Thunderbirds Fall In National Tournament Opener

Twenty-five minutes before tip-off, it was easy to see the nervous energy in Coach Kia Herbel.  "I sure wish I was playing.  This nervous excitement always went away once the game started.  Coaching, however, is different.  I can't seem to shake it.  But I guess that's good.  A sign it means something."

The earlier games had proven the seeding of the tournament correct as each of the higher seeds had won out over the lower seeds.  The Thunderbirds hoped to change that trend.  And no upset had a chance to be bigger as the game marked the #1 seeded team in Monroe Community College out of New York versus the #16 seeded Thunderbirds.  For Monroe, the National Tournament is a common occurrence, having been participants in the DII tournament ten previous times, in addition to that many trips to the DI tournament as well.  For UTTC, this trip marks its first in the final tournament of the year. 

From the opening tip-off, Monroe's strategy was pretty simple.  Force turnovers, run in transition, and try and tire out the 6-player roster of the opponent using as many of its own 12 players as needed.  The Thunderbirds showed early jitters, turning the ball over against soft pressure with soft passes which lead to a couple easy, early baskets by Monroe.  But UTTC would chip away, breaking the half-court press for easy baskets with freshman post Terae Briggs, normally the number one scoring option, providing two easy opportunities for Gia Davis and Shelby Greeley with two beautiful passes to put the Thunderbirds up 10-5 with 6:00 left in the first quarter.  Monroe would answer with six straight points, before UTTC would go on a nice run, beginning with a Peltier steal and lay-up, a three-pointer by Jessica Starr capped off with two Briggs buckets and another lay-up by Peltier.  All in all, the first quarter ended on an 11-5 Thunderbird run which left the scoreboard reading 21-16 UTTC. 

Briggs would begin the second quarter tacking on a free-throw to stretch the lead to 22-16 with 8:59 remaining.  But her next entry in the scorebook would be a crucial one, picking up her second foul and having to take a rest on the bench.  Immediately, Monroe pounded the ball inside, scoring three straight baskets in the paint, forcing UTTC to call time-out.  But the run had begun for Monroe and it wouldn't be stopped until a free throw by Gia Davis at the 2:28 mark.  By that time, Monroe had run off 14 straight points to take a 30-22 lead with the Davis free throw cutting it to 30-23. 

A disasterous last minute for the Thunderbirds included a couple turnovers converted by Monroe for seven straight points.  Half-time score read 23-37, Monroe with the advantage.  The 21-1 run to end the first half would take its toll as UTTC would score only two free throws the entire second quarter.

"After a fairly strong first quarter, I felt like we relaxed and I'm not sure why.  It was disappointing for us all.  And once we went cold, we really went cold.  That was as poor of quarter as we've had all year," remarked Herbel.

The second half saw the teams trade baskets early, but most of Monroe's points tended to be easier to come by than UTTC's.  The meager 2 points scored by UTTC in the second quarter was outshined greatly by its 16 in the third.  The bad part was they gave up 28 third quarter points.  Monroe post player Shaniece Johnson dominated the inside and a rash of Thunderbird turnovers lead to lay-ups on the other end.  Briggs and Peltier helped keep the Thunderbirds effective in both the third and fourth quarters.  A 39-65 third quarter deficit for the Thunderbirds gave way to a final score of 54-77.

In the end, the #1 seed Monroe was physically overpowering.  Their size and athleticism caused the Thunderbirds to shoot an overall percentage of 32 percent, including 12.5% from behind the three-point arc.  

UTTC was lead by Briggs, who notched 23 points and 9 rebounds.  Peltier chipped in with 13 points.  Monroe was lead by Johnson with 21 points. 

Overall, a respectable effort.  Certainly things could have gone better, but the experience was one to learn from.  And the learning gets a chance to kick in with another game in the tournament after Wednesday's day off.  Herbel is looking forward to the chance.  "We know we can play better, now we'll have another chance to prove ourselves."

Next up for the Thunderbirds is the loser of the Kankakee CC and North Arkansas match-up.  That game will be on Thursday morning at 11:00 a.m.