Kean Falls Short of Final Four
UNION, N.J. (3/13/10) – The Kean
University women's basketball team fell one win shy of
advancing to the Final Four, as the University of Rochester held
off the Cougars, 68-65, down the stretch in the NCAA Division III
Women's Basketball Elite Eight on Saturday evening.
Junior Brittany Powell (Tinton Falls, N.J.)
scored 17 points with five three-pointers and had a chance to tie
the game in the final seconds, however her three-pointer from the
left corner was long as time expired to advance the Yellow Jackets
to the Final Four for the first time since 2003-04. The
Cougars were looking for the school's first trip to the Final
Four since the program's only appearance in 1986-87
For the Yellow Jackets, junior Melissa Alwardt (Greece,
N.Y.) had a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds and
added three assists in the victory, while freshman forward Amy
Woods (Bala Cynwyd, Pa.) came off the bench with 14 points,
six rebounds and three assists.
One night after ending the undefeated season of Christopher
Newport University, Rochester (23-6) ends the Cougars'
school-record 29-game winning streak and is the first Division III
opponent to defeat the Cougars (29-2) this season. It
is also the second straight season the Yellow Jackets have
eliminated the Cougars from the NCAA tournament, as Rochester
defeated Kean, 66-59, a year ago in the second round at Rochester.
Kean, who set a school record with the 29 wins, opened the
season with a loss at Division I Rutgers University before reeling
off the 29 straight wins that included a perfect 13-0 mark in the
New Jersey Athletic Conference regular season, a NJAC Championship
and the program's third appearance in the Elite Eight in the
last four seasons.
With the game tied at 56-56, Woods gave Rochester the lead for
good with a lay-up with less than six minutes to go and ignited a
6-0 run for the Yellow Jackets, as they extended the lead to 62-56
a minute later. After the two teams traded free throws,
Powell had a lay-up to trim the deficit to four points at 63-59
with less than two minutes to go. Woods answered with a
lay-up and after a missed three-pointer by the Cougars, she hit
1-of-2 foul shots to extend the lead out to a game-high seven
points with 1:15 left.
On the ensuing Kean possession, junior forward Tiffany
Patrick (Piscataway, N.J.) Caroline Bernal-Silva
(Mountain Lakes, N.J.) with 38 seconds left, before Kean
rookie Naimah Clemons (Newark, N.J.) drained a
three-pointer from the top of the arc to pull the Cougars to within
four points at 68-64.
The Cougars pressured the in-bounds and after forcing the
turnover, Clemons was fouled going to the basket and she made the
second of the two free throws to make it a one possession game with
22 seconds remaining. Kean caught a break with a pair
of missed free throws by Rochester, and after senior guard
Cardiss Jackman (Tobyhanna, Pa.) grabbed the
defensive rebound with 10 seconds left, the Cougars got the ball to
Powell in the left corner with the shot to tie the game, however
the shot was long and time expired as the ball hit the ground.
In the first half, the Cougars took their largest lead of the
game with an early 11-6 lead on a jumper by Jackman less than four
minutes into the contest. After nine ties and four lead
changes, the Cougars took a five-point lead on a three-pointer by
Powell with 1:21 left in the half, before Rochester sophomore
Jodie Luther (Gibsonia, Pa.) knocked down a jumper to trim
the Kean lead to 36-33 at halftime.
Powell scored 12 points on the strength of four three-pointers
in the first half to lead the Cougars, while Luther and Woods each
had eight points to lead the Yellow Jackets. The Cougars held
Alwardt in check in the first half, as she had just two free throws
after tying a career-high with 25 points the night before against
Christopher Newport.
Rochester scored the first five points of the second half to
regain the lead, before a 6-0 run by Kean put the Cougars back up
by five points following a three-pointer by Powell and a
three-point play by Clemons. The Cougars extended the
lead back to six points as Patrick and junior forward
Angelica Bermudez (Jersey City, N.J.) each hit two
free throws.
A 7-0 run by Rochester, highlighted by a three-pointer by Bernal
Silva and capped by a lay-up by senior guard Jessica
Mastronardi (Kendall Park, N.J.), regained the lead for the
Yellow Jackets at 49-48 with 11:02 left in the game.
The next three baskets all resulted in lead changes, as Kean
senior guard Olivia Triano (Keyport, N.J.) knocked
down a three, before Alwardt and Clemons each hit three-pointers,
the latter of which gave Kean the 54-52 lead with 9:29 left.
The two teams then traded lay-ups, with the Cougars taking their
final lead of the game off of a Triano steal and Clemons lay-up for
the 56-54 lead with 8:06 remaining. Alwardt tied the game on
a jumper on the Yellow Jackets next possession, and Woods gave
Rochester the lead for good with 5:47 left.
Clemons led the Cougars with 19 points on 7-of-8 shooting, while
Patrick had her 15th double-double of the season with 11
points and 13 rebounds, while adding two blocks and three steals
before fouling out in the final seconds of the game. Bermudez
also had a double-double off the bench, finishing with 10 points,
10 rebounds and four blocks.
Kean All-American senior guard Melissa Beyruti (Union
City, N.J.), who was injured in the conference
championship game on February 28, played five minutes in the first
half off the bench. After missing the first and second round
of the NCAA tournament, Beyruti played in both sectional games and
became the NCAA Division III leader in all-time games played with
128. The program's all-time leading scorer, Beyruti
closes out her career with 1,974 career points and a NCAA
all-division record 397 career three-pointers.
Jackman, who dished out a career-high seven assists in her final
game, finishes her four-year career ranked fourth in school history
with 1,351 points.
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