By Nick Pipitone
For about 25 minutes, it looked perfectly feasible. The Pride, a scrappy, hungry team only nine players deep, continued to respond to Old Dominion University’s (ODU) repeated blows. It refused to resign to the 13-time defending Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) champions in the quarterfinals of the conference tournament March 10 in Fairfax, Va. Down by only four points at halftime taking a one-point lead with just under 16 minutes to play, the Pride picked up its slingshot, reached back and aimed for Goliath.
However, the Lady Monarchs haven’t been tagged the giants of the CAA for over a decade for nothing. A 9-0 run with 4:26 remaining helped crush the Pride and its chances of a colossal upset over eventual CAA champion ODU, as the Lady Monarchs ousted the Pride from the tournament, 87-68.
The Pride ended its season with a 13-16 overall record, losing to ODU for the third time this year. The Lady Monarchs, meanwhile, went on to win the tournament and secure an automatic bid into the NCAA tournament with wins over Drexel University and top-seeded University of Delaware.
“The tank was on half-empty, a quarter-empty, and then it just went empty,” said Pride head coach Felisha Legette-Jack. “ODU kept charging and bringing people off the bench. Really, we never had an opportunity when they had a letdown, and we just ran out of gas.”
The Pride tried to carry over its high spirits into its March 10 rematch with ODU. In the early going, it looked like the Pride had a pretty decent chance knock off the Lady Monarchs, going into halftime trailing 39-34, and then coming within a point with 16 minutes remaining.
But ODU was simply too much for the Pride, as the Lady Monarchs never let up their relentless attack and overexerted the Pride for the remainder of the game.
In what has become their calling card, ODU rotated 12 players to wear down the Pride, and then broke its backs with their “professional rebounders”, as Jack likes to call them. After going toe-to-toe with the Lady Monarchs for a full 25 minutes, the Pride just couldn’t keep up anymore.
Sophomore guard Cigi McCollin did all she could to keep the Pride within range, leading the team with 20 points on 7-for-14 shooting, including 4-for-6 from three-point range.
Early in the second half, ODU went on an 8-0 run to stretch the lead to 47-39, until McCollin shouldered the load herself and pulled the Pride back to within a point after nailing three consecutive three-pointers.
“She [Cigi] moved around and made things happen,” Jack said. “And that’s what we need from her.”
Murphy capped off a well-played tournament, scoring 18 points and pulling down six rebounds in 37 minutes of action. But with their advantage in the paint and their quickness down the court, ODU overwhelmed the Pride with too many easy baskets. Overall, the Lady Monarchs shot a scorching 50 percent for the game.
So as the season came to a close at the hands of the eventual tournament champion, the Pride was left to wonder what could have been in a promising-although frustrating-season.
Aside from senior guard Charlotte Baldrey-Chourio, the entire starting lineup returns next year, including 2003-04 scoring and rebounding leader Amaka Agugua, who sat out this season with a knee injury. With the quick development of the sophomore core of Murphy, Gidden, McCollin, and Lana Harshaw, the Pride will have high expectations for 2005.
“We’re going to have more players that know what it takes to compete like a champion,” Jack said.
Finishing seventh in the regular season conference standings, the Pride started the tournament March 9 against tenth-seeded College of William & Mary. Already having beaten the Tribe twice before this season, the Pride broke the game open with an early 7-0 run. The Tribe countered with a 12-3 run to end the half, leading the Pride 27-26 going into halftime.
But the second half belonged to the Pride. Once again, it opened up the half with another big run, scoring 17 consecutive points and never giving the Tribe another chance to regain any ground. Overall, the Pride outscored the Tribe 42-25 in the half to nail down an easy 68-52 win in the preliminary round.
Against the Tribe, sophomore Lizanne Murphy played like her usual self, garnering her 14th double-double of the season, posting 17 points and 13 boards. Center Vanessa Gidden also had a double-double with 10 points and 13 rebounds.
The Pride’s inside play was an especially big contribution to the win, as it out-rebounded the Tribe 59-45. Its lower-post play helped compensate for its poor shooting-30.3 percent in the first half and 33.8 percent for the game.
“We didn’t shoot as well as we would’ve liked too, but getting extra shots and extra opportunities allowed us to do a better job,” Jack said.
The 17-0 run to start the second half also allowed the Pride to play with a comfortable lead, a luxury it hasn’t had quite often this season.
“We haven’t had many runs this season,” Jack said. “To put numbers together and stop somebody at the same time was really exciting.”
Equally exciting was the Pride’s defensive performance. It held the Tribe to 23.9 percent shooting in the game and 52 points, 12 below its season scoring average.
“That was a fun day,” Jack said. “That was a day we haven’t had in a long time.”