March 11, 2005

Huge Second Half Propels Top-Seeded Shaw Past USC-Aiken

            RALEIGH , NC – Shaw University , the nation’s second-ranked team and regional tournament host, used a huge second half to defeat the University of South Carolina Aiken, 77-48, during the quarterfinals of the 2005 NCAA Division II Women’s Basketball South Atlantic Regional Championship inside a packed C.C. Spaulding Gymnasium on Shaw’s campus in Raleigh , NC .  

            The eighth-seeded Lady Pacers held a 17-11 lead after Benazura Serbecic hit a pair of free throws at 6:41 to cap a 7-1 run. Shaw then closed the half with a 15-3 streak to take a 26-20 advantage at the break.

            USCA scored the first two points of the second half to make it a four-point game (26-22 at 18:29 ), before the Lady Bears scored 16 unanswered points to take a commanding 42-22 lead at 15:05 . From there, Shaw increased the cushion to as many as 31 points (74-43 at 1:30 ) before winning by 29 points.

            Shaw (30-1) was sparked by Kiarsha Curtis, who scored 20 of her game-high 25 points in the second half. Curtis matched a career-high with seven three-pointers, six of which came in the game’s final 20 minutes.

Three other Lady Bears scored in double figures, topped by Joy Hairston with 15 points and followed by Leslee Anderson with 12 points. Nastassia Boucicault enjoyed an all-around solid performance with 10 points, a game-high nine rebounds and a team-best five assists.

            USC Aiken (19-13) was led by Kasey Mills with 16 points, while Serbecic added 10 points and a team-best seven boards.

            Both teams shot poorly in the first half, with Shaw’s 25.8 percent (8-for-31) shooting from the field just edging USC Aiken’s 23.1 percent (6-for-26) effort. Shaw rebounded in the second half by hitting 54.5 percent (18-for-33) from the floor, while the Lady Pacers continued to miss the mark by making just 27.6 percent (8-for-29).

            Shaw’s quick and ever-changing defense forced USCA into 23 turnovers, which the Lady Bears turned into a 35-15 advantage in points off turnovers.

“The game kind of went like we thought it would,” said Shaw head coach Jacques Curtis. “We knew they had a good team. Every year it seems like we get a tough draw. Obviously, that team is not an eight-seed. They beat California (PA), which is the only team that has beaten us this year. We came out a little bit tight. Our shots weren’t falling, but our defense kept us in the game.”

When asked about the satisfaction of Friday’s victory after experiencing a first-round loss in the regional playoffs a year ago, Shaw senior Jessica Hawkins said, “It feels great, but even after winning the CIAA (Tournament), if we lost in the first round our season would mean nothing.”

Fellow senior Curtis, the 2005 NCAA Division II South Atlantic Region Player of the Year, added, “I am a couple more meals from being full.”

            “You can’t really start to panic,” Curtis said about her team’s shooting woes in the first half, “especially on this team when you have 12 other players still saying ‘Shoot it.’ You can miss 100 shots, and even the coach says, ‘Shoot the ball or I am going to take you out.’  So you have to keep shooting, because that’s what we do.”

            USC Aiken scored a season-low 48 points in its worst shooting performance of the season, resulting in its worst loss of the season.

“Obviously, Shaw is an excellent basketball team and they proved it tonight,” said USC Aiken head coach Mike Brandt. “I felt we did a great job in the first half and we had them right where we wanted them, it’s just that we shot about the same percentage as they did. We did get some good shots in the first half, but their quickness created 23 turnovers in the game.”

“We only scored 20 points in the first half, but they scored 26,” said USCA senior Katie Gebhardt. “They are averaging 92 points per game, and we knew if they got up in the 90s we had no chance. We don’t want to score 90 points a game. We like our tempo.”

            Shaw advances to play Wingate University in Saturday’s semifinals at 8 p.m.