Spring Break
WBBALL: Familiar fate for team
by Julie Ganz
Sports editor
Sports | 3/11/08
Posted online at 4:23 AM EST on 3/11/08
/ Last updated at 11:31 AM EST on 3/11/08
UNION, N.J.-For a time, it looked like history would repeat itself in the women's basketball team's second-round NCAA Tournament game against No. 11 Kean University last Saturday. After staging a dramatic 15-point comeback late in the second half of last Friday's 74-71 first-round win over No. 17 University of Southern Maine, the Judges sliced a 17-point first-half deficit to four against Kean with 38 seconds left in the first half.
But that promise faded quickly as Kean throttled the Judges in the second half to win 95-61, sending them home in the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the third consecutive season. Brandeis finished the season 19-8.
"They're just an extremely athletic team that wants to … get a lot of shots off, [they're] very aggressive defensively, and they really want an [up]-tempo game," coach Carol Simon said to reporters last Saturday.
Kean took an 11-0 lead less than three minutes into the game on senior center Chari Cooper's free throw and extended the lead to 26-9 with 10 minutes, 41 seconds left in the first half after junior guard Melissa Beyruti hit an outside shot from the top of the key. But after hitting just one of their first 15 shots, the Judges' rallied with a 19-10 run that cut Kean's lead to 36-30 at halftime.
"You want to shorten the game up against [Kean]," Simon told reporters last Saturday. "You don't want an up-and-down game and let them get 70 shots a game, especially the way they shoot. So what we need to do is make them play defense and really run the offense."
The Judges picked up their offense in the second half, shooting 11 for 34 after going just seven for 34 in the first half, but their defense fell apart, as Kean scored 59 points after the break to put the game out of reach. Beyruti, who led all players with 31 points, scored 17 of those over the first 11:03 of the second half to give Kean a 73-45 lead.
"[Brandeis is] a very good team," Cougars coach Michelle Sharp told reporters. "They're very competitive … They worked hard 'till the end, [and] they're well-coached."
But that promise faded quickly as Kean throttled the Judges in the second half to win 95-61, sending them home in the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the third consecutive season. Brandeis finished the season 19-8.
"They're just an extremely athletic team that wants to … get a lot of shots off, [they're] very aggressive defensively, and they really want an [up]-tempo game," coach Carol Simon said to reporters last Saturday.
Kean took an 11-0 lead less than three minutes into the game on senior center Chari Cooper's free throw and extended the lead to 26-9 with 10 minutes, 41 seconds left in the first half after junior guard Melissa Beyruti hit an outside shot from the top of the key. But after hitting just one of their first 15 shots, the Judges' rallied with a 19-10 run that cut Kean's lead to 36-30 at halftime.
"You want to shorten the game up against [Kean]," Simon told reporters last Saturday. "You don't want an up-and-down game and let them get 70 shots a game, especially the way they shoot. So what we need to do is make them play defense and really run the offense."
The Judges picked up their offense in the second half, shooting 11 for 34 after going just seven for 34 in the first half, but their defense fell apart, as Kean scored 59 points after the break to put the game out of reach. Beyruti, who led all players with 31 points, scored 17 of those over the first 11:03 of the second half to give Kean a 73-45 lead.
"[Brandeis is] a very good team," Cougars coach Michelle Sharp told reporters. "They're very competitive … They worked hard 'till the end, [and] they're well-coached."
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