By Mark Simon
D3hoops.com
No basketball team on the women’s side has had a perfect season, but there are a couple who come close. Randolph-Macon and Buena Vista are two of the five teams who have suffered only one defeat this season, and have done so while scoring at a rate that most would find hard to maintain. The records and the mentality are the same, but the on-court look is a little different.
Randolph-Macon is 21-1 heading into its final two games of the regular season this weekend. The Yellow Jackets are rolling, having won 14 straight since suffering their lone loss to Messiah during Christmas break in the Virgin Islands.
So long as the team takes care of business the rest of the way and makes the NCAA Tournament, the Yellow Jackets should be classified as one of the favorites out of the South region along with likely qualifier, Trinity (Texas). Randolph-Macon returned all five starters from last season’s team, which lost in the ODAC Championship and then the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Their depth is such that two of those starters now come off the bench.
Randolph-Macon is going to be a formidable foe for anyone because it features multiple strengths. The Yellow Jackets have an All-American in junior guard Megan Silva (20.0 points on 53% shooting, 5.0 assists, 3.7 steals), whose quick first step makes her a triple threat, capable of driving, dishing, or shooting from the outside. Teams have tried all sorts of defenses, including box-and-one, triangle-and-two, but nothing has stopped Silva from getting her points. Backcourt mate Kristen Morgan is the team’s defensive specialist, whose contributions might get overlooked by potential opponents reading from a stat sheet.
“She doesn’t get the credit she deserves,” head coach Carroll LaHaye said. “She raises the level of our intensity and desire and the rest of the team feeds off of it.”
What may make a significant difference on a national scale for the Yellow Jackets is their size. Randolph-Macon has a luxury in that it can start two players in the post that eliminate options for the opposition in 6-2 Emily Crider and 6-3 Michelle Orton. The two have combined for 60 blocked shots and that accounts for Randolph Macon’s opponents shooting only 32% from the field. Orton (11.3 points) is the second-leading scorer on the team, while Crider has the ability to draw defenders away from the basket, with the ability to shoot out to the 3-point line.
“When they’re on the court, it’s pretty difficult for opponents,” LaHaye said. “When they’re not, it’s a challenge for us.”
The team’s other starter, Salem Shaffer, is strong on both ends of the floor, and leads the team with 45 steals and ranks third with 17 blocks. When LaHaye goes to the bench, she can call on the likes of senior forward Sarah Crider, Emily’s sister, who sat out last season while battling Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, and Marta Merkel (5.4 points), a midseason transfer from Division I Fairleigh Dickinson, who can play at both guard and forward.
Overall, the numbers are very much in Randolph-Macon’s favor. The Yellow Jackets shoot 46% from the field, 35% from 3-point range and 73% from the foul line. They rank among the top 25 nationally in five stats (including 3rd in scoring) and are 26th in another (3-point percentage).
This team is similar in nature to the 1995-96 Randolph-Macon squad, the first to of five to make the NCAA Tournament during LaHaye’s 22 seasons at the school, which went 28-2 and advanced to the Sweet 16.
“We had six seniors on that team, so it was a mature group,” LaHaye said. “Nothing ever seemed to bother them. This group is well on its way to that, but we’re not there yet."
Buena Vista's Katie Maguire averaged 16.0 points and 4.5 assists in the NCAA Tournament last year and is posting similar numbers this year. |
Buena Vista’s women have put up similar numbers to Randolph-Macon, but has done so with a team with a different appearance. The approach is the same, though.
“They’re so businesslike,” said Beavers head coach Janet Berry, whose team is 23-1. “They don’t get overly excited when we win and they don’t get flustered by anything. We play very consistent basketball. It’s been wonderful.”
The Beavers lead the nation in scoring at 81.0 points per game, and do so without a six-footer on its roster. The Beavers start four wing players and a center and play the game at a very fast pace.
“We call it pressure offense,” Berry said. “We’ll never walk the ball up the floor. We just keep taking it at you. We want as many shots as we can get.”
Junior guard Katie Maguire takes, and makes most of them. Maguire, who played five varsity sports in high school, has dominated this season, averaging 17.5 points and 5.0 assists per game, while making 60 3-pointers, with a success rate of 47 percent. She’s followed by center Kristina Kapler, (14.6 points), who recently passed the 1,000 point mark. Similar to Randolph-Macon, the Beavers are very accurate from the 3-point line (five players have 20 or more 3-pointers, and the team shoots 38% from long range), and the free throw line (74%).
Defensively, the team is keyed by junior Kelli Staley (10.0 points, 7.1 rebounds, 3.0 steals), who was shifted to power forward this season, despite being only 5-8, because she is what Berry termed “obnoxious on defense.”
“She just makes things miserable for her opponents,” Berry said. “She has been the key because of her improvements from last season.”
The Beavers have won 33 in a row at home and feel that they have a big psychological edge on their home floor. They are used to long road trips, so going on long bus rides doesn’t bother them a bit. To those who may think that this season’s mark is a product of homecourt edge, let us point out that Buena Vista is 11-0 in true road games, with its only loss coming in the third game of the season to Mayville State, an NAIA program.
