Final Stats
Postgame:
Glenville State |
Shepherd
CHARLESTON, W.Va. – Second-seeded Shepherd University continued its winning ways taking control of its quarterfinal-round Mountain East Conference Basketball Tournament game with seventh-seeded Glenville State early and rolling to a 100-91 victory here Thursday afternoon at the Charleston Civic Center.
The win was the eighth in the last nine games for the Rams, who improved to 21-8 overall and will advance to Saturday's semifinal round where they will face sixth-seeded Notre Dame College at 2:15 p.m. The Falcons (19-11) rallied in the second half to knock off third-seeded CharlestonThursday afternoon, 65-55.
Shepherd seniors Gabby Flinchum and Briana Vaden combined for over half of the Rams' points in the victory. Flinchum posted her second double-double performance of the season finishing with a team-high 26 points and 10 rebounds, while Vaden turned in a career-high 25-point effort, which included an 11-of-12 performance from the foul line. She also handed out a game-high seven assists.
“I wanted to win so bad,” said Flinchum, the Rams' 6-3 center. “We didn't get a chance to come here last year. This year we've had a huge turnaround and we all wanted to win down here so bad.
“I just wanted to do my part and contribute the best way I knew how. We knew they were going to trap outside and I was open and my teammates got me the ball. When I was covered I had no trouble kicking it back out because our guards can shoot.”
The Rams connected on 49.3 percent (34-of-69) of their shots from the field in the win, including a 7-of-11 showing (63.6 percent) from 3-point range. Shepherd was also solid at the foul line where it made 25-of-30 attempts (83.3 percent).
“We knew Glenville was a tough draw for us coming in with the way they press and the way they can shoot the ball, but I really thought the best thing we did today was stop their runs,” said first-year Shepherd coach Jenna Eckleberry. “It seemed like every time they started to make a run we were able to answer it. As a team we showed a lot of poise and confidence handling their pressure and stopping their runs.”
Glenville State, which finished the season with a 15-13 record, never led in the contest. The Pioneers, led by senior Keyanna Tate's game-high 30 points and 13 rebounds, made numerous attempts to execute one of their game-changing spurts, but on this day Shepherd was equal to the task.
“It was one of those games where it just wasn't our day,” said GSC coach Charles Marshall. “We gave great effort today. Our kids played their butts off. We were down 17 there at one point and fought back and made it a game, but we just couldn't get all the way back.
“Give Shepherd credit. They made shots every time we attempted to come back and made big plays when they had to.”
Tate, who recorded her team-leading seventh double-double performance of the season, agrees.
“It was frustrating because every time we made a run they were knocking down shots,” said Tate. “It wasn't our best performance on defense. They were knocking down shots that we wanted them to take and they did a good job of getting and making shots that we didn't want them to take.”
Shepherd also got 17 points and eight rebounds from senior guard Rachel Johnson and 11 points and eight boards from senior guard Alex Weakland.
The Rams' second-leading scorer for the season, sophomore guard Cara Mason, only played 11 total minutes and finished with six points before leaving in the opening half with an ankle injury which will be evaluated on a day-to-day basis.
“Cara is a go-to player and scorer for us and when she went down we knew someone had to step up and I felt why not me,” said Vaden.
The only other Glenville State player to reach double digits in scoring besides Tate was senior guard Katrina Salinas, who finished with 10 points. The Pioneers also got nine points apiece from Kayla Tibbs and Kristin DesRocher.