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Women’s Basketball Team Ends Best Season in
History with Semifinal Defeat
By Ioana Patrigenaru | March 26, 2007
The best season in the history of UCSD’s women’s basketball team ended Thursday with a defeat in the semifinals of the NCAA’s Division II national championships, known as the Elite Eight. The Tritons lost 67-53 to Southern Connecticut State University in Kearney, Neb. Southern Connecticut went on to win the national championship title.
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Meaghan Noud
(Photo / UCSD Sports Information) |
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Coach Jannell Jones and players said they’re proud of their record and their achievements this year.
“They poured their heart and soul into this season,” Jones said of her players.
This past week, UCSD’s team didn’t just play basketball. Athletes studied, took finals proctored by UCSD officials and took part in public service events for the NCAA, often all in the same day. “We had a lot of distractions,” Jones said. “That makes me even more proud of them.”
Jones knows what she’s talking about. Before coming to UCSD, she coached her team to two national championship titles at Oklahoma City University. She said she believes UCSD’s team spirit led the Tritons to the Elite Eight. Team members shared the same goals, Jones said. They also are unselfish and hard-working, both in the classroom and on the court, she said.
“It’s an incredible sweep to get this far for us,” said senior Meaghan Noud, a physiology and neurosciences major at Revelle College.
The Tritons' performance at the Elite Eight doesn’t feel like a loss, she said. The team learned a lot from playing teams it had never faced before, she said, including the importance of playing well consistently. The Tritons were off in the semifinals, Noud said. UCSD could have defeated Southern Connecticut, she added. But Jones said her team was derailed by a strong defense and athletic players.
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| Coach Jannell Jones |
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The Tritons held a 42 - 38 advantage with 13:25
minutes left to play. But Southern Connecticut then
went on a 17-2 run over the next eight plus minutes
to build a 55 - 44 lead that would dip below 10 points
only one time in the final five minutes of the contest.
As a team, UCSD struggled from the floor in the second half, making only 10 of its 32 shots, but the biggest difference in the game came at the free throw line. The Tritons took four foul shots on the night, making all four, but Southern Connecticut went 21-for-30, accounting for 17 more points at the foul line in the game. Seniors Leora Juster and Hillary Hansen, along with sophomore Michelle Osier all scored 12 points for the Tritons while Noud added 10. Osier also pulled down a team-high 11 rebounds.
Before reaching the semifinals, the Tritons defeated Glenville State 71- 61. Juster, a first team Division II All-American, scored 26 points and pulled down seven rebounds in that game. Fellow senior Hansen accounted for 20 points. But it was a tough defense that turned the tide in the Tritons’ favor. The Tritons took the lead for good on a Juster bucket with just over 10 minutes to go.
UCSD’s women’s basketball team played against tough opponents all season, Jones said. They won their first-ever regional title March 12 by defeating Chico State 80 – 63.
“We laid it all out on the floor,” the coach said. |
