2008 Woodie Awards
WBB brings its dancing shoes to Penn State
Brian Fitzsimmons
Issue date: 3/19/06 Section: Sports
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The University of Maryland's famous sports slogan is "fear the turtle", but that's something the Sacred Heart women's basketball team doesn't plan to do while on their journey as the fifteenth seed in the Albuquerque bracket of the NCAA tournament.
The Pioneers, who were selected to be in the big dance for the first time in their seven year tenure as a Division I program, take on the second seeded Terrapins at Penn State's Bryce Jordan Arena in University Park, Pennsylvania on Sunday.
Sacred Heart brings their 26-4 overall record and plans to show Maryland, who sports a 28-4 record, that even a fifteenth seed is capable of pulling off an upset.
Northeast Conference Player of the Year and NEC Tournament MVP Amanda Pape has led the Pioneers to this point and her 18 points and 7.4 rebounds per game have been a huge contribution to the record breaking winning campaign. Senior Nicolle Rubino, who scored her 1,000th career point as a Pioneer this season, has netted 12.1 points per game and her senior leadership has been extremely valuable as well. Jasmine Walker, who pulled down 17 rebounds in the NEC final game, has pulled down 9.3 rebounds per contest and will be sorely needed if Sacred Heart plans to out-rebound the Terps. Point guard Kerri Burke has tallied 135 assists this year and good ball movement on offense begins with her. Sacred Heart freshmen center Kaitlin Sowinski showed her ability to move up and down the court and make positive things happen on offense coming off the bench during the championship game, and she will be called upon to aid Walker in the post.
The Pioneers will have their hands full however, since all five of Maryland's starting lineup averages over 11 points per game. Sophomore center Crystal Langhorne, who stands at 6'2, leads the Terrapins with 16.3 points and 8.6 rebounds and is complemented nicely by freshmen Marissa Coleman, who stands at 6'1 and averages 14.6 points and 7.7 rebounds.
Maryland, who is currently ranked 3rd in the country in the USA Today polls and was a finalist in the ACC tournament, are the heavy favorites, but any "bracketology" major knows that in this case, "beware of the underdog" can be a more appropriate phrase than "fear the turtle."
The Pioneers, who were selected to be in the big dance for the first time in their seven year tenure as a Division I program, take on the second seeded Terrapins at Penn State's Bryce Jordan Arena in University Park, Pennsylvania on Sunday.
Sacred Heart brings their 26-4 overall record and plans to show Maryland, who sports a 28-4 record, that even a fifteenth seed is capable of pulling off an upset.
Northeast Conference Player of the Year and NEC Tournament MVP Amanda Pape has led the Pioneers to this point and her 18 points and 7.4 rebounds per game have been a huge contribution to the record breaking winning campaign. Senior Nicolle Rubino, who scored her 1,000th career point as a Pioneer this season, has netted 12.1 points per game and her senior leadership has been extremely valuable as well. Jasmine Walker, who pulled down 17 rebounds in the NEC final game, has pulled down 9.3 rebounds per contest and will be sorely needed if Sacred Heart plans to out-rebound the Terps. Point guard Kerri Burke has tallied 135 assists this year and good ball movement on offense begins with her. Sacred Heart freshmen center Kaitlin Sowinski showed her ability to move up and down the court and make positive things happen on offense coming off the bench during the championship game, and she will be called upon to aid Walker in the post.
The Pioneers will have their hands full however, since all five of Maryland's starting lineup averages over 11 points per game. Sophomore center Crystal Langhorne, who stands at 6'2, leads the Terrapins with 16.3 points and 8.6 rebounds and is complemented nicely by freshmen Marissa Coleman, who stands at 6'1 and averages 14.6 points and 7.7 rebounds.
Maryland, who is currently ranked 3rd in the country in the USA Today polls and was a finalist in the ACC tournament, are the heavy favorites, but any "bracketology" major knows that in this case, "beware of the underdog" can be a more appropriate phrase than "fear the turtle."