Wilmington Wins Wilmington Inn/Damon's Tip-Off

Hood named MVP

|Box Score|

November 19, 2005

WILMINGTON, Ohio — It felt more like the NCAA National Tournament championship game than the Wilmington Inn/Damon¹s Tip-Off Tournament championship game Saturday as Wilmington College answered every challenge offered by Thomas More to hand the Saints an 86-70 loss in front of a boisterous crowd at Fred Raizk Arena.

"Thomas More is good ­ they¹re very good," WC coach Jerry Scheve said. "They¹ve got two or three kids that are just at a different level athletically. We knew we were going to have trouble guarding them, and we did. But overall, we did a good job."

Ten players played significant minutes and made significant contributions as the Lady Quakers put their depth on display for a second straight night. Tournament MVP Sam Hood (Lockbourne/Teays Valley) scored 17 points, handed out nine assists and pulled down five rebounds. Wilmington¹s other all-tournament selection, Kelly Peters (Spencerville/Spencerville), contributed 15 points and seven rebounds and Katie Streck (Dayton/Carroll) added 11 points and three boards despite being saddled with foul trouble most of the game.

The biggest points of the night, though, may have been provided by Erica Smith (Union/Northmont). The junior wing scored a game-high 18 points and hit four consecutive three-pointers in the second half, three of which came after Thomas More (1-1) had cut Wilmington¹s 17-point lead to just one with 9:29 to play.

"I was really proud of our team when they made their run and cut it to one," Scheve said. "We didn¹t blink an eye. They cut it to one, and we come down to the other end of the court and Erica Smith drains a three ­ which is what we always talk about with our team, that the best thing to happen when the other team scores is an opportunity for us to go and score right away. When you do that, it really takes away their momentum."

As was the case against University of Pittsburgh-Bradford in Friday¹s opener, Wilmington (2-0) dominated the final 10 minutes of play, outscoring Thomas More 26-13 down the stretch. Smith hit bombs, Peters, Natasha Huckleby (Troy/Troy) and Streck scored inside, and Hood, Shawna Thomas (Middletown/Middletown) and Jackie Hauke (Sardinia/Whiteoak) ­ playing on a sore ankle ­ connected from mid-range. On the other end of the floor, Kara Robinson (Zanesville/Bishop Rosecrans) shut down the inside play of Megan Wood, who scored six of her 10 points as the Saints roared back into the game.

"I think the most important thing I found out is that we¹re going to compete," Scheve said. "We played extremely hard today. We didn¹t play badly last night (Friday), but today we just played extremely hard. We¹re not going to overwhelm you with our athletic ability right now, but we¹ve got really solid basketball players that know how to play, know how to score, know how to defend. The key for us all year is going to be that we¹re going to have to play harder than other people. Everybody played well. That¹s what it¹s all about: a team effort. That¹s what we had tonight."

Wilmington bolted out to a double-digit lead in the first half, thanks to strong inside play from Streck and Peters and long-distance shooting from Anne Haky (North Olmsted/Bay Village), Katie Newman (North Olmsted/Magnificat), Hood and Streck. At the half WC led 39-24. The lead reached 17 when Hauke assisted a Streck layup, but Thomas More added a wrinkle that got Wood loose in the paint. On the perimeter Gabby Johnson led a three-point binge and the Saints outscored Wilmington 29-13 to all but erase the Lady Quakers¹ cushion.

Wilmington hit 67 percent of its second-half field goal attempts. For the game the Lady Quakers shot 60 percent from the field, 62 percent from beyond the arc. The Lady Quakers outrebounded Thomas More, 39-23, allowing just four offensive rebounds.

The importance of the win over a strong Great Lakes Region squad was not lost on Scheve. Losing non-conference inside the region, he said, helped keep the Lady Quakers out of the NCAA National Tournament last season. "The reason we didn¹t make the NCAA Tournament last year was that we lost to Kalamazoo right here in the Fred Raizk Tournament and went over to Franklin and lost a game there," Scheve said. "If we win those two games we¹re 25-3 and we go to the tournament. You can lose to the top teams in the OAC ­ that¹s not going to hurt your regional rankings ­ but you¹ve got to win those regional games, and we¹ve got a lot of them coming up. I¹ve told our players they¹re every bit as important as these league games that we¹re going to be playing."

Kristen Humphrey and Christian Stefanopoulus scored 13 each for Thomas More. Amanda Link added 12 for the Saints. Stefanopoulus and Link were named to the all-tournament team, which also included Jess Winemiller of

Juniata (Pa.) College and Sarah Lyon of Pittsburgh-Bradford. Juniata defeated UPB 78-51 in the consolation game.