December 31, 2000

Gannon takes advantage to win

By Matt Steiner
Sports Writer

Not only is Division-II Gannon a bigger school than Tiffin University, the women's basketball team has some bigger players than the Dragons.

The Golden Knights' size advantage, combined with lopsided numbers in shooting percentage, led Gannon to a 96-70 victory over TU.

"I think we were kind of intimidated," Tiffin junior Jacki Swaisgood said. "We're not used to teams being that big."

Gannon took a look at the Dragons lineup, which has only two players 6-feet or taller, and knew what they had to do.

"We wanted to go inside," Gannon coach Jodi Kest said. "We felt we had an advantage with our size."

The Golden Knights boast five players taller than 6-feet and used four of them very effectively, forcing TU to play catchup. Starters Nikki Smith (6-1), Kristin Roseberry (6-1) and Sara Kitchen (6-0) each scored in double figures with 16, 13 and 13 points respectively. Monica Bortz, also 6-0, added 10 off the bench.

Roseberry was unstoppable on the boards in the first half. She grabbed 11 rebounds, including five on the offensive end. She was an integral part of a 13-0 run late in the half which allowed Gannon to take a 40-31 advantage into halftime. All six of Roseberry's first half points came in that run.

Senior guard Jacki Windon was the beneficiary of a strong inside game as she led the Knights with 12 points before the intermission -- all were 3-pointers on kickouts and wide open looks. Kitchen scored 10 in the post, forcing Tiffin to focus on the inside.

After halftime, Gannon continued to get open looks inside of 15 feet. That, combined with a faster pace allowed the Knights to shoot 57.9 percent from the field en route to a 56-point half.

"We've been getting a lot of points on inside layups and off of transition, and when you're doing that, you're shooting percentage increases," Kest said. "The last five or six games we've been shooting the ball really well and scoring a lot of points."

The final 10 minutes of the game proved pivotal as Gannon pulled away, outscoring TU 29-19 in that stretch.

"In the last 10 minutes, they got into their transition game and got some nice scores and we started to turn the ball over," Tiffin coach Leslie Mugg said. "That created easy layup opportunities for them. If we would have played the last 10 minutes like we played the first 30 minutes, they wouldn't have gotten (that many points)."

In contrast to Gannon's strong shooting, Tiffin struggled to put the ball through the basket. The Dragons attempted just two fewer field goals (74-72) than their opponents, yet made only 25 to Gannon's 38 (34.7 percent) for the game.

Again the size advantage played a big role.

"In the second half, we got real timid," Mugg said. "We didn't shoot well at all. Instead of going up strong, they were just trying to get the shot off. I think the size played a role there.

Windon ended the game as the fifth Knight in double figures. She scored 15, shooting 5-of-11 from beyond the 3-point arc. Swaisgood led the Dragons with 18 points while Laura Goins scored 14.

Roseberry led all rebounders with 15 and Kyra Waltz grabbed 10 for TU.

Heading into the game, Mugg knew Gannon (9-2) would present a challenge. Despite the score, Tiffin (6-5) should benefit from the contest as they head into American Midstates Conference play.

"Gannon's a great team," Mugg said. "We were with them for 30 minutes and that shows quite a bit. (A loss) always shows you stuff you need to work on. Defense is the main thing. We're not playing team defense. We're not helping each other out and not hustling back. Our transition defense was good for a while, but it got really bad at one point. We just weren't hustling back."