Looking at the last night of the season for the Carthage women's basketball team on Saturday, March 10, it seems best to break it into three parts: the start (gruesome), the comeback (what if?) and the aftermath (reflection).
The 77-69 loss to, “The School That Shall Not Be Named (TSTSNBN, for short)” in the sectional final of the NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Championship at the McPherson Academic and Athletic Complex on the campus of University of Mount Union in Alliance, Ohio, ended the best season in program history one victory short of the Final Four.
THE START: This Is All Just A Bad Dream, Right? Right?
You almost had to pinch yourself. TSTSNBN makes five of its first seven field goal attempts, including a pair of three-pointers, and two free throws, to open a 14-0 lead 4 minutes, 46 seconds into the game. On its first eight possessions, Carthage misses its three field goal attempts and commits five turnovers.
The Lady Reds get their first point when Dani Ripkey makes the first of two free throws with 14:46 left in the half to make it 14-1. The first basket comes on a three-pointer by Allison Groessl with 10:29 to go in the half.
“We looked kind of like, 'What's going on out here?' ” Coach Tim Bernero said. “It's funny, you'd think you'd do that against somebody you hadn't played before. It was a little bit like deer in the headlights. If it was against an undefeated team you hadn't played before, you'd say, OK. But for some reason, you looked at this one and it was kind of like, 'Hey, we know these people. What are we afraid of?' There was nothing different that happened. They did what they were going to do. They just did it better, I guess.”
Diana Jacklin sensed everyone had some early jitters, but she kept telling herself there was plenty of time left.
“I think it's hard to say nobody got a little nervous or anxious there during those minutes,” Jacklin said. “But in my head I just kept saying, 'OK, it's still early. We need to regroup. We need to come together. We've got to make that first basket, and hopefully after that, everything will start to click for us.' ”
Cailee Corcoran was disappointed in the inability to get things back on track before they got out of hand.
“They obviously came out hot,” Corcoran said. “But we didn't do anything to stop them. We definitely did not play Carthage basketball, the first 12 minutes of that half. We did not. That hurt us in the end.”
THE COMEBACK: Giving TSTSNBN Something To Think About
Bernero switches from a man-to-man to a 2-3 zone late in the first half to slow down TSTSNBN. Carthage trails at halftime, 36-24. Groessl gets the Lady Reds off to a good start in the second half, making the second of her three three-point baskets. The Lady Reds are within 36-27, the first time the deficit is under 10 since the awful start.
Carthage continues to claw away. Corcoran's basket off a press break makes it 44-40. The Carthage defense makes four straight stops, but can't capitalize because of a turnover, two missed inside shots that were contested and a layin by Stephanie Kuzmanic that spins out.
Jacklin scores in the paint to pull Carthage within 44-42 with 12:27 to play. The Carthage cheering section goes wild. The Carthage band is into it across the court.
The excitement grows when Groessl's final three-pointer makes it 48-46, 9:55 remaining.
“We started getting that better look in our eyes, like 'OK, we're feeling a little better about ourselves and we're making some shots,' ” Bernero said. “They started to get a little rattled. We just couldn't make enough other plays, those layups or the turnover in those four possessions. Maybe if we scored on two of those four and its tied, now maybe the pressure of 'Holy cow, we were up, 16-1, we're blowing this thing, maybe it would have put a little more heat on them.”
Jacklin: “We've been in this position before, and it's our time. In your head you're saying, 'It's our time to dictate. Let's be the aggressor. We're the one that's making the run. We're the team that's hot right now. We've got to take advantage and roll with it.' Unfortunately, they kept answering.”
Ripkey said the team had the inner strength to keep fighting and fighting. It came so close to paying off.
“The one thing about our team tonight is that we never gave up,” Ripkey said. “Earlier in the season, we would have given up, or thought it was over way before it was. So I'm really proud of the team for fighting back. We almost had it. We were there, within a couple points.”
After closing to 48-46, TSTSNBN goes on a 7-0 run. Carthage is within 60-52 with 5:21 after a free throw by Jacklin, but the deficit goes back to double figures and stays there until Kristi Schmidt's basket off a pass from Michelle Wenzel (you should be seeing those two do that a lot next season) accounts for the final points with nine seconds to go.
“There's a lot of heart,” said Corcoran, who will be the only senior with experience next season. “A lot of heart, a lot of fight. We've been in that position before. ... We clearly showed that we're talented enough to fight back in a game like that. We just have great players, who will give everything they have to make sure that were putting up a good fight. We're a great team.”
