Unless you can handle the churning inside your gut until sometime Monday afternoon, you might want to keep whatever you use to calm your nerves within reach.
Of course, you may need to replenish after the Carthage women's basketball team's gut-wrenching 68-67 loss to Illinois Wesleyan in the championship game of the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin basketball tournament Saturday, Feb. 25 at the Shirk Center in Bloomington, Ill. It was the third heart-breaking defeat this season against the Titans and second at the Shirk Center (remember the 70-69 verdict on Jan. 14). The Titans won the CCIW tournament — and the automatic bid to the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division III tournament that goes with it — for the fifth straight season.
So the body of work is done for the Lady Reds. Now all they can do is wait to see if the season is done, too, or if they get one of 20 at-large bids to the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division III tournament. The 64-team field will be announced Monday, Feb. 27 at 1:30 p.m., CST at www.ncaa.com.
That body of work is good, with victories at Wisconsin Lutheran (ranked 30th in the pre-season poll and which won the Northern Athletic Conference), over then-14th-ranked UW-River Falls in Las Vegas, and a very strong overall strength of schedule. The Lady Reds sit with a 20-7 overall record, with five of the defeats coming by margins of one, one, two, four and six points. They had a 9-2 non-conference record, with one of the defeats coming to the second-ranked University of Chicago and the other to Iowa Conference tournament champion Coe.
The wait will be especially hard on the seniors, because there is no quick answer to the question of whether they will get put on a Carthage uniform again. Two years ago, there was little doubt the Lady Reds would get a bid. They got it and won twice to reach the sweet 16.
Dani Ripkey, who turned in a second straight strong performance with 12 points, five assists and four rebounds, could well be biting her fingernails.
“It's not in our hands anymore,” Ripkey said. “If we won this game, it would be in our hands. We would be in. So, yeah, I'm a little nervous.
“I think we should (get in), because we have 20 wins and we had a really tough non-conference schedule, one of the toughest in the country. And we did really well in non-conference. Hopefully, people will see that when choosing, and hopefully it will go our way.”
Diana Jacklin was out of this world with 26 points, 11 rebounds (five offensive), two blocked shots, two steals and an assist in 39-plus minutes. She guarded CCIW Most Outstanding Player Olivia Lett, hounding her into 9-for-21 shooting and making her earn every one of her game-high 23 points.
Jacklin also referred to the 20 victories and the strong schedule. She also mentioned beating UW-River Falls as a point in the Lady Reds' favor. She said it will be hard to wait until Monday.
“Just keep talking about it,” Jacklin said. “That's what we always usually do. We just don't shut up about it.
“We've got to be patient, then I'm sure everyone will be gathered together on Monday. The team will be together, awaiting the news.
“I don't know as much about how (the process of awarding the at-large berths) works as coach does, obviously.
Ah, coach. Coach Tim Bernero is in his fourth — and final — year as the Central Region Chair on the NCAA Women's Basketball Committee. He was looking at a 13- or 14-hour day on Sunday to get all the work done that goes with finalizing the 64-team field. It might be midnight before the field is finalized.
But the perk of being one of eight members of the selection committee did not help when it came time to address his players in a very emotional locker room after the game.
“He said it was a heck of a fight, and we worked really hard, and left everything out there,” Jacklin said. “And this may not be it for us. ... And keep our heads up, and if this is it, we put everything out there, and we really played with heart.”
Bernero told the team, “It's like being in limbo. Sometimes in these situations, if you know you're not in, you pour your heart out and you cry, and you hug. I really don't know, and I feel bad, because you can't rile up that raw emotion that was in there after the game. The kids were crying, and maybe I'm trying to reconcile that in my mind so that we can hope to play again next weekend. If it's the last time we play, I've got to get them back together and hug them and thank them.”
At least Bernero has the distraction of being on the committee to help him get through Sunday.
“It's probably better that I'm on the committee, so that I'll at least be occupied and I won't sit there and have to wait until Monday and say, 'Are we or aren't we,' ” There will be some point in mid-evening where my stomach will turn. Being in the process, it will get to a point where I'll go, 'OK, this looks pretty good,' or I'll go, 'Oh, man, here it comes and we're not going to be there.'
Hold your calls, people. Bernero is virtually sworn to secrecy. And he might be hard to find.
“You either have to put your poker face on, or it's a good day to play hooky or hide somewhere,” Bernero said.
Pepto Bismol anyone?
***
There was nothing wrong with Haley Stercic's radar this season. But she is flying under it.
The 5-foot, 4-inch sophomore guard has been extremely impressive coming off the bench. Her three-point basket with a bit over three minutes to play in the game made her 13-for-27 on her first field goal attempt in games, including 12-for-23 on three-point tries.
Stercic's explanation for her success is pretty basic: It is what she does.
“That's kind of what I've been known for since I was in about fourth grade,” said Stercic, who is shooting 42-for-94 (44.7 percent) overall, including 36-for-76 (47.4 percent) on three-point attempts. “I was always an outside shooter. I was the only person that was able to shoot threes when I was in eighth grade. It carried on through high school. That was what my high school coach noticed most, my three-pointers. That was kind of who I was all through high school, and it stuck with me through college.”
Stercic showed great poise and patience Saturday night while not forcing a shot. One at least on possession, 6-footer Shelby Jackson had the defensive assignment. If memory serves, 5-8 Karen Solari and the 6-0 Lett also at times paid very close attention to Stercic.
Stercic played 10 shot-less minutes during the first half. She had a stint of nearly five minutes that began with 13:01 to play in the game, but again did not have a good look. She was back in with 6:23 to play, and 13 seconds later got a pass to Jacklin for a layup.
Finally, with 3:09 remaining, she hit nothing but the bottom of the net on a three-pointer from the left wing for what at that point was the biggest basket of the game. It broke the seventh tie and gave the Lady Reds a 65-62 lead.
“I'm averaging 17 minutes a game, and we have Dani (Ripkey) and Al (Allison Groessl), who are great shooters,” Stercic said when asked about making what can be the difficult transition from starter during grade school and high school to backup since her arrival at Carthage. “ I want them to have priority first. I'll wait. I look for them to shoot first, and then, if they need me, I'm there to pick it up.
“My mindset is, if it's open, shoot it. And then, if not, then look to drive and kick to other shooters.”
Bernero has total confidence when calling for Stercic.
“Last season, we couldn't get her on the floor because she had some deficiencies otherwise,” Bernero said. “We knew she could shoot. She's able to do these other things that are going to get her more time. Next year, I don't know that she'll shoot 50 percent all the way through, but we're going to count on her to get more shots. She's equal, capability-wise, as a shooter to what Dani is. It's just a matter of getting her more shots and making her more focused.
“It's a great weapon to have, when you put somebody in the game that you know the other people have to guard, and if they don't, she's going to shoot that kind of percentage.”
Stercic's high degree of success is not one bit surprising to Bernero.
“When you see her in practice you know that she can do that,” Bernero said. “What happened from last year to this year, she adapted to the pace of college basketball in that, after her first year of kind of getting a feel for it – and there really wasn't a lot of time for her to play last year — her ability ... she handles the ball fine, she's a pretty good passer, a pretty good decision maker. So that adds to the package. But she's absolutely pure.”
