2008 Woodie Awards
Wildcat comeback falls short against UMBC
Women's Basketball UNH: 56, UMBC: 59
Joe O'Connell
Issue date: 1/23/07 Section: Sports
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Riding the momentum from a big over-time win against Binghamton on Wednesday, their first in the America East Conference, the UNH Women's Basketball team (6-11, 1-4 AE) came into Saturday's game at Lundholm Gymnasium, against UMBC (10-9, 3-3 AE) looking for a similar result.
The Retrievers of UMBC made sure the Wildcats winning streak would stay at one, as the Wildcats lost 59-56.
Senior co-captain Danielle Clark was the only Wildcat to score in the double digits with an impressive 27 points, matching her career high, to go along with her five rebounds. Eighteen of those points came from beyond the arc, where Clark shot a staggering 50% (6-12), compared to the 41% (9-22) shot by the Retrievers as a team.
But despite Clark being red hot, the start of the game spelt disaster for the Wildcats.
Numerous turnovers to go along with shots not falling were a big reason why the Wildcats fell behind 30-11 half way through the first half. UMBC's strong pressure defense and quick ball movement on offense seemed to cause big problems for UNH and it clearly disrupted their game.
That is until Coach Sue Johnson found a weakness in the UMBC defense that she quickly took advantage of. In the closing minutes of the first half, Coach Johnson continually ran an offensive play that had Danielle Clark run along the baseline and get a wide open shot from the corner, which is why Clark was so effective from three point land.
"UMBC has a very unique defensive system and this was a new set that we knew could disrupt it by creating shots in the corner," said Coach Johnson.
With the help of this play, UNH went on a 14-5 run in the final seven minutes of the first half, cutting the 19 point deficit and heading in to half time down by just 10 points, 35-25
It was clear that momentum was shifting toward the Wildcats in the end of the first half and they did not look like they wanted to give it up. A quick jumper by Danielle Flowers and another three by Clark in the opening two minutes in the second half cut the Retriever lead to just five.
The Retrievers of UMBC made sure the Wildcats winning streak would stay at one, as the Wildcats lost 59-56.
Senior co-captain Danielle Clark was the only Wildcat to score in the double digits with an impressive 27 points, matching her career high, to go along with her five rebounds. Eighteen of those points came from beyond the arc, where Clark shot a staggering 50% (6-12), compared to the 41% (9-22) shot by the Retrievers as a team.
But despite Clark being red hot, the start of the game spelt disaster for the Wildcats.
Numerous turnovers to go along with shots not falling were a big reason why the Wildcats fell behind 30-11 half way through the first half. UMBC's strong pressure defense and quick ball movement on offense seemed to cause big problems for UNH and it clearly disrupted their game.
That is until Coach Sue Johnson found a weakness in the UMBC defense that she quickly took advantage of. In the closing minutes of the first half, Coach Johnson continually ran an offensive play that had Danielle Clark run along the baseline and get a wide open shot from the corner, which is why Clark was so effective from three point land.
"UMBC has a very unique defensive system and this was a new set that we knew could disrupt it by creating shots in the corner," said Coach Johnson.
With the help of this play, UNH went on a 14-5 run in the final seven minutes of the first half, cutting the 19 point deficit and heading in to half time down by just 10 points, 35-25
It was clear that momentum was shifting toward the Wildcats in the end of the first half and they did not look like they wanted to give it up. A quick jumper by Danielle Flowers and another three by Clark in the opening two minutes in the second half cut the Retriever lead to just five.
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