Frederick falls in national opener

March 21, 2002|BY JACK HILL III

The Frederick Community College Cougars could not get their shots to fall on Wednesday night.

Frederick finished 17-for-62 from the field, including a disappointing 4-for-24 performance in the first half.

That caused the Cougars to be shot down 69-51 by the Penn Valley Scouts from Kansas City, Mo., in the first round of the 2002 NJCAA Women's Basketball National Championship Tournament at the Hagerstown Community College athletic complex.

Another big factor was the fact that Penn Valley (23-9) outrebounded Frederick (22-9) by a 54-34 margin.

Jessica Allen had 14 points and 12 rebounds, Denise Turner added 12 points and 10 rebounds and Derica Davidson had 10 points and 10 rebounds for the Scouts.

LaTonya McConnell scored a team-high 15 points on five 3-pointers, while Michelle Walsh added 10 points for Penn Valley.

"We could never get in a rhythm offensively," Frederick coach Jack Mehl said. "They hurt us on the inside. They limited us to one shot on the most part. They outscored us 8-1 at the end of the first half. Defensively, I thought that we played well. Our players continued to battle hard for the entire game."

Laura Jobe, a 6-foot-1 sophomore center, led the Cougars with 20 points.

Kirkwood 72, Monroe 58: The Kirkwood (Iowa) Eagles ensured that there would be a new national champ by beating the top-ranked defending champion Monroe (N.Y.) Tribunes.

"Basically, we knew that we had to play hard, rebound well and take care of the basketball on each possession," Kirkwood coach Kim Muhl said. "We just guarded them real tight on defense."

Megan Ripperton scored 17 points, Meg Tierney added 16 points and Erin Fantroy had 14 points for Kirkwood (30-3).

Jamie Sheridan scored a game-high 24 points for Monroe (32-1), which included six 3-pointers.

Mesa 73, Mercer 48: Center Erin Yiakos collected 20 points and 15 rebounds to lead the Mesa (Ariz.) Thunderbirds over the Mercer (N.J.) Vikings.

Katie McDonald added 14 points, 10 rebounds and four steals, while reserve LeAnn Anderson had 10 points and six rebounds for Mesa.

Kamika Harden topped Mercer with 15 points, including an 11-for-15 performance from the foul line.

Johnson County 74, Shelton State 64: Casey Ellis scored 20 points to help the Johnson County (Kan.) Cavaliers defeat the Shelton State (Ala.) Buccaneers.

Today's schedule:

10 a.m. - Shelton State vs. Monroe

Noon - Frederick vs. Mercer County

2 p.m. - Johnson County vs. Illinois Central

4 - Kirkwood vs. Mott (Mich.)

6:30 - Penn Valley vs. Kankakee (Ill.)

8:30 - Mesa vs. Kalamazoo Valley (Mich.)

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