How Sweet it is! Lady Falcons advance!

I have to admit, I was feeling it at halftime. By it, I mean, that eerie feeling that I'd seen this play out before, and not in a good way. Here it was, the 2nd round of the NCAA tournament, and Messiah was in a real scrap with a team that I really felt they should be beating. Messiah was missing free throws, St. Lawrence was having some prayers being answered with their shots, and there was a steady rain of St. Lawrence threes going in, the last one being a rainbow from about 4 feet behind the arc that made it only a slim one point Messiah lead going into intermission, at 30-29.

Honestly, I think the Messiah players, especially the seniors, were gripping a little bit too for a lot of the game. It seemed like the failures on the home court in the 2nd round the last two years might have been there in the back of their mind. I sat there at half, hoping that what I thought I was seeing was accurate, and that Messiah's intense defensive pressure, coupled with their superior depth and the fact that St. Lawrence had been required to go the distance in their game last night, would wear the Saints down in the 2nd half.

Well, I think that happened to a degree, but there were a few other significant factors that led to the Falcons pulling away and winding up with their 64-49 victory. Perhaps the most significant was Messiah's halftime defensive adjustment. St. Lawrence's Jamie Wolff had scored 18 of St. Lawrence's 29 points, and was the culprit in St. Lawrence's 3 point barrage, hitting 4 of them in the first half. Coming out in the 2nd half, Messiah had shifted All-American Nikki Lobach over to defend her. Lobach spent most of the second half in Wolff's shorts (figuratively of course, I'm sure the NCAA would frown on the literal act), holding her scoreless. Wolff didn't even attempt a three until there were about 2 minutes to go, and let's just say, she wasn't open.

The second factor was that Messiah was able to launch their own barrage of 3s. Sharpshooter Lauren Schurr, who was 0-3 from beyond the arc in the first half, was 4-4 in the second half, and with Amy Reed tossing in a 3 of her own, was instrumental in the Messiah run that broke the game open a few minutes into the second half. Messiah was uncharacteristically poor from the free throw line, or they probably would have put the game out of reach pretty early.

The real story of the game, however, was junior center Sal Shani's coming out party. Sal has perhaps the most interesting story on the Messiah roster. My understanding (I'm not really much of an insider), is that Sal, who came to Messiah via Senegal, had not really played organized basketball prior to her time at Messiah. She was on the team as a freshman and sophomore, but saw very limited minutes as she really learned the game, despite her incredible abilities. You see, Sal is 6' 2", which usually means she is the tallest player on the court. In addition, she is generally the most athletic player on the court, and about as fast as anyone else. Had she been playing basketball for most of her life, she probably would be a D-I type talent. Even this year, her minutes have still been relatively limited in favor of the more experienced players who know how to run the offense better, and yet she's still wound up as the team's second leading scorer, and was recognized as a 1st team All-Conference performer despite only playing about 18 minutes a game, 7th on the team in that department.

Shani was just dominant inside tonight, playing 26 minutes while putting up a career-high 24 points, a career high 10 rebounds, and 3 blocked shots to go along with it. St. Lawrence just had no answer for her inside. In my opinion, Sal is the X-factor in Messiah's chances for a deep tournament run, and even a national title. Messiah already has a dominant presence on the perimeter in Lobach. If they are able to finally let Sal loose, and she can produce, their offense is going to be very difficult to stop, and that coupled with their ever present intense defense is going to be a potent combination. Making a deep run is quite often about having someone step up that you don't necessarily expect, much as was the case during Messiah's run in 2001, when Melissa Ehst, a 3 point specialist off the bench who was averaging about 6 points a game through the season, caught fire from outside and averaged 20+ from the second round to the Final Four. Here's hoping Sal can serve a similar role for the 2008 Falcons.

So, the bottom line is that the Lady Falcons are on to the Sweet 16. I'm so pumped, especially for the seniors, who finally got through that 2nd round wall, and have a chance to extend their record for most wins by a class at Messiah. Given their high seeding, it is possible that they will host next week's sectional. Unfortunately, even if that happens, this will be my last "in person" game report, as I will be in Florida next weekend for my annual trip to Phillies spring training with my Dad. If they advance to the Final Four, that's in Michigan, which would probably be enough by itself to prevent my presence, but when you add in the fact that it is over Easter weekend, there's just no way I can consider making the trip.

Once again, go Falcons!