Tues., Feb. 24, 2009

   UPLAND, Ind. -- Down 21-2 in the first 7-plus minutes and on the road, the University of Saint Francis showed grit and determination whittling the difference to 10, but no closer in a season-ending 84-66 loss at Taylor University on Tuesday night.
   It was the first round of the Mid-Central College Conference Tournament and the second consecutive year that the Lady Trojans (20-10) have ended the Lady Cougars (15-16) season.
   "We've got good kids who work hard in practice, but sometimes you've got to admit you're just not good enough as a team," USF coach Gary Andrews lamented. "We got out-physicalled, needed to show some toughness earlier. We did battle back, but when we needed that crucial stop on defense or basket on offense, we just couldn't get it done."
   Senior Jamika Banks did about as much as she could scoring 20 points and grabbing 11 rebounds for her 11th double-double in USF's last 12 games, 16th of the season. Senior Jessica Teubert added 14 points in her final game, TU limited the MCC's leading scorer, USF senior Marie Kaufmann, to six points in a very physical defensive style.
   Kaufmann, who came into the game shooting 55 percent, had one of the poorest shooting nights of her career hitting just 2-of-19 shots.
  "Marian is a little more physical," Kaufmann said. "(TU's) post players are stronger and they were very physical tonight. I didn't get many easy looks."
  USF only hit 8-of-33 shots in the first half, 24 percent, while the Lady Trojans connected on 13 of 29 for 45 percent and added 13-for-14 shooting from the free-throw line. TU led 41-27 at the half after USF did surge back from that 19-point deficit outscoring TU 25-20 in the last 12:49 of the half. At the 6:35 mark, TU's lead had ballooned to 25 at 36-11.
  "We didn't quit," Andrews said emphatically. "We came back from big deficits at St. Joseph's and IU-South Bend, but tonight we just couldn't sustain the effort."
  TU re-opened a 20-point lead (50-30) early in the second half. USF charged back cutting the difference to 10, 53-43, with 12:23 to play on a second-change basket by Kym Bowsher, who finished with 11 for USF off the bench. Banks arched in a 3-pointer at 11:27 slashing the deficit back to 10, 59-49. TU answered with a 7-0 run out to 17 points, 66-49 with 9:10 to go.
   One more time the Lady Cougar surged back with an 8-0 run capped by a Teubert 3-pointer at 4:58 to draw within 68-57. Banks missed a shot inside after getting bumped hard that would have trimmed the deficit to single digits after a TU turnover. Nikki Kassebaum fired in a 3-pointer at 4:07 and USF never got closer than 15 in the time remaining.