YORK, PA-The University of
Mary Washington used outstanding defense and timely shooting to
hand the fifth-ranked York College Spartans a stunning 67-56 loss
in the championship game of the 2009 Capital Athletic Conference
tournament. The Spartans had their school-record 25-game win streak
snapped as they fall to 25-2. The Spartans were the regular season
conference champions as they went an unprecedented 16-0 for the
CAC regular season but it wasn't enough to earn the
tournament title. The Eagles, who captured their third straight
CAC title and their fourth in five years, improve to 23-5
with the victory.
Things looked good for York as they pushed
out to a 16-9 lead just over 7:30 into the game. The Spartan lead
stood at three with 6:37 left but the Eagles went on a quick 9-2
run to take a 32-28 lead just before the half. The Spartans
answered by bagging the last five points of the half to take a
33-32 lead to the break.
The second half looked like it was going to
follow the script the Spartans have written all season as they came
out of the break and scored the first nine points of the half to
take a 42-32 lead. That's were the Eagles decided they needed
to rewrite that script as they held the Spartans to just 14 points
over the final 16:10 of the game. Mary Washington needed just four
minutes to erase the Spartans' 10 point advantage, taking the
lead on a pair of Rachel Martin free throws with 12:05 remaining in
the game. The contest would be tied on three more occasions, the
last one coming at 52 on a pair of Jaimie Sapp (Bluemont,
Va./Loudon Valley) free throws with 7:23 remaining. From
then on, the Eagles outscored the Spartans 15-4 as York could not
summon the magic they have had all season in dropping their first
contest since November 15.
York shot just 18.4% in the second half as
they picked a bad time for their worst shooting half of the year.
York, the CAC's top field goal percentage shooting team
heading into the championship game, also finished the game shooting
31.8% from the floor, their worst performance of the year by over
six percentage points.
Mary Washington received a number of strong
efforts as they were led by freshman Katie Wimmer as she had a
double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Wimmer also had four
assists and two steals. Katy Larson and Lauren Kornacki each
contributed 13 points to the balanced Eagle attack. Kornacki was
6-for-7 from the floor while she also had four rebounds. Larson
chipped in with six rebounds and four assists. Senior post Ashton
Mitchell contributed 12 points, six boards and three blocked shots
in the game.
The Spartans were led by senior guard
Keli Ward (Nottingham, Pa./Oxford) and Sapp as
they each tallied 16 points. Ward added seven rebounds, four
assists and four steals in her 40 minutes of action. Sapp chipped
in with three rebounds. Sophomore April Sparkman
(Walkersville, Md./Walkersville) contributed eight points
and nine rebounds in the loss. Ward, Sapp, and Sparkman were
responsible for 40 of York's 56 points.
Mary Washington really took it to
the Spartans on the glass, holding a 44-35 edge on the glass.
The Eagles had a 15-9 edge in second-chance points while they also
outscored York 30-24 in points in the paint. The Eagles also
blitzed the Spartans with a 23-8 edge in points off the bench.
Mary Washington ended the contest shooting
42.6% from the floor and 26.3% from three. The Eagles
converted 76.2% from the line as they were 16-for-21. York finished
the game shooting 85.7% from the line, making 12-of-14.
The Spartans are now forced to wait to see
where and when they will be participating in the
NCAA Division III Tournament. The Spartans, who must
now earn an at-large bid, will find out all that information when
the tournament field is announced on Monday at 11:00 am. The
announcement will be taking place through the NCAA website at
www.ncaa.com.
GAME BOX
