Apaches News
Wed, Mar 21, 2007 - [Women's Basketball]
Joe Buie, Tyler Morning Telegraph
SALINA, Kan. - The Tyler Junior College Apache Ladies lost a chance at a national championship on Tuesday, but may have gained some respect in the process.
The Apache Ladies discovered they were on equal footing with 10th-ranked Chipola College of Marianna, Fla., which survived a last-second 3-point attempt to beat Tyler, 66-63, in the first round of the NJCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament at the Bicentennial Center.
The Apache Ladies discovered they were on equal footing with 10th-ranked Chipola College of Marianna, Fla., which survived a last-second 3-point attempt to beat Tyler, 66-63, in the first round of the NJCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament at the Bicentennial Center.
Freshman Yoshica Spears missed a good look at a 3-pointer from the top of the key, and Chipola's Ra'Shawna Sippio grabbed the long rebound and threw an outlet pass to midcourt as the clock expired.
Tyler (26-7) will now compete in the consolation bracket, beginning with an elimination game against Casper College (26-8) of Wyoming at 4 p.m. Wednesday. Casper lost the tournament opener to fourth-ranked Odessa, 56-52.
Chipola, which handed top-ranked Southeastern Illinois its only loss of the regular season, entered the 2007 national tournament with stellar credentials after finishing fourth at Salina last year - a trip that included a win over Trinity Valley.
But the Apache Ladies hung with Chipola for all 40 minutes as the lead changed hands four times in the first half and 10 times in the second half.
"We didn't come in viewing ourselves as an underdog, but every team that we talked to kept telling us they are a tremendous team," said TJC head coach Trenia Jones. "Nobody told us we could win it.
"They weren't the giants that everybody had built them up to be. Give them credit, they're a good ballclub."
After a back-and-forth opening 12 1/2 minutes of the second half, Chipola grabbed the lead with 7:27 left and kept it on the strength of a 10-3 run that gave the Lady Indians their largest lead of the game, 56-50.
The Apache Ladies immediately cut the deficit to one on a 3-point play by April Murphy and a fast-break bucket by Laquisha Cook before Chipola scored the next four points on two free throws and a jumper by C.J. Pace, who just beat the shot clock.
Tyler made one more mini-run to cut it to one, 63-62, on big plays from Spears, Keshia Warren and Kristin Moore combined with Chipola missing three free throws in a row.
After Moore scored on a putback, Crystal Campbell hit a pair of free throws for Chipola, which had entered the double bonus with 2:15 left in the game, making the score 65-62.
Tyler drew Chipola's seventh foul of the half on the next series, and Moore went 1-of-2 from the line in the one-and-one to make it a two-point game with 20 seconds to play.
The Apache Ladies fouled quickly on the next possession, and Lesheria Stevens made both free throws for an apparent four-point cushion with 16.2 seconds to go. However, a lane violation wiped out the second made free throw to give Tyler a chance to send the game to overtime.
Tyler executed the play it wanted to run, with Moore passing the ball out to Spears at the top of the key for a 3-point shot that was just off the mark.
Chipola had been keying the entire game on Tyler's leading scorer Jamia Malone, who had a frustrating afternoon with only nine points on 3-of-10 shooting. Malone was 2-of-8 from 3-point land.
"We knew they were going after Jamia, so we just ran one of our plays," Jones said. "We were looking for Yoshica to slip up the gap. We got a great look at it and Yoshica is a kid that can hit that 3-point shot."
Moore, a sophomore wing from Irving, led the Apache Ladies with 13 points on 6-of-15 shooting. Murphy, a 6-6 freshman post, made six of eight shots from the field and scored 11 points despite being dogged by foul trouble. They were Tyler's only players in double figures.
Chipola, which outscored Tyler 23-8 from the free throw line, was led by the 6-2 Sippio's 13 points. Nine different players scored for Chipola, which advanced to the quarterfinals against Odessa at 6 p.m. Wednesday.
"I thought Tyler played very well," said Chipola head coach David Lane, who has a mixture of tiny, quick guards and big interior players. "(Moore) is a tremendous player and a very difficult matchup. She's got a nice shot and a great game. We didn't think their post players were going to shoot it as well as they did.
