. The Lady Scots are definitely bigger, stronger and more athletic than our girls at every position. Of that there is no doubt. For the second season in a row, our team is very undersized. Maryville also has a deeper bench. I will admit that just looking at the two teams side by side would lead anyone to believe that we should be heavy underdogs.

That said, let's look at some recent history. In the last four seasons (counting this one), Sewanee has defeated the Lady Scots four out of the last six times they have played. Three of those wins came while Dee Bell was still the coach. If we go back a another year ('03-'04 when Maryville beat us twice), then the record is even at 4-4 (3-3 against Dee Bell). Not a bad rivalry, I would say.

Even though looking at scores against common opponents is not a very exact science, I should also point out that we only lost at Piedmont earlier this year by nine points (I believe Maryville lost to them by 11). Last year we beat Piedmont at our place, and we routinely beat Huntingdon, LaGrange and Spelman. My obvious point here is that we are not just an "opponent" that Maryville can expect to steamroll every time we play each other.

Again, none of this is meant to reflect on the Lady Scots. They have been dealt a tough hand this year. Even though I was elated by our victory on Wednedsay, I take no joy in what the Maryville kids are going through. Just trying to give some props to my Lady Tigers. When you are 8-12, any win is huge.  

As for Maryville's game with LaGrange, let me offer this fact: when LaGrange came to Sewanee in November, we beat them by 16.  I say Maryville wins big on Saturday.

Petrel,
The answer is all in the numbers. Shooting 3 for 23 in the second half (1 for 11 from behind the arc), will get you beat just about every time. To our girls' credit, we were still only down 5 with about 3 minutes to go because we continued to play good defense even though the shots weren't falling.

We played better last night, but still lost 79-67 to Emory, which shot 53% from the field for the game. Erica Kaplan was 6 for 7 from behind the arc for Emory. Anne Wills led Sewanee with 19 points.

Quote from: GSAC Killer on December 14, 2006, 12:39:18 PM
The Scots will have a good test this weekend against a well coached Sewanee team!
Good luck gals.......

Killer,
Thanks for the compliment of our coaching staff. Hopefully Saturday's game will indeed be a good test for the Lady Scots, as we are definitely a big underdog. We are inexperienced (one senior) and undersized. Not a good combination against a Maryville team that is playing very well. On the plus side, we have played with a lot of heart this year. We have come from behind in all three of our wins this season, including one against Oglethorpe two weeks ago.

I'm also glad to hear that Alex had a good result from her surgery. In a very similar occurrence, we lost a freshman guard last season due to a foot injury that required season ending surgery. She didn't play a single minute all year. On Saturday, she will be our backup point guard. Hopefully Alex will have the same type of recovery.

Looking forward to coming over on Saturday (I live in Knoxville). Good luck to both teams.