Show B2— The Herald Journal Logan Utah Monday April 7 2003 air© fegGs Ms Maty Jackson powers Tennessee into 10th title game ATLANTA (AP) — Tennessee is back on a familiar stage and somewhere Laura Jackson is leading a huge cheer Thanks to a late charge by her granddaughter Gwen Jackson the Lady Vols are in the women’s national championship game for the 10th Sun6 time after defeating Duke day night in a semifinal matchup Jackson drawing strength from a beloved relative who died last month scored 13 of her 25 points in the final 6:08 to avenge an earlier loss to the grandmother” she said “She’s here for die third time very inspired and I’m very proud of her" which Duke (35-had won 15 straight was denied a second trip to die finals despite 29 points from Alana Beard who went past 200Q points for her career Even after Tennessee seemed to have the game put away Beard kept the Blirc Devils threatening Her play off a spin move in the lane cut the lead to 4 with 1: 13 left Then she ripped the ball from Tennessee’s Ashley Robinson who had intercepted a pass and made a layup to draw her team to 6 with 557 seconds to play But Tennessee beat the press to get a layup by Shyra Ely and when Beard missed at the other end Kara Lawson rebounded for Tennessee and was fouled Her two free throws with 338 seconds to play secured the victory and the Lady Vols were on the way to the NCAA finals — again “I never thought we lost the 2) 66-5- an Blue Devils Now they’ll try for their seventh championship on Tuesday night against defending champion Connecticut a 71-6- 9 winner over Texas in the second semifinal "My inspiration came from the last two games I played (that) she watched I got to talk to her the day she died Her memory and the love I have for her is what keeps me going” Jackson said Tennessee coach Pat Summitt knew exactly where Jackson’s power surge was coming from “1 think she focused on what she wanted to do and how she wanted to handle the adversity and loss of her three-poi- nt 57-5- 1 60-5- momentum" Beard said “I thought as a team we continued to fight our way through We kept working hard I don’t think it was at one point we evergaveup" It wasn’t the prettiest game for the longest time a conglomeration of missed shots errant passes scoring droughts and mad scrambles on the floor Then down the stretch both teams started answering each other with big shots' ' Tennessee (33-seemed on the verge of breaking it open when Brittany Jackson hit a leaner in die lane and a juniper 29 seconds apart for a 4) 41-3- 5 lead It was 8 after Lawson banked in a jumper but back came Duke When Beard grabbed IcissTillis’ ball and banked a layup softly off the glass Duke led 3 with 6:35 to play Then it was Gwen Jackson’s time to shine After getting only three points since 13:49 of the first half she took over — and how “We really had no answer” Duke coach Gail Goestenkors said “Gwen Jackson played a phenomenal game for them" 43-3- 44-4- APphoto Tennessee guard Kara Lawson celebrates 66-5- 6 win over Duke the final moments of the Lady Vote1 hi their semifinal game at the NCAA Women's Final Four in UConn survives Texas ATLANTA (AP) — With her offense down the stretch and her defense on the final play Diana Taurasi put Connecticut back in the women’s national championship game Taurasi bothered by a sore ankle and back still managed to score 26 points and keep the Huskies on course for their third title in four years with a 9 victory over 71-6- Texas on Sunday night UConn (36-1- ) will meet Tennessee in the championship game the third time the teams have met for the title Earlier the Lady Vols beat Duke 66-5- 6 in the other semifinal to advance to Tuesday night’s final The seemingly inevitable meeting didn’t come easily 66-6- The Huskies closed the game with an 1 run to dispatch die Longhorns (29-who were in die Final Four for the first time since 1987 Taurasi’s from well behind the arc gave the Huskies the lead for good 67 : 66 with 2:07 remaining Appropriately Taurasi made the key defensive play too knocking the ball away from Alisha Sare as the Texas player attempted to go up for a jumper just before the buzzer Taurasi grabbed the loose ball and held up her right index finger as the horn sounded 1- -3 6) APphoto Connecticut guard Diana Taurasi (3) puts up a shot as she is defended by Texas' Stephanie Thiel (14) and Nina Norman in the first half of their semifinal game Yes die Huskies still have a chance to finish No 1 “There’s just something about this team” Duirasi said “We just don’t want to go home and we showed it again today" Taurasi who had not practiced since the regional final in an attempt to heal appeared a bit tentative and pulled off few of the flashy moves that made her the best player in the country But she came through when her team needed her most With Texas leading 0 Taurasi zipped outside the arc to a great from pass Willnett Crockett standing alone under the basket sparking the run On UConn’s next possession Taurasi worked into the lane made the shot and drew a foul leading to a three-poiplay that drew the Huskies closer Finally she put them ahead to stay with no-lo- game-endi- ng nt the long scare have Dee (Taurasi) and they don’L That’s probably the biggest reason we won ” The Longhorns went nearly three minutes without scoring finally breaking the drought with 28 seconds on Jamie Carey’s left That was the last basket of the game Crockett gave Texas a chance by missing two free throws with 82 seconds left but Duirasi made sure the Longhorns didn’t get a chance to tie or win it The little-use- d Sare raced downcourt and