“Four hours (on a bus) is nothing to us,” said Janet Berry. “When you’re used to it, it’s not a big deal. Some teams come up the night before when they play us, but we’ve never done that.”
Buena Vista went to the Sweet 16 last season before losing to Puget Sound, so it knows it can hang in with the best of the best. The rest of the nation may not be aware of it yet, as Buena Vista’s non-conference schedule hasn’t provided it with too many Midwestern tests.
“We have flown under the radar,” Berry said, “and that’s perfectly okay with me.”
LANDING AT LINCOLN
Lincoln junior guard Kyle Myrick says that there is no better 1-2 combination in college basketball than him and Jarrett Kearse. They hope that the NCAA Tournament is their proving ground.
The dynamic duo have lived up to that talk so far, ranking in the top six in the nation in scoring (Kearse is third at 27.2 points, with Myrick sixth at 25.2) and leading Lincoln, an independent program, to a school record for victories, wins in 14 of the last 15 games, including eight straight (the only loss coming at New Jersey City). There are several ways in which they are not your typical Division III players.
Both Kearse and Myrick are in their mid-20s and took a roundabout path to the school. The 6-7 Kearse, a star at Simon Gratz High, which also produced NBA star Rasheed Wallace, might be able to have the distinction of playing in the Division I, II, and III tournaments. He was a freshman on the 1997-98 West Virginia team that advanced to the Sweet 16, and was third team all-Big East as a sophomore point guard, then withdrew from school. After he was unsuccessful in trying to transfer to the University of Massachusetts, went to Division II Shaw, where he stayed for a semester and made it to the Division II Final Four in 2002.
Out of school and working at a community center in Philadelphia while helping to raise a child he fathered, Kearse befriended Eugene Lett, a friend of NBA forward Aaron McKie, who eventually took a job as Lincoln’s recreation coordinator and assistant to new head coach Garfield Yuille. Lett convinced Kearse, and Myrick, also a Philadelphia native who had to deal with academic and personal issues while trying to land at a Division I school, that it was time to grow up and become more productive in life. Both subsequently enrolled at Lincoln.
“We’ve got things in place, with our study halls, to make sure that they’re doing what they have to do academically,” Lett said. “They’ve been great. They’ve changed the image of our team.”
Kearse’s eligibility was an issue at first, since he had accepted prize money for playing in a Magic Johnson Basketball Tournament that aired on MTV, but he was cleared by the NCAA to play as a senior after sitting out five games (he also donated the money he won to the Baltimore Stars Coalition AAU Team), during which Lincoln went 3-2. Since returning, he and Myrick have been a dominant backcourt, particularly on the offensive end. Kearse had a 54-point effort in a win over Hood on Saturday, netting 38 points after halftime and making 10 3-pointers. Myrick kept pace on the stat sheet, tallying 26 points, nine rebounds and seven assists. Lincoln does feel it has talent in the other three spots on the floor, but those players have learned to change their game and give the duo room to flourish
“Jarrett stretches out the defense, and brings shooting range out to the parking lot,” Myrick said. “The coaches have really let us play to the best of our abilities. Some coaches might try to clamp us down, but our coach has given us the freedom as long as we stay disciplined.”
Kearse hopes to play professionally somewhere next season (though the NBA is aware of him, league talent evaluators have said he’s more likely to land in the CBA or overseas), and is more modest when talking about his game than Myrick’s praises. He does concur with Myrick’s evaluation of their game.
“With my savvy and his heart, I think that we could hold our own against anyone,” Kearse said.
They should get their chance in the NCAA Tournament as a Pool B team.
“We’re playing like we don’t have anything to lose,” Kearse said. “We have a lot of trust in each other. I think we’re going to surprise some people.”
Norwich saw Jim Bayne do a lot of this in the second half of last week's game. |
GO-TO GUY
While going for a steal midway through the first half of Saturday’s game against Norwich, sophomore forward Jim Bayne banged heads with an opposing player. The result was a bloody gash on the right side of his head, which needed stitches. Norwich, known as one of the more physical teams in the GNAC, had left its mark on Bayne, and in the second half, he left his mark all over them.
There was no truth to the rumor that when Bayne removed his bloodied number 31 for No. 20 that there was a big “S” on the back of his jersey. Bayne turned into Superman in the second half, scoring all 22 of his team’s points. Then, after his teammates provided some scoring assistance in overtime, Bayne scored the basket that put his squad ahead for good with 2:18 remaining in the extra session and earned them a key win. WNEC is 16-7, 12-4 in league, and has won six in a row heading into Thursday’s game with Johnson and Wales. Bayne, a native of Bristol, Conn., is second on the team in scoring at 16.0 points-per-game, a hair behind former high school teammate Jon Godbout.
