Women’s basketball captures conference crown and goes dancing
“这次的利害关系非常不同. This is what they worked for all year long, and if we don’t win that game, our season is over.”
It was described by some as a one-in-a-million shot.
Utica women’s basketball head coach Michele Davis maintains it is a staple of her team’s offense. “We’ve run it – and won on it – numerous times. Heck, we run it probably five times or 10 times a game,” Davis says.
先锋队以37比36落后伊萨卡队.还有3秒. 底线接球, Stephanie Nara ’12 lobbed a pass to Jessica Berry ’12, 谁被安排在低位, just in front of the rim and immediately behind center Meghan Fiore ’14. Berry caught the ball, took one step toward the rim, and forced up a buzzer-beating shot.
What made the play special – if not one-in-a-million – to everyone gathered inside Ben Light Gymnasium on February 27 were the stakes at hand. Utica College and top-seeded and host Ithaca College were meeting in the Empire 8 Championship Tournament final. At stake, in addition to the conference crown, was a trip to the NCAA Tournament.
However many times the team has run the play in practice or in games, 戴维斯允许, “这仍然是一个非常困难的投篮.”
“And,” she continues, “这次的利害关系非常不同. This is what they worked for all year long, and if we don’t win that game, our season is over.”
贝瑞打出了先锋队的入场券. Her last-second heroics earned UC its second conference championship and accompanying automatic NCAA bid in three years, 巩固了她获得全美荣誉的机会.
UC把它的韧性带到了大舞台上. The Pioneers opened their NCAA tournament play facing tall odds. Nationally-No. 8 ranked Moravian College was riding the momentum of a 20-game winning streak, 拥有全国得分第六的进攻, 而且是在他们的主场比赛, 他们本赛季只输过一次. The Pioneers overcame a 15-point second half deficit to advance to the tournament’s second round for the first time since 1984.
Davis owes her team’s knack for coming from behind to the character in the Pioneers locker room, namely the players’ commitment to playing hard until, 字面上的, 终场哨响.
“今年我们在很多比赛中都处于劣势, 我们一直在反击,戴维斯说。, 谁, 球队战胜摩拉维亚, 创造教练胜利的项目记录, 路过琼·凯. “There are negatives to playing from behind as often as we did – certainly, you always want to be ahead – but we never quit. 如果我们半场落后15分, 他们的态度总是, “好吧, 我们可以在下半场比他们多得20分.’ They never felt like any game was over – ever.”
Of course, it never hurts to have a player of Berry’s caliber. 帝国8年度最佳球员,D3hoops.com全美, and Women’s Basketball Coaches Association All-American finalist ranked 11th in the nation in scoring this season. 她是联盟最好的.3 scoring average was 6 points better than the second ranked scorer. 她还
在帝国8篮板球榜上排名第二.
Berry is one of only nine players in the College’s history to score more than 1,000点, 而她呢?,549 points currently ranked third of UC’s all-time scoring list. 她还 ranks second all-time with 111 blocked shots and fourth all-time with 791 rebounds. She needs 209 rebounds next season to join fellow UC All-American Sharon Lyke ’85 as the second player in program history with more than 1,000分加1,000个篮板. 除了, she is on pace to become only the 11th player in Division III women’s basketball history to score more than 2,000分,有1分,000个篮板.
“Jess is that kind of once-in-coaching-lifetime player 谁 you’re going to get,” Davis says. “Joan Kay had one in Sharon Lyke, and I think Jess Berry may end up being my Sharon Lyke. 他们不常来. “看她打球很有趣, and it’s got to be fun to play with her because she’s not a selfish player. 她没有什么弱点. 她能射三个. 她能突破篮筐. 她可以背对着篮子玩. 她能投底线跳投. And, of course, she’ll take and hit the big shot.”
更多的故事
利记sbo Rising Sophomore Accepted into 2024 Summer Undergraduate 研究 Program at UMass Chan Medical School
利记sbo’s Young Scholars Liberty Partnerships Program Names New Executive Director
我希望看到登录和资源:
For a general list of frequently used logins, you can also visit 我们的登录页面.