"I think probably the difference was our experience (from) being here. Our kids didn't panic."
Tyler's largest lead of the first half was five - 7-2 and and 20-15, while Chipola's top margin was four - 26-22 and 28-24.
The Apache Ladies lost the lead by going scoreless for a span of 3:10 before Warren hit a jumper followed by a 3-pointer to bring Tyler within one at the break, 28-27.
"We played through a lot of adversity," said Jones, whose team shot 32 percent from the field. "Pretty much when the game started they knew our sets, they had everything we did down pat. They got a great scouting report from somewhere."
Tyler's largest lead of the second half was 46-44 at the 8:50 mark.
No. 10 Chipola 66, Tyler 63
TYLER (26-7) - Kristin Moore 6-15 1-2 13, Jamia Malone 3-10 1-2 9, Chasity Shavers 0-7 0-0 0, Keshia Warren 3-5 2-6 9, Yoshica Spears 3-13 0-0 7, Laquisha Cook 3-11 2-2 9, April Murphy 5-8 1-1 11, Krystal Van Hook 2-9 1-2 5. Totals 25-78 8-15 63.
CHIPOLA (28-6) - Latoya Brown 2-6 2-4 7, Lesheria Stevens 3-5 4-7 10, Louvinia Hayes 1-4 5-8 7, Crystal Campbell 1-7 2-2 4, Ra'Shawna Sippio 4-7 5-6 13, Gekeela Clemmons 2-7 0-0 4, Shawnta Pope 3-3 0-0 6, Ashley McCray 2-4 3-4 7, C.J. Pace 3-9 2-2 8, Mame' Diop 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 21-53 23-33.
Halftime score - Chipola, 28-27. 3-point goals - Tyler 5-21 (Spears 1-5, Moore 0-1, Malone 2-8, Shavers 0-4, Warren 1-1, Cook 1-2), Chipola 1-6 (Pace 0-2, Brown 1-3, Campbell 0-1). Fouled out - none. Rebounds - Tyler 44 (Van Hook 6, Warren 6), Chipola 50 (Stevens 7). Assists - Tyler 6 (Malone 3), Chipola 5 (Stevens 3). Total fouls - Tyler 20, Chipola 13. Turnovers - Tyler 8, Chipola 18.
Original Link to Article: http://tylerpaper.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070321/SPORTS/703210301/-1/SPORTS
Tyler (26-7) will now compete in the consolation bracket, beginning with an elimination game against Casper College (26-8) of Wyoming at 4 p.m. Wednesday. Casper lost the tournament opener to fourth-ranked Odessa, 56-52.
Chipola, which handed top-ranked Southeastern Illinois its only loss of the regular season, entered the 2007 national tournament with stellar credentials after finishing fourth at Salina last year - a trip that included a win over Trinity Valley.
But the Apache Ladies hung with Chipola for all 40 minutes as the lead changed hands four times in the first half and 10 times in the second half.
"We didn't come in viewing ourselves as an underdog, but every team that we talked to kept telling us they are a tremendous team," said TJC head coach Trenia Jones. "Nobody told us we could win it.
"They weren't the giants that everybody had built them up to be. Give them credit, they're a good ballclub."
After a back-and-forth opening 12 1/2 minutes of the second half, Chipola grabbed the lead with 7:27 left and kept it on the strength of a 10-3 run that gave the Lady Indians their largest lead of the game, 56-50.
The Apache Ladies immediately cut the deficit to one on a 3-point play by April Murphy and a fast-break bucket by Laquisha Cook before Chipola scored the next four points on two free throws and a jumper by C.J. Pace, who just beat the shot clock.
Tyler made one more mini-run to cut it to one, 63-62, on big plays from Spears, Keshia Warren and Kristin Moore combined with Chipola missing three free throws in a row.
After Moore scored on a putback, Crystal Campbell hit a pair of free throws for Chipola, which had entered the double bonus with 2:15 left in the game, making the score 65-62.
