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Show o Wednesday, April 5,2006 Take Note: The women's tennis team takes on Weber State Thursday in Ogden. 797-1761 sports@statesman.usu.edu One team played the other's D Ags head to regionals Parenti and Lewis qualify in all-around BY JIM O'CONNELL The Associated Press INDIANAPOLIS - UCLA looked in a mirror Monday night, and what the Bruins saw was Florida. The Gators showed UCLA exactly what the Bruins had been doing to get to the NCAA championship game: a hand in everyone's face and plenty of blocks. It was the Bruins, trying to win a record 12th championship, who got UCLAed. "They're a very good defensive team," UCLA guard Arron Afflalo said. "They played to perfection tonight." So Florida finally knows what its like to win a national title game after the 73-57 victory, and UCLA knows what it's like to play itself: - In the regional final win over top-seeded Memphis and the semifinal victory over LSU, UCLA allowed 90 points. Not to each team, to both: 45 apiece. Florida had that many with 16:04 to play in the championship game, at which point the Bruins had 27. - UCLA held tournament opponents to 36 percent shooting from the field. That's what the Bruins shot Monday night. - The Bruins' tournament opponents didn't have much better luck from 3point range, shooting only 18 percent and an average of 2.2 per game. UCLA shot 18 percent from beyond the arc Monday night and made three 3s. To see how much UCLA coach Ben Howland didn't like seeing his team go against a replica of his own, check the timeouts. His first came before the first media timeout of the game. Taurean Green hit a BY ANDREA EDMUNDS Sports Editor Although the team didn't qualify for any post-season play, two Utah State gymnasts qualified individually for the regional meet Saturday in Iowa. Jessica Parenti and Meagan Lewis both qualified as allarounders while Alex Martin, Rachel Mandy and Brittany Price qualified as alternates. However, it is a somewhat bittersweet experience for the team. "Regionals is a team event; it is not meant for individuals," Lewis said. "When you find out you're not going with your team - Parenti and I have both gone as individuals before - you feel like you're an outsider, you're rotating with a team you don't know and you're the only one there. You're by yourself, you don't know anybody and it's really hard." Both Parenti and Lewis said it would make it hard to compete being by themselves, but they are still going to go into the meet and ^ There was almost no' chance we weren't ; going to make it." Meagan Lewis UGymansti& do their best. Parenti said it would be better if the whole team were going, but now is the time when she has to step up to compete. Head Coach Ray Corn said it is hard when USU gymnasts compete individually, because Utah State is so team-oriented. But he said he doesn't think it will affect Lewis or Parenti's performances. "I think they'll perform their best performances, in my opinion, of the year," Corn said. "It's becomes a school pride thing and a self-pride thing. You're now competing with Minnesota and the University of Arizona and you want to show them how good you are. It is a difficult meet." After the meet against OT drama belongs to Maryland BY JIMMY GOLEN The Associated Press BOSTON-Overtime belongs to Maryland. So does the NCAA championship. Kristi Toliver hit a 3-pointer at the end of regulation to cap a 13-point comeback, then the freshman made two free throws with 35 seconds left in overtime on Tuesday night to give the Terrapins a 78-75 victory over Duke and their first NCAA women's basketball title. Maryland (34-4) is 6-0 in overtime games this season thefirstfiveon the road and the last in the championship to complete the second-largest comeback in a women's title game. It was the first time the championship was determined in overtime since Tennessee beat Virginia in • 1991. Jessica Foley made two free throws with 18 seconds left in regulation to give Duke a 70-67 lead, then Maryland coach Brenda Frese called timeout to set up a play. Toliver, who had 12 turnovers in the semifinal victory over North Carolina, brought the ball down and veered over to the left side before putting through the 3 with 6.1 seconds left. Toliver said Duke's Alison Bales was right in her face. • MARYLAND see page 10 StatesmanfilePhoto UTAH STATE'S MEAGAN LEWIS qualified individually for the North Central Regional meet to be held in Iowa Saturday. >• REGIONALS see page 9 Rugby from rum to scrum I'm convinced rugby was inventSeth Hawkins e a b y pirates. As near as I can tell, the crucial elements of rugby rum, cursing, brutal beatings and hookers - are essentially the same as the pirates' code. I'll confess: I got my research on the pirates' code from watching "Pirates of the Caribbean," but I'm pretty sure it's accurate. Rugby is a tremendously confusing game. Pirates of old must have invented the game while they were drunk at some port. That would explain why the game is so