Score another one for quickness
in this battle of basketball ideologies.
Small but athletic Hastings overcame a towering Dakota
State team Saturday to forge a convincing 55-41 victory
and advance into Monday's semifinals at the NAIA
Division II Women's Basketball Championships.
In a tournament whose last five champions have all come
from the Great Plains Athletic Conference -- all five
previous seasons since the league was formed -- the win
set up an All-GPAC semifinal that will match the
Broncos' regular season conference co-champions against
sixth-ranked Northwestern.
Junior forward Stacy Svoboda led
balanced scoring for third-ranked Hastings (29-6) with
13 points while senior Lynnze Martinsen, the GPAC player
of the year, added 11.
The eye-opening stat, though, was a 55-41 rebounding
advantage for Hastings, which hasn't had a 6-foot player
in its starting lineup for three years. Dakota State, by
contrast, has three 6-2 post players and another who
stands 6-1 in a nine-player rotation.
"I'm not going to jump over somebody, if I want to get a
rebound, I have to beat 'em to the spot,'' said Katie
Dent, a 5-9 senior who pulled down nine rebounds,
including six offensive boards.
The 5-11 Svoboda also had nine rebounds while
Martinsen hauled in eight to go with four assists and
three steals.
Quickness was the difference.
"It's just a matter of hustle,'' said Dent. "They're
big, but they're two or three steps slower than we
are.''
Dakota State, a No. 6 seed that was the only team lower
than a No. 5 to survive the opening round, had knocked
off 10th-ranked Shawnee State (Ohio) and No. 4 Tabor
(Kan.) in the first two rounds.
It was a monumental showing for an 18th-rated
team that starts five sophomores.
"The GPAC teams are very quick
with the rotations,'' said Dakota State Coach Jeff
Dittman, whose team finished 22-11. "Sometimes
it seems like they have eight people on the floor
at the same time. Our league (Dakota Athletic
Conference) is a little more
power-oriented.''
And, the strong stable of interior players found the
going rough against the quick hands and feet of
Hastings. Laura Tewes, a 6-1 sophomore, had 19 points
and 10 rebounds, hitting eight of 13 shots. But the rest
of the Lady Trojans shot less than 20 percent (9 of 46)
in the contest.
"Other than Laura, our other posts were rushing
things,'' said Dittman.
Hastings opened up a 15-point lead midway through the
first half, scooting in front 23-8, and it was a 31-17
advantage at the half.
The lead remained a double-digit margin throughout the
second half and reached 17 before Dakota State's Jessica
Van Loy hit a three-pointer with 24 seconds left for the
final points of the game.
Hastings Coach Tony Hobson, who had back-to-back
national champions in 2002 and 2003, didn't know if a
team with so many freshmen could achieve so much.
"To get to this point, you have to beat three good teams
and I didn't know if we were consistent enough to do
it,'' said Hobson, whose team has faced Northwestern
three times and lost twice, including a GPAC post-season
tourney semifinal setback.
Northwestern advanced into Monday's 6 p.m. matchup with
a heart-stopping 77-76 triumph over No. 1-ranked
Cedarville (Ohio) after sophomore Deb Remmerde capped a
42-point effort on a game-winning fall-away jumper with
eight seconds to play.
Cedarville junior Brittany Smart, meanwhile, poured in
single-game tournament-record 47 points but was whistled
for a charging foul with 1.5 seconds left, denying the
Ohioans a final shot.
