Friday, January 25, 2002
Dragon women end 10-game losing streak
By John Montgomery
Sports Writer
jmontgomery@advertiser-tribune.com
Tiffin University women's coach Leslie Mugg summed up in one word Tuesday what she felt after her Dragons snapped a 10-game losing streak with a 75-57 American Mid-East Conference win over Mount Vernon Nazarene.
"Finally!" she exclaimed.
The win was TU's first since an 89-88 win over Clarion Dec. 15 in the University of Findlay Tournament, and it came in the way Mugg had hoped many more would during the year - with pressure defense and solid scoring runs.
"Overall, I think the kids just said 'That's it.' They were sick of losing and they wanted to get a win," Mugg said. "The good thing is, it started out slow but they were able to get back to how we know we can be and how we want to be.
"That's important, because, hopefully, that will progress into the next game and into the next practice," she said.
And despite the big win, the Dragons do have some things to work in practice.
It took almost two minutes before Jill Holland's bucket down low gave TU a 2-0 lead. Several missed shots and turnovers later, the Dragons were down 5-2 with 16:41 to go in the game, and Laura Goin's game-tying 3-pointer wouldn't come for almost another minute.
It wasn't the kind of start Mugg wanted, but she was happy see her Dragons (4-13 overall, 3-8 AMC) find a way to overcome it.
"They run on pure adrenalin, that's about it, and if they don't get the traps going in the full-court press, in the half-court press, they don't get things going offensively," she said. "That's the key. (Mount Vernon) did a very good job of making us have to set it up in the half-court offense for awhile in the first half. That kills us."
Tiffin began finding a way around the Cougars (6-12, 5-7) midway through the first half, using a 9-0 run over a 2:43 span to forge a 16-10 lead.
It wasn't a big lead, but it did help TU enter halftime with a 28-24 edge, and it set the tone for the second half.
Mount Vernon slowly closed the gap and took a 31-30 lead on Susan Adams' 3-pointer with 18:54 to play, but the Dragons took a 34-33 lead off a pair of Jacki Swaisgood scores down low while Angie Trainer had a layup for the Cougars.
Then TU took control.
Sandwiched between two foul shots and a bucket by Swaisgood, Katie McBroom bombed in two 3-pointers and Nicki King added another trey to put the Dragons on top 47-36 with 10:53 to go.
Tiffin never led by less than seven points after that and finished the game by forcing 42 turnovers and out-rebounding the Cougars 41-31.
McBroom and Emily Holt both came off the bench to figure big in the win, with McBroom tallying 15 points and five steals while Holt had six points and 11 rebounds.
"They were definitely two big sparks off the bench. Katie McBroom came to play tonight, that's something we haven't had in the past with her," Mugg said. "And Emily Holt, she's a big spark off the bench, she has been all season. The kids really rally behind her. She totally commits to rebounding. She does great work for us."
So did other Dragons.
King finished with 14 points and six rebounds, Swaisgood had 15 points and four steals and Goins chipped in 11 points and six assists.
Adams, Trainer and Lisa Beaver all netted 11 points for the Cougars, but only Beaver got the majority of her points in the second half. Adams had just four of her points in the second while Trainer scored three.
No other Mount Vernon player scored more than six points in the game.
Now, Mugg said the Dragons have to use the win to build momentum as they head into the final nine games, which includes six road contests, and a chance to make the conference tournament.
"It was very big at the time because we needed this," Mugg said. "We're struggling right now to get into the tournament, but we're confident that we're one of the better teams in the conference of what our record shows.
"I think this will, hopefully, propel us a little bit right now because we'll need it," she said. "We need to knock off some of these teams here near the end."