Pointers Let Lead Slip in Third Place
Game Loss to Rochester
Box Score
Following the NCAA Division III women�s basketball third place
game on Saturday in Virginia Beach, Va., there was no hiding the feelings
of the UW-Stevens Point squad after its 64-63 loss to Rochester (N.Y.).
�We blew it,� said coach Shirley Egner. �We had a 16-point
lead and blew it. Let�s face the facts.�
�We had our chance,� said Pointers� forward Amanda Nechuta.
�We had control of the game and just couldn�t finish it.�
The truth was the Pointers appeared to be cruising to a
season-ending victory, holding a 48-32 lead with 14 minutes remaining.
However, Nechuta picked up her fourth foul with 13:41 left and the
Pointers missed eight straight shots before Nechuta finally returned to
the floor and scored with 7:42 left to give the Pointers a 50-47 lead.
From that point, neither team held bigger than a four-point cushion
and Rochester took the lead at 62-61 on a jumper by Megan Fish with 2:08
left. After a pair of missed three-pointers by UW-Stevens Point, Tara
Carozza made the first of two free throws for Rochester. She missed the
second, but a Pointers� lane violation gave her another chance and she
delivered for a 64-61 lead.
Andrea Kraemer hit a short jumper for the Pointers to cut the lead
to one point with 1:01 remaining. Rochester missed a shot with 28 seconds
led and the ball went out of bounds to UW-Stevens Point. Tara Schmitt
missed a three-pointer from the corner and Rochester�s Emily Lyons
rebounded, but came down on the baseline to give the ball back to the
Pointers with 14 seconds left.
UW-Stevens Point had two shots to retake the lead as Cassandra
Schultz missed a baseline jumper that Nathalie Lechault rebounded and
pushed out to Andrea Kraemer, who missed a 10-foot jumper. Fish rebounded
for the Yellowjackets and passed to a teammate down the floor as the
Pointers were unable to foul.
�It�s an unfortunate time for us not to be playing at our best
this weekend,� said Egner, whose team finished 28-5 and suffered just
their third loss in 17 all-time tournament games, including the second in
two days. �We had an opportunity to do something and didn�t get it
done. I hope it burns. I want it to hurt all off-season, all summer and
all fall.�
Rochester finished 25-5 and played a tightly-contested consolation
game for the second straight year after losing to UW-Eau Claire in double
overtime last year.
�Stevens
Point was overpowering us for a while,� said Yellowjackets� coach Jim
Scheible. �I thought Stevens Point missed a lot of shots they would
normally make. Our players stepped up and hit a lot of shots in that
run.�
Nechuta tallied 19 points and nine rebounds in 19 minutes before
fouling out on an offensive foul with 2:28 remaining.
�A loss hurts no matter what time of the season it is,� Nechuta
said. �It�s going to burn as much as any other loss.�
Amy Scott had 16 points and Schultz added 11 for the Pointers, who
were two-for-16 from three-point range and six-for-32 from behind the arc
in the tournament. Andrea Kraemer had all nine of her points in the second
half and concludes her four-year career along with Schmitt and Cassandra
Heuer with a 100-19 career record.
�They�ve been an instrumental building block to what we�ve
been able to do the last four years,� Egner said. �You just don�t
replace kids.�
Erika Smith scored 12 of Rochester�s first 15 points, but
didn�t score again until 10 minutes remained in the game. She finished
with 19 points and 13 rebounds.
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