Posted on March 15, 2006
NEWARK, Del. — JMU senior center Meredith Alexis, the Colonial Athletic Association Player of the Year, didn’t have to explain her disappointment as tears ran down her face.
For the second straight year, the JMU women’s basketball team fell one game short of a CAA championship title, while the Old Dominion dynasty remained intact at 16 years running.
“It’s just frustration,” Alexis said. “It’s upsetting to say [CAA champs] every single day since we start … and it doesn’t happen, it’s just really hard right now.”
Despite out-rebounding their CAA rival 48-32 — including 25-9 on the offensive glass — and having all five starters finish in double-figures scoring, the Dukes could not match the Monarchs on the scoreboard, losing 78-70.
Before the tournament, coach Kenny Brooks was named CAA Coach of the Year. During the final, Alexis finished with a double-double (12 rebounds, game-high 17 points), as did senior guard Tamera Young (10 rebounds, 10 points). Afterward, Alexis and senior forward Shirley McCall received All-Tournament honors.
But it didn’t quite spell championship.
“You look at the stat sheet and it looks like [ODU] made some big shots at some crucial times,” ODU coach Wendy Larry said.
Missed shots and turnovers hurt the Dukes early on and allowed the Monarchs to jump out to an 18-7 lead — their largest lead of the game.
Then, JMU woke up with a 9-0 run, closing the gap to two.
Even so, the Dukes were not making their opportunities count. During its opening run, for example, JMU failed to capitalize on an ODU turnover; despite having five offensive rebounds in a row, the Dukes managed just one free throw.
Shooting just 33 percent for the game didn’t help matters.
“We hurried a lot of our shots,” Brooks said. “We weren’t in rhythm … We had to fight and claw to get back into the game. We had to spend a lot of energy. It caused me to do some things I really didn’t want to do. I wanted to play more people, but when you get down like that in a game of this magnitude, sometimes you kind of go with your horses.”
During the regular season, JMU had averaged a league-best 45 percent from the floor and boasted the third-best perimeter defense (.277). However, the Dukes allowed the CAA Championship Most Outstanding Player in ODU’s T. J. Jordan to hit four of six from 3-point range. As a team, the Monarchs drained 51 percent of their shots, including 58 percent from behind the arc.
For the Dukes, Brooks said nobody really shot the ball particularly well, despite opportunities against the zone. Young, for example, made just two of her 13 shots and only one from 3-point range. As a team, the Dukes struggled from behind the arc, hitting just 2-of-12.
“I don’t think that’s what cost us the game,” said senior guard Lesley Dickinson, who finished with a game-high 17 points and seven rebounds. “I think they just outplayed us at crucial points in the game.”
Regardless, JMU was able to keep it close, but couldn’t establish a lead in the first half and never had one in the second.
With just 26 seconds left in the first, senior point guard Andrea Benvenuto drove the baseline and tied the score at 30-30 with a reverse lay-up.
Just when momentum finally seemed to be swinging JMU’s way, Jordan put up a deep, buzzer-beating 3-pointer to give ODU the lead heading into the locker room.
In the second half, the Dukes kept it close by getting to the foul line often, while hitting 89.5 percent (17-of-19) of their free throws. They were 88 percent from the stripe on the day, compared to ODU’s 68 percent.
“It’s a true heart and gut check,” Larry said. “Down the stretch, you take punches the whole game and you give punches … and it’s the team that gives the last punch that wins a game like this.”
At the end of the day, ODU’s bench had contributed 20 points to Jordan’s game-high 17. ODU center Tiffany Green and guard Shantel Williams each finished in double figures as well with 16 and 10, respectively.
“Tomorrow is a new day,” Alexis said. “We have to get ourselves ready for postseason play. It’s a quick turnaround; we can’t dwell on this loss.”
