Last five national champions meet tonight
By Barry Poe Journal sports writer | Posted: Thursday, December 28, 2006
The game won't count in the Great Plains Athletic Conference standings, but tonight's 7 o'clock contest at Allee Gym matches two teams that have won the last five NAIA Division II national women's basketball championships.
Ninth-ranked Morningside (10-3) plays host to No. 23 Hastings (11-4), the defending national champion. Hastings also won the 2002 and 2003 titles while Morningside claimed back-to-back crowns in 2004 and 2005.
It's a matchup of two young but talented squads. And, even though it's a non-conference contest, both coaches agree that it will pay dividends down the stretch.
"It's fun to play against them because you know they'll have a great team every year," said Morningside Coach Jamie Sale. "In our conference, you want to play good teams this time of year. Since it is mid-season, it will give us a chance to see what we need to work on the rest of the way."
"We could find other teams to play, but for a non-conference game this is about as tough as you can find," said Hastings Coach Tony Hobson. "Both of our programs are past the point where we schedule wins. You have to get ready for rest of the season and the post-season and you don't get ready by playing non-competitive games."
Not coincidentally, Hobson and Sale have won the last five NAIA Division II coach of the year awards.
Morningside, which hasn't played since Dec. 9, has been particularly dominant at home, winning 50 of its last 52 games at Allee. Interestingly, Hastings handed the Mustangs their only home loss in 15 games last season, prevailing 96-84 on Jan. 28.
"Since we're such a young team, not having played in so long kind of scares me," said Sale, whose team beat Concordia 83-74 on Dec. 9, then had a Dec. 20 game against Dakota State postponed because of bad weather. "This team needed to play more games, so hopefully it doesn't throw our rhythm off too much."
Hastings lost two starters -- Lynnze Martinsen, a first-team All-American, and Katie Dent, the captain of the national all-tournament team. The Broncos are also without their starting point guard, sophomore Sammy Zuehlke, who injured a knee in a national tournament semifinal last season and has played sparingly since.
The Broncos have won four in a row since an uncharacteristic hiccup saw them lose back-to-back conference games to Mount Marty (83-56) and Midland Lutheran (63-59). Hastings beat Newman University 79-66 in its last outing on Dec. 19, only its fourth home game of the season.
"We've been playing a little better, but we've just been on the road so long," said sixth-year coach Hobson, who has a 164-31 career mark at Hastings. "We've been playing with a lot more intensity, which we have to do to be effective."
The Broncos' top returning player from last season is Stacy Svoboda, a 5-11 senior forward who earned second-team All-GPAC honors. Svoboda is second on the team in scoring at 14 points a game and leads the Broncos in rebounding with 6.8 per contest. Kay Broekemeir, a 5-8 sophomore, is the team's leading scorer, averaging 15.7.
Hobson has used several different combinations and plans to start Svoboda and Brockmeier along with freshmen Lindsay Ducey (6-foot) and Rachel Isherwood (5-10), and either sophomore Sarah Cambridge (5-6) or sophomore Maggie Schmaderer (5-7). Schmaderer averaged 10 points in a starting role last season.
Morningside is still without the services of sophomore Autumn Bartel, who is recovering from a high ankle sprain suffered against Dakota Wesleyan on Dec. 6. Betsy Reynolds, a 5-9 senior from East High, will start in Bartel's place.
Alisha Willey, a 6-foot junior from West Harrison High School, poured in a career-high 26 points in the Mustangs' last game.
"Both Alisha and (freshman) Brittany Williamson have been playing well inside," said Sale. "That adds an extra dimension and hopefully will help our perimeter shooting as well."
Sophomore Dani Gass, another East High product, continues to lead M'side with 11.7 points and 7.4 rebounds. Freshman J.J. Hall scores 10.9 a game while Willey has raised her average to 9.2. Leslie Foral, a 5-11 freshman, completes the starting lineup.
Hastings beat Morningside twice last season, taking a 5-2 lead in the all-time series. The two teams played one of the greatest games in NAIA Division II history on Feb. 7, 2004, when Hastings won 105-98 in a national record four overtimes at Hastings.
