women's basketball

Women Tiger Cagers Fall to Wash. U. Bears in Heartbreaker

GAME STATISTICS

GREENCASTLE, IND. ­­ The finals of the DePauw University Tip-off Tournament came down to a battle of youth versus experience. Experience won, but only by the narrowest of margins 66-63, as Jana Mathis' three-pointer at the buzzer rimmed out.

And while the Washington University Bears sneaked out of Gaumey Neal Fieldhouse with a win over the DePauw Tigers, they knew they'd been tested.

The Bears, who were an NCAA Division III final 16 team last year, came to town with not only a smooth-shooting 5-feet 9-inch All-American guard, Amy Schweizer, but also a 6-feet 2-inch freshman center.

The Tigers never really found an answer for tall and talented Alia Fischer, who was in the game when the Bears made their decisive moves to go up on the Tigers.

The Bears' lead was as high as 12 points in the first half, and it looked like the St. Louisans might run away and hide. As in the game on Friday night against Bluffton College, DePauw struggled against the press.

But to their credit, the young Tigers fought back, with sophomore guard Susan Bender, an all-conference honorable mention pick her freshman year, playing her usual solid, all-around game. Freshman Nida Tansinsin, a 5-feet 3-inch guard, also from came off the bench to spark the team both on offense and defense.

As the first-half clock ticked down, Bender was fouled going to the hoop and made both shots to bring DePauw to within two points at 30-28.

After intermission, Bender took up right where she left off, tying the score 30-30 on a jump shot in the first minute of the second half.

From that knot, the game was tit for tat, with the scored tied at 34 at the 16:20 mark.

Then DePauw went up by two points on a driving Bender lay-up, and a jumper by Tansinsin to make the score 38-34. Wash U. had seen enough of this and Bender, called time-out, and put the tall freshman center Fischer back in.

Even she couldn't slow Bender down as the 5-foot 9-inch guard from Roncalli High School in Indianapolis had an offensive rebound to make the score 43-39.

Fischer hit a hook shot, and all-American Schwiezer a three-pointer to take the lead 44-43. A Tiger turnover, a basket by the Bears' Mary DeSmet and another three-pointer by Schweizer made the score 51-43, and at this juncture the Tigers could have gone home quietly, content they'd given it the proverbial old college try.

But they didn't, even when Wash. U. went up by 60-49 with just 3:43 remaining, thanks to their all-American playing like ... well, an all-American.

But Kelly Morrison, the sophomore from Warren, Ind., coolly canned a three-pointer. Mathis, got an offensive rebound to bring the Tigers to within six at 65-59 with 1:05 to go, followed by a jumper by Jamie Selip, a 5-foot 4-inch freshman from Indian Head Park, Ill. Bender made a lay-up to bring the Tigers to within three points and the final rim-out by Mathis for the 66-63 final.

Washington University head coach Nancy Fahey had nothing but nice things to say about the opposition.

"It doesn't get any closer than that," she said as she walked off the court. "DePauw really took it to us. They played with a lot of heart. Hats off to them."

Tiger coach Kris Huffman was disappointed by the result, of course, but took some solace in the loss.

"Washington University is a national-caliber team with a lot of experience," she said. "We did some nice things out there against a very good team. I hope we meet them again down the road."

Bender led DePauw with 18 points on 6-of-12 shooting fro the floor, 6-of-6 from the foul line. She also chipped in with six rebounds and three assists. Morrison had nine points, Mathis eight.

Schweizer led the Bears with 22 points on 7-of-15 shooting. Fischer had 14 points and 10 rebounds. DeSmet added 12 points.