From Adirondack Daily Enterprise- Lou Reuter
SARANAC LAKE — North Country Community College's run at a national title ended Friday in a 54-47 loss to Owens in the semifinal round of the NJCAA Division III Women' Basketball Championship tournament in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
NCCC rolled into the semis with a 92-57 quarterfinal victory over Passaic on Thursday in a game that saw the Saints put the ball in the basket big time, draining more than 55 percent of their shots from the floor. But against Owens Community College, a tough time sinking shots was the culprit. In a matchup that saw both teams struggle shooting, the Saints managed to make just 20 of their 68 field goal attempts on the way to suffering just their third loss of the season.
The Owens Express, the third seed hailing from Toledo, Ohio, didn't fare much better finding the hoop, but they converted just enough field goals and tossed in nine more points at the foul line than the Saints to advance into today's national championship final against Hostos, which defeated Western Tech 68-47 in Friday's other semifinal game.
Owens went 20-61 from the floor and finished with a 12-22 performance at the foul throw line, which was well off its 72.7 percent foul line average for the season — the second best among Division III teams in the nation.
For the second night in a row, second-seeded NCCC faced an opponent that had just one substitute. But instead of being able to take advantage of their depth, the Saints were unable to overcome an Owens' lineup of six solid basketball players.
"They were bigger, stronger and more athletic," Saints' head coach Jerrad Dumont said. "Yea, we missed some shots. Part of that was we missed shots that we normally don't miss, but I give their defense a lot of credit. They kept a hand in our face.
"There aren't many times we lose limiting the other team to 54 points," Dumont added. "I saw that we played really, really hard. I liked how we shared the basketball. Offensively, I don't know what we could have done differently. They were just big. Bigger and stronger than we've been used to."
Friday's game started as a see-saw battle that saw the teams trade leads during the early stages of the first quarter. The Saints, however, were never able to recapture the lead after they jumped on top 11-10 with 2:52 left in the opening period. The Express owned an 18-11 advantage after one quarter of play, and the Saints edged a little closer, cutting their deficit to 28-24 at halftime.
After intermission, the contest continued to play out in a much different fashion than the games the two teams played the night before. In those quarterfinal matchups, NCCC and Owens poured in more than 90 points, but neither squad was able to put together any substantial offensive run during the entirety of their semifinal. Both teams scored just 11 points in the third quarter, with Owens then outscoring NCCC 15-12 the rest of the way.
The Express surged out to their biggest lead of the game, 47-37, with 7:36 remaining in the fourth quarter. The Saints answered with a 9-2 run, fueled by a pair of three-pointers from sophomore Bailee Gauthier, to cut their gap to 49-45 with five minutes left on the clock. But that was as close as things got the rest of the way.
Moreina Moore paced Owens with a game-high 19 points, Taylor Works tossed in 12 points in the victory, and Shayah Wheeler also hit in double figures for the winners, chipping in 11 points.
Ty Taylor led the Saints with 15 points, but the Express all but shut down NCCC's point guard after intermission, limiting the sophomore to just three points in the second half. Kayla Carder was NCCC's other player in double figures, finishing with 10 points.
Despite coming up one win shy of competing in the national final, there's still plenty on the line for the Saints. Today, they be playing for third place in the consolation game against Western Tech starting at 5 p.m. at the Arthur L. Scott Center. Of the eight teams the reached the tournament, three will be taking home a national trophy. Dumont said that's now the new focus for his team, which saw a 22-game winning streak snapped on Friday.
"There are three big trophies up for grabs," Dumont said. "There's one for first place, there's one for second place, and one for third, and they really don't look very different. The goal from the beginning was bringing home one of those trophies. Obviously we would have liked playing in the final, but now, I'd like to see us really trying to dig in and go for that third."