perplexing. The game was designed to keep their skills high during their off-season. If pirates didn't keep up their beating and drinking while docked at some port, how on earth could they be effective when they got back to sea? Rugby solved all their problems. Pirates are gone today, but the sport still remains with growing popularity in many parts of the w o r l d This makes sense as pirates explored much of the known world and brought their sport with them. Being somewhat of a fan of pirates - if you couldn't already tell - I knew I needed to learn how to play this game. A disclaimer: There are some sports that are so confusing that no matter how hard someone tries to explain, you just stand there scratching your head. Rugby is one of these sports. When I stepped onto the rugby field last Tuesday, I felt confident I would be able to grasp the sport quickly and have a good time playing witn the guys. My confidence was replaced with abject fear the second I saw the first rugby player - he looked like Kronk from "Emporer's New Groove." No, come to think of it, he looked more like a Mack truck. I had no idea rugby players were that big. As the team gathered around, I started to worry for the safety of my life. I'm not a small guy, but then again, I'm not exactly in pristine physical or muscular condition. I kept having visions of myself being checked into the hospital a few hours later - unconscious, with a snapped spine and several broken bones. Walter Cespedes, the head coach of the rugby team, snapped me out of my reverie and had me walk with him as he monitored the team's practice. For some reason, I felt safer this way. As long as I wasn't in the middle of that giant mass of men pushing each other, I was happy. I masked my fear by asking Coach Cespedes constant questions about how the game was played. Ifs a good thing I did, too, because it took almost two hours of explaining and demonstrations by the team before I had any coherent idea of how the game worked. After demonstrating numerous scrums, coach told me it was my turn to be a hooker. I felt a bit awkward and thought to myself, "Whoa, dude! Km not into that kind of business." He pushed me into the front of the scrum and explained that a hooker is a position in rugby. I felt a little better about this until he had me wrap my arms around two massive guys and grab their shirts. It was awkward again. But at least it wasn't as awkward • RUGBY see page 9 Down I Line Assistant coach for volleyball team hired BY UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY Athletic Media Relations Shawn Olmstead, an assistant volleyball coach at Cal Poly this past season has been hired as an Assistant coach at Utah State it was announced on Tuesday by Aggie head coach Grayson DuBose. Olmstead replaces Ryan Parker who resigned following the 2005 season. Prior to his position at Cal Poly, Olmstead spent one year as a volunteer assistant coach for the women's program at Utah Valley State College. "I'm excited that Shawn has decided to join Utah State and be a part of our coaching staff," said DuBose. "I think he is one of the bright young minds in coaching. He is a great recruiter and an excellent person, and we welcome him to the Aggie family." Olmstead attended Brigham Young University and played libero for the men's volleyball program, helping the Cougars win National Championships in 2001 and 2004, along with a national runner-up finish in 2003. During his senior season in 2004, Olmstead recorded the third-most digs in a single-season in school history and earned all-Mountain Pacific Sports Federation all-tournament team honors. He graduated from BYU with a degree in Spanish teaching in 2004. Aggies hire soccer coach BY UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY Athletic Media Relations It did not take long for Utah State head coach Heather Cairns to find a replacement for former assistant coach Brent Anderson. Gina Brewer joined the USU staff after spending the past three seasons as a graduate assistant at Idaho. In the month that she has been at Utah State University, Cairns has been really impressed with the attributes Brewer has brought to the team. Brewer brings a very good resume with her to the women's soccer program. While playing for University of Washington from 1998 through 2001, she helped her team reach the NCAA tournament three years out of four, with the Huskies making it to the round of 16 in 2000. Men's basketball team to hold annual banquet BY UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY Athletic Media Relations Utah State will hold its annual men's basketball banquet on Wed., April 26 at 6:30 p.m., at the Copper Mill Restaurant in downtown Logan. The cost of the event is $20 per person. Head coach Stew Morrill will speak to the audience about the 2005-06 season, the team will honor its award winners, and a highlight video will be shown as well. Anyone interested in attending the banquet should call the Athletics Department at (435) 7971850. |