Where are the Rhonda Haters Now?

[couch 'em]

Third-place SMU women win third straight

12:47 AM CST on Saturday, January 21, 2006

By CALVIN WATKINS / The Dallas Morning News

UNIVERSITY PARK – SMU earned its biggest win of the season on Friday night.

The Mustangs remained close to the leaders in Conference USA with a 66-53 win over Houston in front of 1,364 fans at Moody Coliseum.

SMU's victory knocked Houston out of a first-place tie in the conference and kept the Mustangs in a three-way tie for third place.

For most of the season, SMU women's coach Rhonda Rompola said she was looking for a surge from a team that started the season 3-7. Now, she's starting to see it. The Mustangs have won three consecutive games.

On Sunday, SMU hosts Rice (ESPN2). Should the Mustangs win, they could take sole possession of second or third place.

"Our nonconference schedule is paying off," Rompola said. "When you play the schedule we've played, it prepares you for teams like Houston and Rice."

The Mustangs (9-9, 4-2) won this game despite going scoreless for a seven-minute stretch of the second half and making just two field goals in the final 14:51 of the game.

During that time, Houston employed a trapping defense and went on several runs, the last of which cut a 17-point deficit to 57-50 with 3:55 remaining.

But the Mustangs held on in going 9-of-13 from the foul line to end the game.

Forward Janielle Dodds led the way for SMU with a game-high 20 points and 10 rebounds, her seventh double-double of the season.

SMU had a season-high 49 rebounds, led by Sarah Davis' season-high 13.

Houston (7-9, 4-1) was led by Tye Jackson's 15 points, but she took 26 shots in doing so.

[mustangbill67]

I don't think that many of us who expressed concern about what was going on with the team are Rhonda haters. At the beginning of the season, she gave us reasons to have high expectations. This team has struggled at times and I don't believe it was always simply a talent issue. In any event, hopefully this current winning surge will continue and we end up either at the dance or at least the WNIT.