Women's milestone
Posted: Sun Jan 11, 2009 3:18 amI found this article on Yahoo, and thought I'd share it. 12 years ago the Lady Mustangs beat TCU in a Quadruple Overtime game, 127-125, that set several NCAA records, including the most total points in a D1 womens game. A new record was set recently in another 4OT game, when Abilene Cooper beat TWU 147-143. The irony is that ACU is coached by Shawna Ford Lavender, who lead all scorers with 42 points in SMU's win over TCU, back in January of 1997. Here's the article.
Less than 24 hours after scoring a school-record 49 points in a 147-143 victory over Texas Woman's University in four overtimes, Jamie Meyer was back on the Moody Coliseum court practicing her shot. The Abilene Christian University women's basketball team had the day off Tuesday, but the junior forward couldn't stay away.
"I was pretty tired last night," she said. "But I didn't want to take a day off."
Actually, there were times Monday night when Meyer and her teammates thought they might be playing all night.
"I was thinking it was never going to end," she said. "It was kind of crazy. It was really fun."
And tiring. A regulation game lasts 40 minutes. Monday's game took 60 minutes. ACU junior guard Kat Kundmueller played all 60 minutes, and senior forward Kristee Davidson played 54. Meyer played 49 minutes.
Meyer said the team was starting to wear down by the third overtime.
"We didn't want to play more overtimes," she said. "We wanted to end it. We were mostly running on adrenaline by that time."
That's why ACU coach Shawna Lavender rallied the troops, after Jessica Hanna hit a jumper at the buzzer to send the game into a fourth overtime.
"I said, 'You don't go into four overtimes and lose a game.'" Lavender said. "'If you get to the fourth overtime, then you win this game.'"
Lavender should know. She scored 42 points to spark Southern Methodist University over Texas Christian University 127-125 in four overtimes on Jan. 25, 1997. That's still an NCAA Division I record for the most points (252) scored by both teams in a game, although Monday's game was an NCAA record regardless of divisions.
The previous record was 261, set by St. Joseph's (Ind.) and Northern Kentucky in 1988. TWU's 143 points also broke the NCAA record for most by a losing team. The 112 points the teams scored in overtime also was an NCAA record as was ACU's 58 points in overtime.
The sixth-year ACU coach didn't start to think about another historic four overtime game until the end of the second overtime.
"I thought, 'Surely this will not go four overtimes like it did when I was playing.'" she said. "Then I started thinking about it. Then in the fourth overtime, I had the same feeling when I was playing in the fourth overtime. It was kind of like, 'Is this the fourth overtime, fifth overtime?' I kind of lost track there a little bit. I think the official even asked at one point, 'Is this four of five?' I was like, 'I think it's four, but I'm not real sure at this point.'"
It took quite an effort to get the game into overtime. ACU trailed by 14 late in the first half, but the Wildcats went on a 23-2 run to take a seven-point lead with 12:59 left in regulation. They led by as much as nine, before TWU (7-4) came back to tie the game at 89 and send into overtime.
Lavender said her SMU team was down 20 in its game with TCU before sending it into overtime.
"That's what we talked about when I was playing," Lavender said. "You don't work this hard to get yourself back into it and lose. Going to four overtimes, you better win that game. You sure don't want to come out of it losing, because that's got to be frustrating. I felt for TWU last night, because I know it had to be frustrating to lose a game like that. Both teams played so hard."
Talk about frustrating. TWU's Renee Renz scored a Lone Star Conference record 63 points in the loss. It's the third most points ever scored in an NCAA Division II game, and her team still lost.
In fact, it was the second straight outing ACU has allowed an opposing player to break the LSC individual game scoring record. Texas A&M-Commerce's Britney Jordan scored a record 53 points against ACU on Saturday, but the Wildcats won that game, too, 104-95.
"What are the odds you give up the scoring record two games in a row, but win both of those games?" Lavender asked. "That's one of the things we talked about as coaches last night. We can't afford to keep giving up 100 points a game and think we're going to be able to win. We have too many good teams in our conference.
"Hopefully, it's just been the nature of the two games we've played. Both teams had high-powered scoring offenses. Hopefully, we can put the screws down again and play a little bit better defense. I think we were third in the conference defensively, but I think in the last two games we've probably gone toward the bottom of the conference. But on the flip side, our offense has probably gone toward the top instead of bottom like it was. We've got to find a balance there some place."
It's been a strange season for ACU athletics. The football team set the NCAA record for most combined points in a game in a 93-68 victory over West Texas A&M in the second round of the Division II playoffs in November. Does anybody play defense at ACU?
And that's the irony of the last two games. ACU (8-4) hasn't been a scoring machine this season. Far from it. The Wildcats were averaging 62.6 points per game going into Saturday's game, while giving up 61.3 per game.
"We've really struggled from the floor off and on this season," Lavender said. "We've had halves where we've scored 18 points in the half and still managed to win the game, mainly because of our defense. So the last couple of games have been a little bit different for us, because we're scoring a lot of points and giving up a lot of points. But I guess as long as we're outscoring them, it's a good thing. Hopefully, we'll get back more defensive minded and not give up as many points. I'll take scoring 70 points and giving up 60, instead of having to score over a hundred to win a game."
Lavender hopes Monday's game made quite an impression on her team.
"I think the biggest thing I hope our girls took away from this is that it was a total gut check for us last night," she said. "I felt like mentally they really stayed in the game. They made the plays down the stretch they needed to make, when they could have made some mental mistakes.
