OCR Text |
Show UNIVERSITY JOURNAL SPORTS » WOMEN’S THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 28, zoob BASKETBALL SU tops KC to end regular season BY MARK JONES SPORTS EDITOR The SUU women’s basketball team closed out its 2001-02 regular season with a 67-58 come-from-behind victory over UMKC Monday night in the Centrum Arena and will now prepare for the Mid-Con tournament, which begins Saturday. The victory is likely to be remembered by many for years as the win came on senior night as five Lady ’Birds’ played their final game in the Centrum. The "Roos came into the game in last place in the Mid-Con standings with a 3-10 record, but UMKC played nothing like that in the first half. “Heaton has been unbelievable for us,” said Erin Hamlin. “She’s the type of player that we have been able to rely on all year.” SUU also got good production from other players. In their final game at home Sally Johnson and Beverly Thomason each scored 11 points and Megan Woolston scored six points and pulled down six rebounds. The other SUU senior, Nancy Langman, played 19 scoreless minutes. The ’Birds shot 44 percent for the game, including 38 percent from behind the three-point line making 8-of-21 attempts. SUU also won the rebounding margin with a 31-29 edge. scored the next eight points to lead 8-2 and would lead the rest of the half as it built its lead to as many as 13 points on two different occasions. However, the Birds would fight back as they would cut the lead to five at intermission at 32-27. “We battled back to a workable margin going into half,” said coach Joe Hillock. “You cannot exchange baskets in college basketball. We finally made up our minds that we 'were going to stop them and we made some critical stops when we needed to.” The game-deciding run came in the opening moments of the second half as the "Birds opened the half with a 9-2 run to take a 36-34 lead. UMKC would not go away as they regained the lead at 45-42 with 13 minutes to play, but it would be the 'Roos final lead of the night as SUU outscored the UMKC 25-13 down the stretch to seal the victory. The "Birds’ were led by Caroline Heaton, who in her last home game was just two assists shy of recording a triple- Gymnasts at home “EMU and ICU are a hosts Eastern Michigan University and Illinois- couple of good teams who Chicago in a pair of meets this week. high scores, but we need can come in here and post to worry about ourselves The win improves the 'Birds to 6-8 on the season and into a four-team tie for the fourth seed at the Mid-Con tournament. Because SUU wins the tie-breaker over Oral Roberts, Chicago State and IUPUI, the ’Birds get the four seed at the tournament in Fort Wayne, Ind. SUU will play Chicago State, the fifth seed, Saturday afternoon in the opening round of the tournament. Coming off two homecourt wins, the momentum could be in the ’Birds favor. “We hope the wins give us momentum heading into the tournament,” Hillock said. “All the teams are 0-0 once the tournament starts. We just want to survive and advance.” If the ’Birds defeat Chicago State, they will meet the 'winner of the Valparaiso-UMKC game in a semi-final game slated for Monday evening. In the other half of the bracket, The #2 seed Oakland will play IUPUI and the #3 seed Western Illinois will take on Oral Roberts. Men set to defend The SUU men’s basketball Ind., this weekend in hopes championship and earning NCAA tournament, but the team will travel to Fort Wayne, of defending its conference a second straight berth in the road won't be easy. The ’Birds finished with a 8-6 Mid-Con right now,” said coach record, which was good enough to earn the tonight in the Centrum Arena. Illinois-Chicago will Scott Bauman. join the two schools for a three-team meet on Saturday night in the Centrum. Both meets will begin at 7 p.m. SUU has had nearly two weeks off since its 191.900 performance against BYU. EMU was at UC Santa- a meet against BYU, in fourth seed. The first obstacle in defense of the conference title for the "Birds will be the 'UMKC Kangaroos in a first round matchup The ’Birds will host EMU Barbara on Saturday and recorded its third highest mark of the season with an all-around score of 193.525 UIC competed at Michigan State Saturday night, where it scored a season-high 194.875. The ’Birds are coming off ‘which they had to count three falls on the beam and scheduled for Sunday afternoon. another on the beams as BYU defeated SUU 195.625- regular season with each team winning on 191.900. “We continue to make progress, but we still had four falls and we continued to struggle on the beam,” Bauman said, following the BYU meet. After this week’s meets, the "Birds will have only one home meet left on the season. Utah State will visit Cedar City on March 13. ERIN MADSON/JOURNAL After SUU scored the first basket of the game, UMKC The SUU gymnastics team double. Heaton finished with a game-high 22 points and pulled down 14 rebounds to go along with her eight assists. SUU and UMKC split the series during the the road. On Jan. 26 the ’Birds defeated the "Roos in Kansas City 54-49 as Jay Collins scored 17 points and Dan Beus scored 13 points and pulled down 10 rebounds. However, over spring break UMKC returned the favor by scoring a 72-71 overtime victory at the Centrum. The win gave the Kangaroos Caroline Heaton, in her final game in the Centrum, led the ’Birds to a 67-58 win over UMKC Monday night. SUU earned the fourth seed and will play Chicago State in the first round of the Mid-Con tournament Saturday. Saturday’s first round game against Chicago State will tip off at 12:15 p.m. and all the action can be heard live on Power 91 with Jason Erickson doing the play-by-play and Mychal Clanton providing game analysis. Any additional postseason games can also be heard on POWER 91 with times to be determined. The tournament lasts through Tuesday. Mid-Con crown “Everyone is 0-0 once the postseason starts,” he said. “We just want to take it one game at a time and keep surviving.” If the ’Birds are able to get past the Kangaroos, SUU will face the winner of the Valparaiso-Chicago State game in a Monday evening semi-final game. The SUU men’s basketball team is seeded fourth heading into the MidCon tournament and will open against UMKC Sunday afternoon in firstround action. their first-ever win in Cedar City. Michael ‘Watson scored 31 points as the "Roos rallied from a 12-point halftime deficit to get the win. 'UMKC finished with a 18-10 record, including winning its final three games of the regular season. The Kangaroos should In the other half of the bracket, Oral Roberts, the #2 seed, will play Western Tllinois. Oakland, seeded third, will take on TUPUL The conference tournament is up for grabs and could be won by anyone. SUU defeated everyone except Oakland at least once this season, including handing Valparaiso one of its two conference losses. Last season, the 'Birds were seeded second in the tournament and went on to defeat ‘Western Illinois, Oral Roberts and Valparaiso to claim their first ever Mid-Con championship. Prior to last season, Valparaiso had won six straight league titles. The 'Birds will open the tournament on Sunday afternoon against UMKC with tip-off scheduled for 12:15 p.m. All SUU post-season games can be heard live on 590 AM with Art Challis doing the play-by-play. have the momentum heading into the season, but as coach Bill Evans points out, the postseason is a entirely new season. —Mark Jones STUDENT GRADUATION SPEECH COMPETITION artist: Kurtis L. Leany 246 South Main 586-4725 Engagements Announcements Weddings .Complete Weddings Beginning at $495 e 20% off all invitations Graduating seniors who have at least a 3.6 cumulative GPA are invited to submit an original five- to eightminute speech to be given by the graduate at this year’s graduation ceremony, Saturday, May 4, 2002. The graduation address will be selected by a student/ faculty panel from the applications received. Finalists will be invited to present their address to the panel. A $300 cash award will be given to the recipient of the student graduation speech honor. Proposed student graduation addresses, along with a brief resume, should be submitted to the Vice President for Student Services’ Office no later than Friday, March 22, 2002. Finalists will be notified by April 19, 2002. |