Early result:  George Mason 61, St Bonaventure 50.

Visiting Patriots break 5 game losing streak to finish 3 - 12, 9-18,  Led by Taylor Jameson with 20 points.
Bonnies finish 4 - 12, 12 - 15.  Have 6 game losing streak heading into GW match-up in Wilmington.  Asiane Johnson had 23 points.  According to announcers, Bonnies 6 year coach hasn't won a tournament game yet.

First  Round scores
GW 54, St Bonaventure 49.  Game covered in other posts, but I'd note, as others have, a good start and gritty, clutch finish to overcome 18 -0 Bonnies run.  Nice win for the players not coming back, and a good building block/experience for next year.

Bonnies finished 12 - 16 with 7 losses in a row, putting a damper on a good start to their season.  Last tournament win was in 2014.  Jesse Fleming is in his 6th year as coach.  I don't know his overall record but I believe I read somewhere that 12 wins was a high water mark for him.  He has Olean ties as a student and assistant coach.  Could he be the one coach who is in danger of being fired?

George Mason 65, St Louis 50.  Game was tied at the half.  Patriots are 10 - 18.   Billikens finish 9 - 18.   The other first year coach gets a tourney win today also.

Career high of 24 points from Tamia Lawhorne.  Jaxxmyn Doster has 14 and Amaya Scott scored 11.  Mason plays Fordham at 7:30 tomorrow for right to advance to play UMass.

St Louis was lead by Juia Martinez with 16 points and 14 boards.  Ciara Harbison (2nd team, All Conference) , in her last game,  had 12 points.  Brooke Flowers was 6/11 with a career high 8 blocks.  Flowers was Defensive Player of the Year in the A10, as well as 3rd team All Conference.  Lisa Stone has been a successful coach for years for St Louis and team had Covid and injury issues.  I doubt if her job is at risk.
 

Last edited by WMC (3/02/2022 8:14 pm)

Quarterfinals
#1 Dayton 60, #9 Davidson 55.  In OT.  Flyers 24-4.  Wildcats 16-14.

#4 VCU 55, GW 47.  Rams are 15 - 10, now have better shot for WNIT bid if they don't win tourney.  GW 13 - 18.
                                 

#7 St Joes 51, #2 URI 48.  Hawks 13 - 16.  Rams 22 - 6.  Biggest upset of tourney.  Hurts URI chances of NCAA bid.
                                                                                                                                

#3 UMass 66, # 6 Fordham 63.   Barnburner with a finish eerily similar to 4th quarter at Amherst when Fordham made a lot of 3s in first 3 periods but went 2 - 21 overall in final period.  This time it was Downey who was hot early, when she wasn't delivering a forearm shiver to Breen's back.  No bench points from either team.  (Same with URI.)

UMass outscored Fordham by 10 in second half.  Fordham shot 4 - 21 in the fourth. 2 of its last 12.
Conference Player of the Year Sam Breen had 2 points and 3 rebounds at the half and 6 points after 3.  She shot
5 - 6 from the field in the 4th, on short and med range jumpers, and finished with 12 points, and 2 rebounds, in the period.  Final stat line was 18/6, 7-11 from the field, missing her only 3 point shot which was a desperation heave at the buzzer of the 3rd.  Little Destiny Philoxy led UMass with 7 rebounds.  
The importance of free throws.  UMass shot 14 - 17, 5- 6 at the end of the game, its final points,  2 of 2 each for Breen and Wilmington's own Mayo.

Dayton - VCU at 11 am tomorrow on CBSSN.  UMass- St Joes at 1:30.  No guarantees this tourney, but if Minutewomen win Saturday, their chance to make the NCAA goes up a lot.  Screw Charlie Creme.
                            

Last edited by WMC (3/04/2022 10:14 pm)

Championship:  UMass 62, Dayton 56.  Minutewomen 26 -6.  Flyers 25 - 5.  They deserve a bid.

UMass got off to a fast start with Breen leading the offense with 17 in first half.  Dayton was out of sorts, helped by UMass defense.  UMass won 3rd quarter by a point.  Dayton's zone bothered them in the 4th but Flyers couldn't get a good run going to close the gap.  First trip to NCAA for UMass this century,
Breen only had 2 points in second half but others picked up the slack.  Breen finished 19 points/ 9 tough rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals.  Taylor was 10/3/3 assists and played an excellent floor game,  Mayo had 14 including 4 FTs late to seal the deal.  Bigs combined for 19/9.  Ngalakulondi improved for yesterday's 2 - 7 to go 3-4, 3-3 FTs,9/4.  Makenna White continued from where she let off in the second half yesterday, with 10 points (5-8,) 5 boards. (Only thing she did wrong was not tell the announcer how to pronounce her first name.)  Philoxy had 0 points, 3 boards and 3 assists, hampered by foul trouble from a couple of bogus calls.  Dropping your shoulder and running into your defender is a charge, not a blocking foul.  Still Philoxy is the heart and soul of the team.
Dayton shot about 38%, Cook 13, Whalen 10 and Giacone 9.  *CORRECTION Cook had 15.  Whalen 13.*
Breen was Most Outstanding Player of tourney.  Joining her on all tourney team were teammate Taylor, Makira Cook of Dayton, Taya Robinson of VCU and Laila Fair of St Joe's.
I might do a Bracketology thread in next couple of days, like in the men's section, just to dump on Charlie Creme and his love for 17 - 13 Florida State.  It looked like Lunardi was moving A10 men's teams to the "out" boxes.
And in other games, South Carolina missed 2 foul shots in last few seconds and then Kentucky hit a 3 pointer to win the game.  Shouldn't affect the Gamecocks seeding.  I had written off Wildcats when they were 8 - 7.  I still remember one of the first women's games I saw at GW was when Kentucky visited.  Must have been over 25 years ago.  GW won.  
And Iowa won the Big Ten title by beating Indiana for the third time in the last few weeks.  (Hope I got that right.)
----------------------------
One more A10  broadcast quibble.   The announcers were good but at first I thought they were challenged  in their "maths. "  However I believe the score on the screen was off by 2, well into the 3rd quarter.  Plus they were given two different scoresheets with different player foul totals.  Both are inexcusable.  

Last edited by WMC (3/07/2022 7:30 am)

BC, I agree completely.  70% should be the minimum a coach would want, and aim for 75-80.
UMass improved its foul shooting in the second half of the season to .671, with opponents just .655.  Top 3 scorers were all over 70%.  In championship game, Minutewomen for 9 - 13, just shy of 70%.  Flyers were better at 11 - 14, but almost a wash for point totals.  Ngalakulondi shots 62%, but was a key 3 - 3 on Sunday.  Mayo is under 60% for the season, but made the clutch 4 in a row at the end of the game.  Actually, UMass was 9 - 11 until a battered Philoxy missed 2 with a couple of seconds left.  She shoots about 70%
Kentucky was 9 - 13 in their championship games while South Carolina was 12 - 20.  If they shot 75%, they win.
GW really needs to improve next year.
------
In Bracketology, Creme now has Dayton as last team in, with BC and Northwestern (and maybe UCLA) on the outside.  Florida State still second to last in.  And their seasons are all over.  I believe Creme is wrong in his assessment and prediction, but Dayton is in a precarious spot.  If they get in, Flyers could host a play-in game, whatever they're calling it this year.