“I was completely in the zone,” said Bayne, who made 10 of 13 shots from the field in the final 20 minutes of regulation. “This is the most unselfish team I’ve been on. Everyone realized I was hot and they wanted to get me the ball. I had no clue that I scored all our points.”
WORST TO FIRST
The Rockford women’s program’s history of struggles was wiped from the record books earlier this season when Schreiner surpassed them for the longest losing streak in Division III history. The Regents are now making history of a different nature, having clinched their second consecutive regular-season NIIC title with a win over Clarke on Tuesday. Rockford enters the weekend with seven straight wins and needs one more to clinch the second 20-win season in the program’s history, despite returning only three players from last season’s team. Rockford opened some eyes earlier this season when it stunned No. 19 Hope in double overtime during its opening-weekend tournament.
“That set the bar high,” said head coach Bob Amsberry, who was in his second season in 1998 when the losing streak reached 70 games. “We knew then that we could compete with anyone in the country.”
The Regents have gotten great production from three returnees, including 2004 NIIC Player of the Year Kristina Dorman (16.3 points, 7.4 rebounds), and from newcomers, particularly freshman post Angie Butler (10.6 points per game), and Clarke transfer Kristi Strunz (second on the team at 14.0 points per game).
Rockford is a good example of a program that when given time and the proper resources, can turn things around dramatically, so we thought it appropriate to ask for some advice for Schreiner, whose streak now sits at 82. He is someone who can provide a reason to believe.
“It can happen,” Amsberry said. “You have to work through it day-to-day. You can’t get caught up in the streak, because you can’t change what has already happened.”
ATTENTION GRABBERS
- The men’s side of the UAA is now a two-team race between Rochester and Carnegie Mellon, and things could get interesting as both make the road trip to Washington University and Chicago this weekend. The Yellow Jackets at 10-1 in league play, have a 2½ game edge over the Tartans, who need to find a way to make up 1½ games over the next three contests to set up a season finale showdown with Rochester for the league’s automatic bid. History favors the Yellow Jackets, who have won nine straight. No UAA team has swept the Washington/Chicago road trip since Rochester did during the 1991-92 season.
- We’ve highlighted on the front page how close the race is for the top spot in the OAC men’s race, but there are a couple of leagues that are very much up for grabs heading into the final days of the season. Five teams (Franklin & Marshall, Johns Hopkins, Ursinus, Gettysburg, Haverford) entered this past Monday within a game of first place in the Centennial Conference (the tiebreakers could get messy), a league that has become one of parity rather than being dominated as usually by Franklin & Marshall. In the GNAC, there is a clear distinction between the haves and the have nots. Norwich, WNEC, Emmanuel, Emerson and Johnson & Wales are scrunched together at the top of the standings, but there’s a big gap to the bottom half of the standings. That’s going to make seeding very important, because no one’s going to want to play in the 4-5 quarterfinal.
- Speaking of tight races, the RPI women have gotten hot at just the right time in the Liberty League, rolling off five straight wins, putting them in the thick of things with Union, St. Lawrence, William Smith and Hamilton. Senior forward Kaitlyn Saunders is having a phenomenal season, and is among the nation’s leaders in scoring and steals. Saunders, who now has 1,436 career points, set the school’s all-time scoring mark last Saturday in a win over Union, passing former teammate Kristin Kaczynski.
- UW-Stevens Point senior forward Jason Kalsow has a chance to do something that we’re guessing is extremely rare, especially in a deep league. Kalsow, who has drawn some NBA looks this season, could lead the WIAC in scoring (20.1, leads league through Feb. 17), rebounding (7.2, third), and assists (4.35, first). That would seem to make him the leading candidate for National Player of the Year honors.
- New Jersey looked like a Final Four contender after routing Amherst earlier this season, but the Lions have been snakebit ever since, going just 7-7 (awaiting the NJAC playoffs), losing a couple of games by blowing late leads, and getting swept by perennial league doormat Rutgers-Newark. There figures to be a sense of urgency with TCNJ for the NJAC playoffs. The Lions were built to be very strong this season, with five senior regulars, including a backcourt featuring All-America candidate Derick Grant, and one of the nation’s best 3-point shooters, Kyle Burke
- Circle the Southwestern men as having the potential to be one of the best teams in the nation next season, but things look pretty promising this season as well. The SCAC leaders start a lineup with five juniors and are hot at the right time, having won seven of eight, including the last five in a row. If the Pirates can hang on to their one game lead over Trinity, going into its final two game road trip of the season, it would mark the first SCAC title for Southwestern since joining the league in 1990.
- Lastly, a bizarre statistical observation, courtesy of the NCAA’s leader board. Scroll down the assist leaders and you’ll see something odd — two players, the same name and same height, with nearly identical stats playing at opposite ends of the country. Johnson State (Vt.) senior guard Sean Sweeney has 120 assists in 22 games (5.5 per game), while St. Thomas (Minn.) junior guard Sean Sweeney (no relation, apparently) has 124 in 23 games (5.4 per game).