Women's basketball puts together a season to remember
Jordan Hofeditz, Editor in Chief, jhofedit@smu.edu
Issue date: 3/18/08 Section: Sports
The Mustangs earned their first NCAA Tournament bid in eight years when they defeated the UTEP Miners in the championship game of the Conference USA Tournament on March 9.
Monday, the Mustangs found out they would be the No. 12 seed in the Oklahoma City regional playing No. 5 seed Notre Dame in West Lafayette, Ind.
"This has been a great year for the women's basketball team. They have been fun to watch all season long. They have a great team with many talented and skilled players," junior mechanical engineering and French major Ian McFarland said. "After seeing what they did in the conference tournament I can't wait to see them take their skills up against some of the best teams in the country in the national tournament."
With five seniors returning to the team, there was a sense of urgency for SMU.
"This is our deadline for the seniors," senior post Janielle Dodds said. "We don't have another chance after this; we're done."
And the Mustangs went on to make the season a memorable one.
After losing their opening game to No. 11 Texas A&M on Nov. 9, 2007, the Mustangs went on an eight-game winning streak to start the season. Once again SMU showed a similar trend in conference play.
The Mustangs once again lost the opener to Tulsa, but then went on a four-game winning streak that ended when they faced Tulsa and lost again. The final two games of that winning streak were wins on the road.
"Everything clicked when we played East Carolina and Marshall," Dodds said. "A couple games after that we started blowing teams out and we were playing at the top of our level."
After back-to-back losses to Tulsa and UTEP the Mustangs took their frustration out on their next seven opponents. Defeating them by a combined 567-430, an average of just less than 20 points a game including a 93-49 win over Memphis on Feb. 14.
But the Mustangs ended the regular season on a sour note, losing their final two games.
Losses on the road to UTEP and Tulane were not the way SMU wanted to end the season, but a 21-8 overall record and an 11-5 was enough to earn the Mustangs the No. 2 seed in the C-USA Tournament.
Monday, the Mustangs found out they would be the No. 12 seed in the Oklahoma City regional playing No. 5 seed Notre Dame in West Lafayette, Ind.
"This has been a great year for the women's basketball team. They have been fun to watch all season long. They have a great team with many talented and skilled players," junior mechanical engineering and French major Ian McFarland said. "After seeing what they did in the conference tournament I can't wait to see them take their skills up against some of the best teams in the country in the national tournament."
With five seniors returning to the team, there was a sense of urgency for SMU.
"This is our deadline for the seniors," senior post Janielle Dodds said. "We don't have another chance after this; we're done."
And the Mustangs went on to make the season a memorable one.
After losing their opening game to No. 11 Texas A&M on Nov. 9, 2007, the Mustangs went on an eight-game winning streak to start the season. Once again SMU showed a similar trend in conference play.
The Mustangs once again lost the opener to Tulsa, but then went on a four-game winning streak that ended when they faced Tulsa and lost again. The final two games of that winning streak were wins on the road.
"Everything clicked when we played East Carolina and Marshall," Dodds said. "A couple games after that we started blowing teams out and we were playing at the top of our level."
After back-to-back losses to Tulsa and UTEP the Mustangs took their frustration out on their next seven opponents. Defeating them by a combined 567-430, an average of just less than 20 points a game including a 93-49 win over Memphis on Feb. 14.
But the Mustangs ended the regular season on a sour note, losing their final two games.
Losses on the road to UTEP and Tulane were not the way SMU wanted to end the season, but a 21-8 overall record and an 11-5 was enough to earn the Mustangs the No. 2 seed in the C-USA Tournament.
Be the first to comment on this story