tried to get off a shot As the senior line die the to at began go up Taurasi got a hand on the ball and knocked ot it away “I was worried about just what happened” Texas coach Jody Conradt said “Taurasi made plays You know when you’re playing against a great team and a great player like Diana you leave yourself open" UConn beat the Lady Vols 2 in overtime during the regular season The Huskies hold a 18-- lead in the series which includes two victories in the title game Last year UConn romped to a 6 victory over Tennessee in the semifinals then finished off a perfect 39-- 0 season by beating Oklahoma in the tide game 63-6- 6 79-5- “She was but of it for a while” coach Geno Auriemma said “It was so physical out there I say it over and over again We This Week in Prep Baseball Weather uncooperative ' Doubles 1 Nick Eliason Mtn Crest 1 Chance Randall Preston 3 Justin Kohler Logan 3 Baxter Krutsch Logan 3 Kolby Rawlings Preston Triples 1 Kolby Rawlings Preston 5 5 4 4 4 3 2 2 Cody Spradlin Preston Home runs 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Maurisio Ayala Mtn Crest Kellen Hansen Preston Brandon Harris Sky View Luke Lofthouse Mtn Crest 1 Russell Madsen Preston Kelly Rawlings Preston Chandler Robinson Sky View Cody Spradlin Preston 1 1 1 1 1 't 1 RBIs BA (min of 20 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 at-tjat- s) Kolby Rawlings Preston Casey Clark Sky View Maurisio Ayala Mtri Qrest Kellen Hansen Preston ' Joey Lee Logan Kelly Rawlings Preston Adam Beardall Preston Dallas Larsen Logan Stolen bases 1 1 Cart Blad Mtn Crest Kolby Rawlings Preston 3 Justin Kohler Logan 3 Chance Randall Preston 3 Jimmy Schmidt Logan 6 Nine players tied with: 556 500 444 :424 417 412 405 385 Former Bobcat Bowman doing well fririiliii! ilSiki: i? Wins Tyson Harris Logan 2 kellen Hansen Preston 2 Ryan Zimmerman Mtn Crest 4 Casey Jorgensen Mtn Crest 5 Chandler Robinson Sky View 6 Nine players tied with: 1 at CCCC By Wade Denniston ' staff writer Saves 1 Mother Nature She just might be the biggest factor in the 2003 Region 4 baseball campaign And so far she hasn’t been too pleasant to deal with series Under the new three-gam- e schedule teams play each other ' three times over two days includ- ing a doubleheader on the first day Region play kicked off this past Wednesday but it didn't get off to as good a start as most would have hoped for Mountain Crest and Sky View managed to get in three innings before the first game of their scheduled twinbill was suspended due to snow Logan Box Elder Bonneville and Roy fared a little better than their counterparts — each got one game in at least The Grizzlies blasted the Bees 13-- 3 in five innings while the Lakers got past the Royals 16-1- 0 in eight Those teams could not complete their doubleheaders though “It’s just one of those freak things” said Logan coach Eric Markworth referring Jo last week’s storminess “With the weather it being so dry in the winter we all kind of knew that it was gonna be wet in the spring “I don’t think it’s really a big surprise" Gathes were scheduled to be resumed on Thursday but overnight snow forced them to be pushed back yet another day “We know as coaches playing baseball here in the spring this is 1 1 1 Nick Eliason Mtn Crest Derek Lyle Mtn Crest Cody Spradlin Preston Ryan Zimmerman Mtn Crest Strikeouts 1 2 3 4 4 6 7 Ryan Zimmerman Mtn Crest Kellen Hansen Preston Nick Eliason Mtn Crest Kelly Rawlings Preston Chandler Robinson Sky View Tyson Harris Logan Fiyan Doyle Sky View Innings pitched 1 EK LucereHerald Journal Logan senior Justin Kohler attempts to haul in a ball during last Wednesday's game against Box Elder Snow caused the postponement of ' a handful of games last week gonna happen” Mustangs coach Stephen Hansen said Under the series Schedule though when games get postponed each team’s pitching staff is affected the most especially when high school pitchers are only allowed to throw 14 innings per week “We all only have so many pitchers” Hansen noted “We try to do what we can” Had Logan not been able to complete its series with Box Elder on Friday the Grizzlies and Bees may have been faced With playing five games this week “Where it really gets kind of tricky is if you don’t make them t up before you start the next series” Markworth said The Mustangs and Bobcats completed two of their contests and will make up the third probably next week Bonneville and Roy also got two in and will complete their series 'today Considering how bad die weather was last week Sky View coach Rick Thorne was glad to get at feast two in “We talked about it (last Friday) — Jan Hall our athletic director and I — and he said ‘A little word of advice from a coach that’s been in it a long time play them when you can’” Thome said “We woe really surprised when we came today and felt like we could get it playable” See BASEBALL on B4 2 3 4 5 6 7 44 34 25 24 24 22 15 ' Ryan Zimmerman Mtn Crest 280 2867 Tyson Harris Logan Kellen Hansen Preston 260 2367 Kelly Rawlings Preston Chandler Robinson Sky View 200 Nick Eliason Mtn Crest 170 160 Ryan Doyle Sky View ERA (Min 13 innings pitched) Ryan Zimmerman Mtn Crest 2 Ryan Doyle Sky View 3 Nick Eliason Mtn Crest 4 Kellen Hansen Preston 5 Tyson Harris Logan 6 Chandler Robinson Sky View 7 Kolby Rawlings Preston 1 000 044 1 24 135 158 1 75 323 Shutouts Kellen Hansen Preston 2 Ryan Doyle Sky View 1 2 Chandler Robinson Sky View Complete games 1 Kellen Hansen Preston 2 2 2 5 5 5 8 Tyson Harris Logan Chandler Robinson Sky View Ryari Zimmerman Mtn Crest Ryan Doyle Kelly Rawlings Kolby Rawlings Nick Eliason t 4 3 3 3 2 2 2 1 3 |