Austin Peay women’s basketball team – the 16-seed in the Memphis Regional – will face top-seeded Tennessee in the first round of the 2010 NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship. The Lady Govs and Lady Vols are scheduled for tipoff at 11:16 a.m. (CDT), Saturday, at Thompson-Boling Arena in a game televised nationally on ESPN2.
Austin Peay earned the Ohio Valley Conference’s automatic bid after winning three games in the league’s tournament. The Lady Govs were picked to finish second in the OVC’s preseason poll and fell just shy of that expectation, finishing third with an 11-7 record. It was APSU’s best OVC finish and win total during head coach Carrie Daniels’ tenure – a two-spot improvement over the previous season’s finish (fifth) while improving the win total by one win.
The Lady Govs are led by the trio of senior Nicole Jamen, junior Ashley Herring and sophomore Jasmine Rayner. Herring was named the OVC Tournament’s “Most Valuable Player” and enters the NCAA tournament leading APSU in scoring (14.8 ppg) and assists (2.5 apg) while ranking third in rebounding (5.4 rpg). Jamen – a second-team All-OVC selection – and Rayner form the Lady Govs inside duo, combining to average 21.0 points and 16.0 rebounds per game.
Tennessee won both the Southeastern Conference’s regular-season and tournament titles – the seventh time it has claimed both championships, but first time accomplishing the feat since 2000. The Lady Vols have won 14 consecutive games entering the NCAA tournament, last falling at then-No. 8 Georgia, 53-50, Jan. 21. Tennessee has reached 30 wins for the 19th time under head coach Pat Summitt, who is in her 36th season.
The Lady Vols feature a balanced offensive attack with five players averaging more than 10 points per game. Sophomore Alyssa Brewer, who is averaging 10.3 points and 5.7 rebounds per game, was named the SEC Tournament’s “Most Valuable Player.” Junior Angie Bjorklund and sophomore Kelley Cain were each first-team All-SEC selections. Bjorklund leads UT in scoring, averaging 14.1 points per game, while Cain is fifth in scoring (10.2 ppg) but leads the team with 3.4 blocks per game.
ABOUT AUSTIN PEAY…
Austin Peay enters the NCAA Tournament amidst a season-best four-game win streak that began with an regular season-ending victory against Southeast Missouri, Feb. 27, and continued with its three-game run through the OVC Tournament.
For the second straight year, the Lady Govs emerged as a lower seed to capture the OVC tournament. In 2009, the Lady Govs became the first No. 5 seed to ever win the OVC tournament championship. This year, the Lady Govs were seeded No 3. They opened tourney play with a home victory against No. 6 Tennessee Tech (79-61), March 3. They proceeded to defeat second-seeded Morehead State – a team that swept the Lady Govs by 23 and 20 points during the regular season – by a 78-71 count, in the semifinals, March 5. Then in the OVC tourney championship game the next afternoon, the Lady Govs upset regular-season champion Eastern Illinois – a team that had defeated them by 31 points just nine days earlier – by a 69-60 decision.
The Lady Govs rank 319th out of 332 teams in the NCAA for scoring defense at 71.8 ppg while allowing opponents to shoot 42.5 percent, 301st in the nation. That includes 35 percent three-point shooting defense (297th). However, during the OVC tournament, the Lady Govs defense permitted the opposition to score just 64 points per game and allowed them to shoot only 33.5 percent from the floor, including 27 percent from three-point territory.
As was the case in 2009, the Lady Govs enter the OVC tournament with one senior. Last year, forward April Thomas was the team’s only senior. This season it is forward Nicole Jamen, who played for the Cameroon National Women’s Basketball Team last fall during the 2009 FIBA Africa Championship for Women, Oct. 9-18. The competition and subsequent return travel to the states forced her to miss the first week of practice. James recorded a double-double in each OVC tournament game.
Junior Ashley Herring led the Lady Govs in league play, averaging 15.7 points per game while making 44.9 percent of her field goals. She ranked among the top 10 in six categories: scoring (3rd), blocked shots (5th), free-throw percentage (6th), minutes played (7th), field-goal percentage (7th) and assists (8th).
Courtesy: Austin Peay Sports Information
