Click here to subscribe today or Login.
By JERRY KELLAR jkellar@leader.net
Saturday, March 15, 2003 Page: 1B
WILKES-BARRE – King’s College’s “Sweet 16” party turned into one giant dud.
Despite playing on their home court and in front of a couple thousand
boisterous fans, the Lady Monarchs’ drive to a Division III national
championship ended in bitter silence and tears Friday night at Scandlon
Gymnasium as Eastern Connecticut State rallied for a 67-57 victory.
What’s worse, coach Bryan Whitten’s squad has no one to blame but itself.
“We came up short. Sometimes, things just don’t go your way,” senior
forward Jen Wozniak said softly. “We stopped ourselves in the second half.”
And how.
The Lady Monarchs blew a 10-point first-half lead, then collapsed under
their own horrid play in the final 20 minutes.
King’s shot just 22 percent in the second half, missed all five of its
three-point attempts, was outrebounded 23-14 and – finally – outscored by its
visitors 34-19.
Certainly not the kind of numbers Whitten expected from his squad, which
won 24 of 27 games coming into the contest.
“Without a doubt,” he said, when asked if it was his team’s worst
one-half effort. “Without a doubt.”
The Lady Monarchs’ inability to put the equally sloppy Warriors away (16
first-half turnovers) came back to bite them. King’s, which led 28-18 with
just over seven min utes left in the half, went scoreless for the next four
minutes, giving Eastern Connecticut (26-4) the opportunity to crawl back in
the game and seize some much-needed momentum.
“We talked about it at halftime,” said Whitten, whose team led 38-33 at
the break. “I thought we let them hang around too long.”
With new life, the Warriors turned the game over to their two-time
All-American, 5-foot-9 junior Allison Coleman. The slick-shooting forward’s
basket at the 16-min ute mark gave her team its first lead, 44-43.
Coleman finished with a triple-double – 18 points, 12 rebounds and 10
assists – as the Warriors dominated a second half that saw Lady Monarch guard
Tiffini Varrasse (12 points) pick up her fourth foul with more than 11 min
utes left to play.
It was just one of many things that went wrong for King’s.
“When we got a three- or four-point lead, we could hear them start
bickering with each other,” Coleman said of the Monarchs, who shot 37.9
percent for the night and committed 17 turnovers.
At that point, the Warriors played as if they “had nothing to lose,”
according to their coach, Denise Bierly.
“They (Monarchs) really came out ready to go,” Bierly said. “Our goal at
the beginning was to try to handle that first wave and get everybody to settle
down.
“Even that one-point lead kind of changed the complexion of the game,”
she added. “Once you can take the lead, they’re thinking, `Oh, wow, we’re
behind.’ ”
Eastern Connecticut also did a nice job overplaying the lefty Wozniak on
defense. Wozniak, who still finished with a game-high 24 points, managed to
kick the ball out on the wings to her teammates, but their shots simply
wouldn’t fall.
“I thought when we lost the lead we put up a couple of quick shots,”
Whitten said.
“I wouldn’t say we panicked, I’d say we got careless,” senior forward
Carissa Ryan said. “Too many turnovers. We couldn’t put it together in the
second half.”
Now, a group of remarkable athletes who were making their fourth
consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance will be forced to watch another team
play on their home court, as Eastern Connecticut meets Bowdoin at 7 p.m. today
for the right to advance to the Final Four.
“That’s gonna be tough, watching someone else play in your gym,” Whitten
said.
Once the pain subsides, the coach promised his players will come to
appreciate what they accomplished at this level.
“Four years ago, no one knew who King’s College was,” said Whitten, who
more than once referred to his players as “Amazing.
“They set the standard.”
That didn’t prevent the tears at the end. Nor did it hush the cheers coming
from the other side of the house.
“We came up short,” Wozniak said again.