Gator Women Prepare for Semi-Finals

Feb 23, 2006

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MEADVILLE, Pa. – As the Allegheny women’s basketball team prepares for its trip to Springfield, Ohio for the semi-finals of the North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament, they are reminded of last year's tournament, when Friday’s opponent, Denison, swept through the tournament, winning from the second seed position, while the Gators were sitting at home after getting upset in the first round by fifth seed Ohio Wesleyan.

This year the Gators have history on their side, as the top two seeds of the tournament have advanced to the finals in 17 of the 21 years that the NCAC has had a conference tournament. However, in each of those four years, the #1 seed has advanced, with the #2 seed falling. The most recent of the four was in 2001, Allegheny head coach Jennifer Reimer’s first year with the Gators, when Earlham, the third seed, picked up a 74-59 victory over Allegheny, before falling to top seed Ohio Wesleyan 87-76 in the championship.

Allegheny has a rich history in the NCAC Tournament, as the team dominated the league for the first five years of the conference tournament era, losing just three regular season conference games during that span, and winning all five regular season and tournament titles. The squad, which has never finished lower than sixth in any season, has finished in the top three in each of the past four years, twice finishing runner up in the regular season title race. This year the team finished a game behind Wittenberg University for the top spot in the league.

Their first opponent, Denison, the defending NCAC Tournament Champion, comes into the game having won just two of their last four games, including a 64-51 victory over Wooster in the first round of the NCAC Tournament. In the game, the Big Red jumped out to a 36-20 halftime lead and opened the second half on a 10-2 run, pushing the advantage to 18 before cruising to the 13-point win. Kristen Sheffield, a second team All-NCAC performer last season, lit up the Fighting Scots for 23 points and 11 rebounds, hitting of 9-of-15 shots in the contest. Tammy Hoch and Carolyn Simpson scored nine and eight points, respectively, while Hoch pulled down nine rebounds, narrowly missing the double-double.

“I think that any experience like that, an experience of winning a conference tournament, has got to play to your favor,” Reimer said about Denison’s NCAC Tournament run last year. “However, I think the hunger that our kids have because they weren’t there last year, they are playing for paybacks against no one in particular. They want to be the ones holding the trophy up at the end of the day.”

This year the Gators swept the regular season series, winning 61-51 on January 14 in Meadville, before traveling to Granville and picking up a 61-57 win two weeks ago. In the series, Meghan Vasilisin (Munhall/Oakland Catholic) led the way with her 16-point, five rebound performance in the first game, as Caitlin Murtagh (Bethel Park/Seton-La Salle) and Courtney Steding (McDonald/Fort Cherry) averaged 10.5 and 10.0 points per game. Becca Gasciewicz (Grove City/Kennedy Christian) and Katie Kestler (Pittsburgh/Mt. Lebanon) averaged seven games apiece.

“Denison plays incredibly tough defense,” said Reimer about Denison, who is second in the league in scoring margin this season. “They are very physical. Kristen Sheffield is one of the best players in the league, so we certainly expect to have our hands full, as we have the last two times we have played them. I hope that we can compete with them on the boards, but I know that we will play hard, so I think it should be a great game.”

The Gator defense held Sheffield to just two points in the first meeting before giving up 15 points to the Denison leading scorer in the second game. Hoch averaged eight points per game in the series, while Sheffield pulled down an average of 11 rebounds per game against the Gators.

For the year the Big Red have been led by Sheffield, who averages 11.5 points and 7.9 rebounds per game, in addition to blocking 61 shots, second best in the league. Simpson, a 6-0 freshman, averages 9.8 points per game and 5.8 rebounds per contest, while Sarah Perrine and Caitlin Krupka put up 7.7 and 7.3 points per game, respectively. Ellen O’Brien averages a team-best 2.7 assists per game off of the bench, while Krupka has pilfered a team-best 42 steals.

The Gators struggled in the regular season on the boards, being out-rebounded by nearly three rebounds per game, but shed any question about their ability in the category by out-rebounding Earlham 49-29 on Tuesday night, including pulling down 21 offensive rebounds in the team’s 89-72 first-round victory.

“Rebounding is something we need to continue to be diligent about,” said Reimer. “If we can continue to rebound the way we have been rebounding, it is going to mean good things for us this weekend.”

Against Earlham, the Gators used an even scoring effort, five players in double figures, to pace the team to the 17-point win. Kestler scored a team-high 16 points, but it was Jennifer Latronica’s (Gibsonia/Deer Lakes) all around performance, 15 points and 15 rebounds, that pushed Allegheny through to the second round. Valery Medwid (Pittsburgh/Montour) and Murtagh each scored 15 points, while Steding added a dozen in the winning effort. Freshman Stephanie Wolf (Pittsburgh/North Allegheny) added seven rebounds, while Steding led the team with four assists.

For the year the team is led by Steding, who averages 11.1 points, 5.5 rebounds, 2.2 steals, and 2.1 assists, all four either leading or tying for the lead on the team. Murtagh (9.8) and Kestler (9.0) each average at least nine points per game, while Medwid puts up 7.6 per contest. Latronica, who spent the first semester overseas, is averaging 7.1 points and 5.3 rebounds per game, but has blocked 43 shots, an average of 2.69 per game, tops in the league and 16th best in Division III.

Tip-off for the first game in Springfield is at 5:30 p.m., while Wittenberg plays host to the Kenyon Lords at approximately 7:45 p.m. in the second game of the evening. The winner of each of the semi-final games play at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday afternoon, with the winner earning an automatic berth into the NCAA Division III Tournament.

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