Gators, Tigers Collide in NCAC Semis

Feb 22, 2007

NCAC Bracket (pdf)

MEADVILLE, Pa. – The Allegheny College women’s basketball team appears to be peaking at just the right time of the season following a 59-42 victory over The College of Wooster in the quarterfinals of the North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament this past Tuesday (February 20). The third-seeded Gators (18-7, 11-5 NCAC) aim to take that momentum into their semifinal contest against perennial conference nemesis Wittenberg University (15-10, 11-5 NCAC), the No. 2 seed, on Friday, February 23, at 5:30 p.m. inside the Livingston Gymnasium on the campus of Denison University.

Allegheny head coach Jennifer Reimer preached defense prior to the Wooster game, and that’s the plan her players followed, limiting the Fighting Scots to just 25 percent shooting from the floor, including 0-of-11 on three-point attempts. The Gators also notched 13 steals and seven blocked shots, while forcing Wooster into 18 turnovers. Allegheny played shutdown defense on two of the Scots’ top scorers, Carly Loehrke and Beth Besancon Sidle, who combined for 42 points in a 77-71 Wooster win during the regular season. This time around, the Scot duo managed to connect on only 7-of-28 attempts from the field for a total of 19 points.

“I thought we executed very well against Wooster,” said Reimer. “We knew we needed to play good post defense against Loehrke. Our post players managed to force her outside of the paint and out of her normal position.”

“Katie Kestler also did a great job of shutting down Bensancon Sidle, who scored 24 points against us the first time around” added the Gator head coach. “Those were the two players we really keyed in on.”

Since Reimer took over the club for the 2000-01 season, Allegheny has been one of the final four NCAC Tournament teams in all but one season. Unfortunately, the Gators have seen the season end there five times in disappointing fashion as the team has been outscored by an average margin of 23 points in the semis. Two of those setbacks have come against Wittenberg in 2002 (75-58) and 2003 (95-27). This season’s Allegheny squad isn’t the same as past years, however, a fact made perfectly clear to Reimer.

“Every team is different. With this team, I have had to do very little talking. We have such great leadership out of our seniors and captains that less is more from my end. Just keeping things simple has been the answer for us this year.”

The Tigers have been far from the traditional NCAC power this season, getting off to a 9-9 start before closing with six wins in seven contests, including a 31-point drubbing of Earlham College (83-52) in the opening round of the league tournament. That lone loss down the stretch came at the hands of Wooster in a 70-56 decision on the final day of the regular season.

In the two meetings between Allegheny and Wittenberg this season, the Tigers have held the lead for all 80 minutes, posting a 59-50 victory in Meadville on January 6 and winning 71-47 in Springfield, Ohio, on February 3. Wittenberg also leads the all-time series by a substantial margin, taking 33 of 38 contests, including all five in the NCAC Tournament.

“The last few years, Wittenberg has had our number,” said Reimer. “That works to our advantage, though, because it gives us nothing to lose. We’re the underdog. We can come out without any nerves.”

The Tigers’ strength derives from the post where they have a slew of talent, led by senior Kathy Hittle, and junior Katie Gregorevich. Hittle, the 2005-06 NCAC Player of the Year, and Gregorevich have combined for 19.7 points and 13.6 rebounds per game in 2006-07, the former leading the team in rebounding (7.3 rpg) and the latter paving the way in scoring (11.1 ppg).

“Our focus defensively is going to be on their post players,” said the Gator head coach. “Gregorevich is one of the best, if not the best, post player in the league. We need to contain both her and Hittle. If we can be physical with them and keep them off the offensive boards, we can keep the game close.”

In the other semifinal, host and top-seed Denison (22-4, 15-1 NCAC) faces No. 4 Kenyon College (14-12, 10-6 NCAC) at 7:45 p.m. on Friday. The Big Red defeated Oberlin College 94-63 in the quarterfinals, while the Ladies disposed of Ohio Wesleyan University 54-44. Allegheny took three of the four meetings this season with Denison and Kenyon, handing the former its only conference loss of the season on February 19 (55-48) and sweeping Kenyon by scores of 58-54 at home and 69-62 on the road.

“Hopefully, we can bring the same kind of confidence against them that we brought during the regular season,” said Reimer about her team’s chances against the other two semifinalists. “We’re matched very evenly with the other teams and either match-up with make a great final.”

“But first we need to take care of business against Wittenberg so we can get to the final.”

The championship game of the NCAC Tournament will be Saturday, February 24, at 7 p.m., also at Denison.

Printable Version