The GPAC rivals have their only official league game on Jan. 27 at Hastings.
Ninth-ranked Morningside (10-3) plays host to No. 23 Hastings (11-4), the defending national champion. Hastings also won the 2002 and 2003 titles while Morningside claimed back-to-back crowns in 2004 and 2005.
It's a matchup of two young but talented squads. And, even though it's a non-conference contest, both coaches agree that it will pay dividends down the stretch.
"It's fun to play against them because you know they'll have a great team every year," said Morningside Coach Jamie Sale. "In our conference, you want to play good teams this time of year. Since it is mid-season, it will give us a chance to see what we need to work on the rest of the way."
"We could find other teams to play, but for a non-conference game this is about as tough as you can find," said Hastings Coach Tony Hobson. "Both of our programs are past the point where we schedule wins. You have to get ready for rest of the season and the post-season and you don't get ready by playing non-competitive games."
Not coincidentally, Hobson and Sale have won the last five NAIA Division II coach of the year awards.
Morningside, which hasn't played since Dec. 9, has been particularly dominant at home, winning 50 of its last 52 games at Allee. Interestingly, Hastings handed the Mustangs their only home loss in 15 games last season, prevailing 96-84 on Jan. 28.
"Since we're such a young team, not having played in so long kind of scares me," said Sale, whose team beat Concordia 83-74 on Dec. 9, then had a Dec. 20 game against Dakota State postponed because of bad weather. "This team needed to play more games, so hopefully it doesn't throw our rhythm off too much."
Hastings lost two starters -- Lynnze Martinsen, a first-team All-American, and Katie Dent, the captain of the national all-tournament team. The Broncos are also without their starting point guard, sophomore Sammy Zuehlke, who injured a knee in a national tournament semifinal last season and has played sparingly since.
The Broncos have won four in a row since an uncharacteristic hiccup saw them lose back-to-back conference games to Mount Marty (83-56) and Midland Lutheran (63-59). Hastings beat Newman University 79-66 in its last outing on Dec. 19, only its fourth home game of the season.
"We've been playing a little better, but we've just been on the road so long," said sixth-year coach Hobson, who has a 164-31 career mark at Hastings. "We've been playing with a lot more intensity, which we have to do to be effective."
The Broncos' top returning player from last season is Stacy Svoboda, a 5-11 senior forward who earned second-team All-GPAC honors. Svoboda is second on the team in scoring at 14 points a game and leads the Broncos in rebounding with 6.8 per contest. Kay Broekemeir, a 5-8 sophomore, is the team's leading scorer, averaging 15.7.
Hobson has used several different combinations and plans to start Svoboda and Brockmeier along with freshmen Lindsay Ducey (6-foot) and Rachel Isherwood (5-10), and either sophomore Sarah Cambridge (5-6) or sophomore Maggie Schmaderer (5-7). Schmaderer averaged 10 points in a starting role last season.
Morningside is still without the services of sophomore Autumn Bartel, who is recovering from a high ankle sprain suffered against Dakota Wesleyan on Dec. 6. Betsy Reynolds, a 5-9 senior from East High, will start in Bartel's place.
Alisha Willey, a 6-foot junior from West Harrison High School, poured in a career-high 26 points in the Mustangs' last game.
"Both Alisha and (freshman) Brittany Williamson have been playing well inside," said Sale. "That adds an extra dimension and hopefully will help our perimeter shooting as well."
Sophomore Dani Gass, another East High product, continues to lead M'side with 11.7 points and 7.4 rebounds. Freshman J.J. Hall scores 10.9 a game while Willey has raised her average to 9.2. Leslie Foral, a 5-11 freshman, completes the starting lineup.
Hastings beat Morningside twice last season, taking a 5-2 lead in the all-time series. The two teams played one of the greatest games in NAIA Division II history on Feb. 7, 2004, when Hastings won 105-98 in a national record four overtimes at Hastings.
The GPAC rivals have their only official league game on Jan. 27 at Hastings.
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