"We talked a lot with our team this year about the mental part of the game. It's not just all physical. You've got to be mentally in the game for 40 minutes, normally. In this case, 60 minutes. If they can stay in that game mentally, then there won't be many games they can't mentally stay in. Hopefully, they really grow from this and learn that when it comes to down it that was a mental victory. At the end of the game, everybody was physically spent, but mentally our girls found a way to win it."
Less than 24 hours after scoring a school-record 49 points in a 147-143 victory over Texas Woman's University in four overtimes, Jamie Meyer was back on the Moody Coliseum court practicing her shot. The Abilene Christian University women's basketball team had the day off Tuesday, but the junior forward couldn't stay away.
"I was pretty tired last night," she said. "But I didn't want to take a day off."
Actually, there were times Monday night when Meyer and her teammates thought they might be playing all night.
"I was thinking it was never going to end," she said. "It was kind of crazy. It was really fun."
And tiring. A regulation game lasts 40 minutes. Monday's game took 60 minutes. ACU junior guard Kat Kundmueller played all 60 minutes, and senior forward Kristee Davidson played 54. Meyer played 49 minutes.
Meyer said the team was starting to wear down by the third overtime.
"We didn't want to play more overtimes," she said. "We wanted to end it. We were mostly running on adrenaline by that time."
That's why ACU coach Shawna Lavender rallied the troops, after Jessica Hanna hit a jumper at the buzzer to send the game into a fourth overtime.
"I said, 'You don't go into four overtimes and lose a game.'" Lavender said. "'If you get to the fourth overtime, then you win this game.'"
Lavender should know. She scored 42 points to spark Southern Methodist University over Texas Christian University 127-125 in four overtimes on Jan. 25, 1997. That's still an NCAA Division I record for the most points (252) scored by both teams in a game, although Monday's game was an NCAA record regardless of divisions.
The previous record was 261, set by St. Joseph's (Ind.) and Northern Kentucky in 1988. TWU's 143 points also broke the NCAA record for most by a losing team. The 112 points the teams scored in overtime also was an NCAA record as was ACU's 58 points in overtime.
The sixth-year ACU coach didn't start to think about another historic four overtime game until the end of the second overtime.
"I thought, 'Surely this will not go four overtimes like it did when I was playing.'" she said. "Then I started thinking about it. Then in the fourth overtime, I had the same feeling when I was playing in the fourth overtime. It was kind of like, 'Is this the fourth overtime, fifth overtime?' I kind of lost track there a little bit. I think the official even asked at one point, 'Is this four of five?' I was like, 'I think it's four, but I'm not real sure at this point.'"
It took quite an effort to get the game into overtime. ACU trailed by 14 late in the first half, but the Wildcats went on a 23-2 run to take a seven-point lead with 12:59 left in regulation. They led by as much as nine, before TWU (7-4) came back to tie the game at 89 and send into overtime.
Lavender said her SMU team was down 20 in its game with TCU before sending it into overtime.
"That's what we talked about when I was playing," Lavender said. "You don't work this hard to get yourself back into it and lose. Going to four overtimes, you better win that game. You sure don't want to come out of it losing, because that's got to be frustrating. I felt for TWU last night, because I know it had to be frustrating to lose a game like that. Both teams played so hard."
Talk about frustrating. TWU's Renee Renz scored a Lone Star Conference record 63 points in the loss. It's the third most points ever scored in an NCAA Division II game, and her team still lost.
In fact, it was the second straight outing ACU has allowed an opposing player to break the LSC individual game scoring record. Texas A&M-Commerce's Britney Jordan scored a record 53 points against ACU on Saturday, but the Wildcats won that game, too, 104-95.
"What are the odds you give up the scoring record two games in a row, but win both of those games?" Lavender asked. "That's one of the things we talked about as coaches last night. We can't afford to keep giving up 100 points a game and think we're going to be able to win. We have too many good teams in our conference.
"Hopefully, it's just been the nature of the two games we've played. Both teams had high-powered scoring offenses. Hopefully, we can put the screws down again and play a little bit better defense. I think we were third in the conference defensively, but I think in the last two games we've probably gone toward the bottom of the conference. But on the flip side, our offense has probably gone toward the top instead of bottom like it was. We've got to find a balance there some place."
It's been a strange season for ACU athletics. The football team set the NCAA record for most combined points in a game in a 93-68 victory over West Texas A&M in the second round of the Division II playoffs in November. Does anybody play defense at ACU?
And that's the irony of the last two games. ACU (8-4) hasn't been a scoring machine this season. Far from it. The Wildcats were averaging 62.6 points per game going into Saturday's game, while giving up 61.3 per game.
"We've really struggled from the floor off and on this season," Lavender said. "We've had halves where we've scored 18 points in the half and still managed to win the game, mainly because of our defense. So the last couple of games have been a little bit different for us, because we're scoring a lot of points and giving up a lot of points. But I guess as long as we're outscoring them, it's a good thing. Hopefully, we'll get back more defensive minded and not give up as many points. I'll take scoring 70 points and giving up 60, instead of having to score over a hundred to win a game."
Lavender hopes Monday's game made quite an impression on her team.
"I think the biggest thing I hope our girls took away from this is that it was a total gut check for us last night," she said. "I felt like mentally they really stayed in the game. They made the plays down the stretch they needed to make, when they could have made some mental mistakes.
"We talked a lot with our team this year about the mental part of the game. It's not just all physical. You've got to be mentally in the game for 40 minutes, normally. In this case, 60 minutes. If they can stay in that game mentally, then there won't be many games they can't mentally stay in. Hopefully, they really grow from this and learn that when it comes to down it that was a mental victory. At the end of the game, everybody was physically spent, but mentally our girls found a way to win it."