By Pat Coleman
D3sports.com
HOLLAND, Mich. - Mary Merg hit a buzzer-beating 3-pointer at the end of regulation and a bucket at the buzzer at the end of overtime to lift UW-Whitewater to the Division III women's basketball national championship game on Friday night 64-62.
The 3-pointer ended a crazy sequence in which UW-Whitewater (26-6) hit four 3-pointers in the final 3:04 of regulation to send the game to overtime, then survived four missed free throws in the final 1:12 of the extra session and won on Merg's floater.
Amherst had blown the game open with a 13-2 run midway through the second half, taking a 50-38 lead with under five minutes remaining in the game, and maintaining it at 52-40 as late as three minutes left. But the Warhawks, who had not hit a 3-pointer all game, hit four and needed all four to advance.
UW-Whitewater will face DePauw (33-0) in Saturday's title game, which advanced by beating Williams 59-56. The Warhawks will be the fourth WIAC program to play for the Division III women's basketball national title, but the first since UW-Stevens Point won it all in 2002.
The Lord Jeffs overcame a dismal first-half shooting performance with 11 blocked shots, but couldn't overcome the Warhawks' firepower. Whitewater looked as if it was dead in the water when Cheyenne Pritchard stole Whitewater's inbounds pass with 52 seconds left and Megan Robertson hit a jumper with 21 seconds to go to give the Lord Jeffs (30-2) a five-point lead.
The Warhawks answered, however, as Cortney Kumerow hit a second-chance basket with 10 seconds left, and Marcia Voigt missed the front end of a one-and-one, giving Merg a shot at heroics.
After Merg hit the first one, the second came more easily. "I definitely felt more even confident than I already was," Merg said. "I just remember seeing a 2-on-1 fast break and I decided just to pull up and do a floater. I had no idea how much time was left when I took it."
"I had a little help from 32 up there," Merg said, referring to former teammate Alex Scarbro, who died by suicide earlier this season. "Words can’t describe the feeling."
"She’s here, definitely," Kumerow added. "How does that happen two times in a game? She gives us confidence, she helps us out. It’s like we have that sixth person out there. I feel like she’s gotten us this far. We play for her and that makes us play harder."
| Mary Merg's 3-pointer in regulation sent UW-Whitewater and Amherst into overtime. Not to be outdone, she hit a floater at the end of the game to win it for the Warhawks. Photo by Larry Radloff, d3photography.com More photos from this game. |
Whitewater was 0-for-6 from beyond the 3-point arc as the Amherst lead surged, but the Warhawks were 4-for-4 down the stretch.
"I felt like if we could hit a shot, eventually that would help us," coach Keri Carollo said. "You never know if the momentum is going to keep rolling in their direction. We just kept our focus, defensively, and wanted to make sure we'd keep the pressure on. We had to hit some 3's and these guys hit some great shots."
Kumerow led all scorers with 19 points, while Merg finished with 18 for the Warhawks.
The Warhawks used a 9-0 run to take the lead in the first half. After Voigt sunk her first field goal of the game to give Amherst a 17-11 lead with 11:03 remaining, the Lord Jeffs did not score for the next 7 minutes, 13 seconds, allowing the Warhawks to take a 20-17 lead. Kumerow started the run, then later gave UW-Whitewater the 18-17 lead with a putback of Merg’s miss.
UW-Whitewater led by as many as five points in the first half as Voigt started off ice cold from the field for the Lord Jeffs. Voigt missed eight of her first nine shots and was called for a charge on another as part of Amherst’s dismal first-half shooting performance. But Voigt bounced back, including an off-balance shot with the shot clock running down at the 1:41 mark to cut Whitewater’s lead to one.
Amherst retook the lead less than 10 seconds into the second half, as Bridget Crowley hit a jumper, then picked up a steal which led to a basket by Jasmine Hardy. The Lord Jeffs led the entire second half, before Merg tied it at the buzzer.
"I'm so proud of my team," Amherst coach G.P. Gromacki said. "They left it all on the court. We couldn't have done much different. I just wish I did a little more to get them this win."
Voigt led Amherst with 16 points on 7-for-23 shooting, while Jasmie Hardy added 15 and Robertson had 13 points and 11 rebounds. Freshman Cheyenne Pritchard played 15 minutes after picking up her fourth foul and finished with 12, while Bridget Crowley had 16 rebounds to go along with six points. The Amherst starters played all but eight minutes.
Despite the foul trouble and the thin rotation, Amherst was three minutes away from playing for the national title for the second time in program history. But Merg's heroics snatched that away from the Lord Jeffs.
"It was like a guardian angel steering those shots in," Gromacki said. "They made those plays when they had to and give them credit."
Photo by Larry Radloff, d3photography.com