Tyler drew Chipola's seventh foul of the half on the next series, and Moore went 1-of-2 from the line in the one-and-one to make it a two-point game with 20 seconds to play.
The Apache Ladies fouled quickly on the next possession, and Lesheria Stevens made both free throws for an apparent four-point cushion with 16.2 seconds to go. However, a lane violation wiped out the second made free throw to give Tyler a chance to send the game to overtime.
Tyler executed the play it wanted to run, with Moore passing the ball out to Spears at the top of the key for a 3-point shot that was just off the mark.
Chipola had been keying the entire game on Tyler's leading scorer Jamia Malone, who had a frustrating afternoon with only nine points on 3-of-10 shooting. Malone was 2-of-8 from 3-point land.
"We knew they were going after Jamia, so we just ran one of our plays," Jones said. "We were looking for Yoshica to slip up the gap. We got a great look at it and Yoshica is a kid that can hit that 3-point shot."
Moore, a sophomore wing from Irving, led the Apache Ladies with 13 points on 6-of-15 shooting. Murphy, a 6-6 freshman post, made six of eight shots from the field and scored 11 points despite being dogged by foul trouble. They were Tyler's only players in double figures.
Chipola, which outscored Tyler 23-8 from the free throw line, was led by the 6-2 Sippio's 13 points. Nine different players scored for Chipola, which advanced to the quarterfinals against Odessa at 6 p.m. Wednesday.
"I thought Tyler played very well," said Chipola head coach David Lane, who has a mixture of tiny, quick guards and big interior players. "(Moore) is a tremendous player and a very difficult matchup. She's got a nice shot and a great game. We didn't think their post players were going to shoot it as well as they did.
"I think probably the difference was our experience (from) being here. Our kids didn't panic."
Tyler's largest lead of the first half was five - 7-2 and and 20-15, while Chipola's top margin was four - 26-22 and 28-24.
The Apache Ladies lost the lead by going scoreless for a span of 3:10 before Warren hit a jumper followed by a 3-pointer to bring Tyler within one at the break, 28-27.
"We played through a lot of adversity," said Jones, whose team shot 32 percent from the field. "Pretty much when the game started they knew our sets, they had everything we did down pat. They got a great scouting report from somewhere."
Tyler's largest lead of the second half was 46-44 at the 8:50 mark.
No. 10 Chipola 66, Tyler 63
TYLER (26-7) - Kristin Moore 6-15 1-2 13, Jamia Malone 3-10 1-2 9, Chasity Shavers 0-7 0-0 0, Keshia Warren 3-5 2-6 9, Yoshica Spears 3-13 0-0 7, Laquisha Cook 3-11 2-2 9, April Murphy 5-8 1-1 11, Krystal Van Hook 2-9 1-2 5. Totals 25-78 8-15 63.
CHIPOLA (28-6) - Latoya Brown 2-6 2-4 7, Lesheria Stevens 3-5 4-7 10, Louvinia Hayes 1-4 5-8 7, Crystal Campbell 1-7 2-2 4, Ra'Shawna Sippio 4-7 5-6 13, Gekeela Clemmons 2-7 0-0 4, Shawnta Pope 3-3 0-0 6, Ashley McCray 2-4 3-4 7, C.J. Pace 3-9 2-2 8, Mame' Diop 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 21-53 23-33.
Halftime score - Chipola, 28-27. 3-point goals - Tyler 5-21 (Spears 1-5, Moore 0-1, Malone 2-8, Shavers 0-4, Warren 1-1, Cook 1-2), Chipola 1-6 (Pace 0-2, Brown 1-3, Campbell 0-1). Fouled out - none. Rebounds - Tyler 44 (Van Hook 6, Warren 6), Chipola 50 (Stevens 7). Assists - Tyler 6 (Malone 3), Chipola 5 (Stevens 3). Total fouls - Tyler 20, Chipola 13. Turnovers - Tyler 8, Chipola 18.
Joe Buie covers sports. He can be reached at 903.596.6293. e-mail: sports@tylerpaper.com
Original Link to Article: http://tylerpaper.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070321/SPORTS/703210301/-1/SPORTS
