Women claim third in NCAA tournament

On March 19, the UR Women’s basketball team traveled to Virginia Beach for their second straight appearance at the Women’s Division III Final Four.”The competition was very intense as it was probably the most evenly matched Final Four in recent memory,” Head Coach Jim Scheible said.On Friday, UR lost in the semi-finals to Wilmington College, the eventual champions, by a score of 73-64.UR came out with a 20-9 lead midway through the first half and continued to lead for the first 33 minutes. Wilmington had a strong comeback and with one minute was up by three. The Yellowjackets were forced to foul with time running out, and Wilmington made nine of 10 of their free throws. Senior guard Erika Smith had a double-double with 20 points and 18 rebounds. Juniors Kelly Wescott and Megan Fish both added 10 points.On Saturday UR defeated UW-Stevens Point 64-63 in the third place game. The team was down 50-34 with 13 minutes left to go, and made a great comeback to win the game. Smith led with 19 points and 13 rebounds, and Fish had 12 points and seven rebounds. Freshman forward Emily Lyons contributed with nine points, five rebounds and took five charges when she came in for Wescott, who was in foul trouble the entire game.The women’s team ended a very satisfying season with a record of 25-5 and placed third in the nation out of 420 teams. “Although it is devastating to lose when you get that close, it was great to be there for a second year in a row and take third place home,” senior captain Tara Carrozza said. “The season, on a whole, was the most memorable out of all four years for me because of the people who were a part of it, meaning both the coaching staff and teammates.”Smith was named 1st Team Kodak All-American, and Carrozza was sectional MVP for the Sweet Sixteen games at Marymount University. Wescott also received an honorable mention for All-American, and Fish was named All-UAA honorable mention. Smith and Wescott were also named to the Final Four All-Tournament team.”We are very excited about next year, as we will return 14 players that finished our season with us,” Scheible said. “We will miss our seniors very much but we are already looking forward to another great year.”Mclean can be reached at mclean@campustimes.org.