Southern Maine 49, St. Thomas 42

By Jim Stout, D3hoops.com
DANBURY, Conn. -- In a result that only its players and coaching staff believed possible, Southern Maine upset heavily favored St. Thomas of Minnesota 49-42 at the O'Neill Center, reaching the national championship against Washington U. for the second time in three years.

Southern Maine, which lost five games during the Little East Conference regular season -- including two to host Western Connecticut State -- will face two-time defending champion Washington University in tonight's 8 p.m. final here.

The game will be a rematch of the 1998 title game, when Washington began its two-year run with a 77-69 win against Southern Maine in Gorham, Maine.

Southern Maine (26-5) was destined to not even qualify for the NCAA tournament had it not come to the O'Neill Center in the last week of February and won the LEC playoff title as the No. 2 seed.

St. Thomas (27-2) entered the contest with a 26-game winning streak; Its only loss prior to last night came by nine points in November to Division II power Cal Poly Pomona, which finished 24-2.

But Southern Maine built a 15-point lead late in the first half, then withstood St. Thomas' comeback attempt despite not registering a field goal for over the first 14 minutes of the second half. Southern Maine registered just two field goals in the second half, yet still managed to win a national semifinal by seven points.

St. Thomas was 11-for-39 from the floor for the game (28.2%) against Southern Maine's surprise zone defense. Because it often fields a smaller lineup with just one post player, the Huskies generally play man to man defense with this athletic group.

"We decided while we were watching film of them (Friday) morning what we were going to," said Southern Maine coach Gary Fifield. "It was with the entire team we were watching it, and it was a team decision. We felt the zone could give them some trouble.

"We were afraid that if we went man to man, they'd just pound the ball inside on us," Fifield added.

Despite being plagued by foul trouble in the second half, St. Thomas cut a 12-point halftime deficit down to 34-30 with 14:03 to play in the game. Forward Mary Thomes and guard Missy Pederson both incurred their fourth personals soon afterward.

Though Southern Maine was unable to achieve any offensive flow during this time, it didn't matter. The Huskies zone was every place, underneath the basket most importantly of all. Southern Maine out-rebounded St. Thomas by 41-33.

A three-pointer by Trish Ripton (25 points, 14-for-17 from the line) with 5:36 left finally broke the field goal drought for Southern Maine, giving the Huskies a 42-33 advantage.

The Tommies pulled to within five points before center Jaime Zahm finished the break for Southern Maine, putting USM up by 44-37 with a minute to play.

"I think we kind of surprised them with what we did," said Southern Maine guard Julie Plant. "I think we kept the off guard."

With 6:16 remaining in the first half, the Toms had three consecutive layup attempts and missed the rim on all three, causing the shot clock to expire.

St. Thomas hit further shooting problems with 4:55 remaining in the first half, when Missy Pederson incurred her third foul of the game.

The first half ended with St. Thomas hitting just seven of 32 shots from the floor (22%). The Southern Maine zone was reaching to the far arcs of the perimeter, while also shutting off D3hoops.com Team of the Year Holly Hayden (5-for-13 shooting, 10 points) on the interior. Pederson finished with 3-for-14 shooting.

"Naturally it's frustrating when that happens," said Hayden. "Normally we can kick the ball to the outside and hit those (perimeter) shots."

Southern Maine built its biggest lead of the game, 33-18, in the final minute of the first half, using a 21-4 run to do it. The Huskies led by 12 at the half despite committing 11 turnovers.

"(Southern Maine) didn't play the best St. Thomas team this year," said St, Thomas coach Tricia Dornisch. "But to their credit, they forced us into some things."

After small forward Amanda Kimball scored Southern Maine's first basket of the game, the Huskies next 19 points came the combination of the senior co-captain Plant and Ripton, the 25-year-old senior who began the season as a volunteer assistant coach. Ripton was a two-year starter earlier in her career at the University of Maine.

NOTES: When Washington beat Southern Maine for the 1998 title, the win was the Bears' eighth in a row. They have now won 67 consecutively. ... This was the first meeting between Southern Maine and St. Thomas. ... St. Thomas was the first team in Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference history to go undefeated (22-0) in league play. The MIAC produced last season's national runner-up, St. Benedict, and the third-place team in 1995 and 1996 in St. Thomas.

Washington U. 64, Scranton 30

DANBURY, Conn. -- Washington University's women's basketball team moved within one win of its third consecutive national title as the Bears knocked off the University of Scranton 64-30 in the national semifinals of the 2000 NCAA Division III Tournament. Washington U. will meet Southern Maine in a rematch of the 1998 championship game.

"We got a really good effort from the entire team tonight, especially on defense," said Bears head coach Nancy Fahey. "Scranton is an excellent team with plenty of kids that can score points, but I thought we played a very sound game. I couldn't be more proud of the effort put forth tonight."

With the victory, the Bears stretch their NCAA women's all-divisions record winning streak to 67 games and improve on their Division III women's record for consecutive tournament wins with their 14th consecutive postseason triumph. Scranton led early 8-6, but WU answered with an 8-0 run to go up 14-8 with 10:13 left. Washington U. led 26-17 with 3:36 left in the first half, but the Bears closed the period on a 7-2 run to take a 33-19 lead into the locker room.

The All-America duo of junior Tasha Rodgers and senior Alia Fischer led the way in the first half as Rodgers scored nine points and Fischer added eight points and four rebounds.

The defense took over in the second half as WU held the Lady Royals to just one field goal through the first 9:09 of the period. Scranton mustered just three more field goals the rest of the way as WU improved to 29-0 on the year. Rodgers finished with a game-high 17 points and six rebounds, while Fischer tallied 11 points, six rebounds and two blocks and junior Sara Ettner collected 10 points and three steals. Senior Emily Harold tallied nine points and three steals as the Bears shot 45% from the field and 79% from the free throw line. The Bear defense forced 27 turnovers and held Scranton to just 21% shooting.