REFLECTION: A Team For The Final Time
There are tears in the handshake line, more tears in the locker room and still more tears when parents and friends greet the players with applause as they walk into the lobby after leaving the locker room.
This is it. This group will have a post-game meal a short time later. It rode the bus back home. It will never play together again.
That was a difficult situation to get through.
“Over the sobbing, it's hard,” Bernero said. “I get caught up in that, the emotional part, where I'm struggling with my words. Talking about the effort and the things they did. Coaches are coaches. You work and you have a plan, but the kids make the plays and make you look good.”
Bernero followed with about the best thing he could say about a team.
“The heart they displayed the last two weeks in this tournament was admirable,” Bernero said. “You'd like to have it like a pro team, where you keep them all for a long time and just keep running that same team out, tweaking it and getting better and better.
“But it doesn't work that way, so you've got to replace the seniors and get the other people to move up, and hopefully they become better players, and we bring in some more good players and then just keep the line moving. We've built some expectations now, and we're not sneaking up on anybody anymore. People know about us. Maybe we did (sneak up on teams) in this tournament because we weren't the ranked team. We were the other team. We took three teams out. We just couldn't get this one tonight.”
Jacklin elaborated on Bernero's locker room talk.
“He talked about how we left it all out there,” said Jacklin, who closed like a champion with 18 points and 10 rebounds and finishes with 1,193 points, 10th on the school's all-time scoring list. “We played our hearts out. It's unfortunate that they did get that jump start, but that we had nothing to hang our heads about. We made Carthage history, and obviously, as any coach would be, he was very proud of us. Proud of our seniors. He said, for those of you coming back, this is what you learn from. You know what level you have to play at, you know how you have to play. For those of you that are seniors, you will never be forgotten here. You have made your imprint on the program, and he said he couldn't have asked for a more special team.”
Ripkey said it is hard to accept that the final game loss was to TSTSNBN, that the season is over, and her Carthage playing days are, too.
“It's a little hard for me to comprehend how we lost to them four times this season,” said Ripkey, who had a heck of a final game with 17 points, seven rebounds, four assists, three steals and a blocked shot and played in a school-record 82 victories to go along with her school mark of 194 three-point baskets. “It's sad. I don't know what I'm more sad about, the fact that we lost to (TSTSNBN) and we're not going to play anymore, or that I'm done and not playing anymore. It's kind of just a whole whirlwind of emotions.”
It is different, of course, for Corcoran. She will be back as the only experienced senior.
“It'll be a challenge,” said Corcoran, who had 13 points, seven rebounds and two assists. “Like this year. Since I've been here, we've been underestimated. My whole career here. For three years now we've been underestimated. I think we've proved, season after season, that we deserve everything we get. We're losing a lot, a lot of valuable players, so there will be big shoes to fill. But hard work, dedication, see who steps up to fill those shoes. You can't predict what's going to happen, but I have confidence.”
Back to the seniors, who took off the Carthage uniform for the final time.
Groessl. Jacklin. Ripkey. Drewann Pancratz. Kiki Phillips.
Bernero touched on each of them.
“They're all different kids,” Bernero said. “Diana was the linchpin of it on the outside. People saw her ability and said, 'Man, she's really good.'
“Dani is a tough kid who wouldn't take no for an answer. She'd get beat up and try to do stuff. Some stuff she wasn't great at, but she'd try to do it anyhow to get better.
“Allison stepped into an opening for a senior and made some really good plays. She shot the heck out of the ball. She was a part of the (Sweet 16) team two years ago. She played in the rotation. This was her chance to step ahead.
“Even Kiki Phillips and Drewann Pancratz, who didn't get to play a lot, were great people and great teammates. Drew was kind of beat up coming back and forth from volleyball and then getting sick this year. Kiki, she had injuries. It just looked like her time was coming, something happened, and then other people kind of got in front of her, and she never got in there. And it was hard. She'd have her ups and her downs, where she'd try to be the good teammate, but it was hard when you don't get the payoff in playing, to be a good kid, and they were.
“That, I appreciate. There are always good days and bad days, but there were way more good days with this group for the last three or four years.
“The future's exciting, but it's scary, too. You have your security blankets, the kids who are main players for three and four years, you know you can go to Diana, go to Dani (his co-captains). Not just for results on the court, but how they carry the team. The other kids learn how to act from them. That's what you hope, that they pick up from your older kids, and say, 'This is how you've got to work. This is how you've got to act. This is how we've got to do things.' It can't just be me with a lot of rules.”
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