NEWPORT, R.I. — The margin between winning or losing a conference championship can be as thin as a rimmed out free throw.
Or a pesky flu bug.
Or a wrenched knee.
All of those little details conspired, Saturday, to deprive UNE of the 2011 TCCC women’s basketball crown.
Instead, the Nor’easters had to settle for runner up status, after dropping a 76-74 nail biter to Salve Regina, in the conference championship clash staged at the Rodgers Recreation Center.
Carrie Bunnell netted a team high 23 points, but lipped out a free throw that would have knotted the score with 11 seconds remaining.
Salve, which earned the TCCC’s automatic bid into the upcoming NCAA Division 3 tournament, was paced by 30 points from senior Erin Phillips, the TCCC’s Player of the Year.
The Seahawks (25-3, 15-0) needed every one of Phillips’ points to hold off UNE (21-7, 13-2), which mounted a rousing rally after trailing by seven points with less than a minute to play.
“We just said,” said junior co-captain Kari Pelletier, “that this is the time. That if we were going to dig down, we need to do it now. That’s what we did. We almost came back.”
It would have been appropriate if they had, given the 12 lead changes the game featured, eight of them coming in the first half.
“I have to say right away,” said Salve coach Cori Hughes, who has now led the Seahawks to two NCAA appearances in her four years at the school, “that there are no teams that scare me. Except the University of New England. From soup to nuts, every player can play, every player can shoot, every player can defend. I feel more like we didn’t lose, more than like we won. They outplayed us in the end, but we had a big enough lead that we could survive that.”
They might not have is UNE junior Kelley Paradis had been feeling up to snuff.
Paradis, the TCCC’s top defensive player, was hampered by a flu virus, and was limited to 23 minutes and eight points, both well under her season averages.
“Since you can’t vote for your own player for Player of the Year,” said Hughes, “she was my pick. She can do everything. I’m not going to shed a lot of tears because she was sick, because we won by two points. I’m pretty sure she would have scored two more.”
Said UNE coach Anthony Ewing, “She virtually had no strength. So our (forward) rotation was shortened up a little bit.”
Forward Liz LeBlanc filled in for Paradis until she was felled in the second half by a twisted knee.
“We knew Kelley wasn’t feeling well,” said Pelletier. “It didn’t really matter. We wanted to come out and play our best anyway. Do whatever we had to.”
Which, as Salve threatened to put the game away as the second half wound down, was fight for their lives.
In one six minute stretch, the Seahawks fashioned an 18-6 run, and took a 65-54 lead with 7:04 to play.
The ‘Hawks were still leading by 11, two minutes later when UNE began its comeback.
Trailing by 74-67 with 41 seconds remaining, the Nor’easters were able to close to within one point after four free throws by Margo Russell, a lay up by Paradis, then a miss and make from the foul line by Bunnell.
But for UNE, that was as good as it would get.
The Nor’easters consolation will be a slot in the ECAC tourney (date, site, and opponent to be announced today).
“Having the ECAC’s is something to look forward to,” said Pelletier. “It’s definitely a disappointment not to win this. But we’re excited to have another chance to win another championship in the same season.”
— Contact Dan Hickling at dhickling@journaltribune.com.
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