Trademark Run Turns NCAA Opener Into Rout
March 20, 2011
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — You could sense the crowd felt an upset coming.
The score was 28-23 with 6:05 to play in the first half. The No. 3-seed Canes were leading No. 14-seed Gardner Webb, but they weren’t dominating.
Then it happened.
UM ripped off an 8-0 run in 90 seconds that has become so common this year, they should have a trademark on it.
While racking up 28 wins this season, the Canes have probably ripped off 58 or so runs like it.
In the span of few deep breaths a game goes from close to blowout before the other team realizes it. The runs are good for a comfortable lead and wreak havoc on the opposition’s timeout total.
The run would eventually end up 12-0 before the Bulldogs scored and going into the half it was 17-5, but the back-breaker was those first 90 seconds when the lead ballooned to double figures and Miami never looked back.
The run was the first time that Miami led by double figures and Gardner-Webb was not able to shrink that lead to single digits the rest of the day.
From One to 100
Coach Meier won her first NCAA Tournament game as the head coach at Miami and it just so happens it is also the 100th of her UM career.
When asked how she felt about the fact that most of her players were one years old the last time Miami won a women’s NCAA Tournament game in 1993, she said, “Old.
“I was pretty cocky in my first press conference at UM, but this is where we wanted to be. With that said, I was pretty tough on them in the locker room. We can play a lot better and our standard is always going to be higher.”
Taking It To The Boards
In her NCAA debut, Shenise Johnson had just 11 points on 5-15 shooting. She more than made up for it with 18 rebounds and six assists.
“You are amazed when you look at the stat sheet,” said head coach Katie Meier after the game. “Shenise had an off night shooting [the ball], but she had a great game.”
The ACC player of the Year did extent her streak of consecutive games with 10-or-more points to 70.
Overlooked
Riquna Williams was the leading scorer with 28 points, but you wouldn’t have known it from Coach Meier’s comments in the postgame press conference.
“Riquna’s defense was unbelievable,” said Meier. “She made some unbelievable full court defensive plays. These two young ladies [Williams and Johnson], everyone talks about their scoring, but for one to have 18 rebounds and the other have four steals and one block, that’s what allowed us to win tonight.”
Since Meier didn’t emphasize Williams’ scoring, we will.
Williams was 8-19 from the field and 10-11 at the free throw line. She had a couple eye-popping athletic plays, including two blocks and one drive where she nearly jumped over the defender and drew the foul. She also had nine rebounds for good measure.
