Spring Break
Column: What went wrong in Nashville?
Collin Whitchurch / Assistant Sports Editor
Issue date: 3/9/09 Section: OVC Tournament Guide
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - It shouldn't have ended this way.
The storybook season of the Eastern women's basketball team was supposed to culminate in an Ohio Valley Conference Tournament Championship. It was supposed to end with jubilation, joy and excitement.
It wasn't supposed to end in heartache.
But that's what was seen on the faces of the Eastern players, coaches, parents and fans after the clock struck zero on the Panthers' season.
There were slumped shoulders. There were looks of disbelief. There were tears.
How did this happen? How did an Austin Peay squad that was clearly overmatched in both of the teams' regular season meetings come out victorious?
A number of factors played out in the defeat, but one glooming number hovered over each of the others.
Twenty-five.
A season-high in turnovers killed the Panthers Saturday afternoon, and that story was really nothing new.
Eastern dealt with turnovers all season long. The Panthers averaged 17.6 per game, but that number jumped to 19 in their losses, including 19 or more turnovers in six of their nine losses.
The biggest play of the game came in the first overtime. The Panthers had a four-point lead with a little more than a minute to play when Austin Peay sophomore guard Ashley Herring cut the lead to two with a jumper.
On the next possession, Eastern senior guard Megan Edwards was stripped of the ball by Lady Govs' freshman guard Emily Pollock - one of her five thefts of the game - leading to an uncontested layup that tied the game.
If the Panthers held on to that ball with a minute remaining and got either a basket or a trip to the free throw line, they could have extended the lead to at least four, giving them command with little time remaining.
The free throw discrepancy can be looked at as another factor in the loss, but the referees can't be blamed for that. Sure, The Lady Govs took 18 more free throws than the Panthers, but 22 of Austin Peay's 32 free throw attempts came either at the end of regulation or at the end of the second overtime, and in both instances Eastern was intentionally fouling to try to claw their way back into the game.
Eastern head coach Brady Sallee saw those two factors - turnovers and free throws - as the reason the Panthers faltered. He said he didn't think he used his bench the way he should have in overtime.
Sallee played his starting five throughout the entire end of regulation, all five minutes of overtime, and the entire second overtime up until senior guard Ellen Canale fouled out with 1:05 remaining and the game out of reach. But that should not be second-guessed. Those five got Eastern to that point and Sallee had faith in them to bring home a title. Still, Edwards played a career-high 48 minutes and all five starters played at least 40 minutes in the game. Exhaustion had to have set in by the end of the second overtime.
That's not an excuse, though, because the Lady Govs also had four starters play 40-plus minutes, including junior guard Brooke Faulkner, who didn't come out of the game once, playing the entire 50 minutes.
It's easy to second-guess. It's easy to wonder what went wrong and to think about what could have been, but the fact remains that Eastern was flat-out outplayed by an inferior team Saturday afternoon. No excuses can be made and no questioning can be done.
All that's left to do is to look back at a successful - regardless of how it ended - season, and get ready for another grueling season eight months from now.
Collin Whitchurch can be reached at 581-7944 or cfwhitchurch@eiu.edu.
The storybook season of the Eastern women's basketball team was supposed to culminate in an Ohio Valley Conference Tournament Championship. It was supposed to end with jubilation, joy and excitement.
It wasn't supposed to end in heartache.
But that's what was seen on the faces of the Eastern players, coaches, parents and fans after the clock struck zero on the Panthers' season.
There were slumped shoulders. There were looks of disbelief. There were tears.
How did this happen? How did an Austin Peay squad that was clearly overmatched in both of the teams' regular season meetings come out victorious?
A number of factors played out in the defeat, but one glooming number hovered over each of the others.
Twenty-five.
A season-high in turnovers killed the Panthers Saturday afternoon, and that story was really nothing new.
Eastern dealt with turnovers all season long. The Panthers averaged 17.6 per game, but that number jumped to 19 in their losses, including 19 or more turnovers in six of their nine losses.
The biggest play of the game came in the first overtime. The Panthers had a four-point lead with a little more than a minute to play when Austin Peay sophomore guard Ashley Herring cut the lead to two with a jumper.
On the next possession, Eastern senior guard Megan Edwards was stripped of the ball by Lady Govs' freshman guard Emily Pollock - one of her five thefts of the game - leading to an uncontested layup that tied the game.
If the Panthers held on to that ball with a minute remaining and got either a basket or a trip to the free throw line, they could have extended the lead to at least four, giving them command with little time remaining.
The free throw discrepancy can be looked at as another factor in the loss, but the referees can't be blamed for that. Sure, The Lady Govs took 18 more free throws than the Panthers, but 22 of Austin Peay's 32 free throw attempts came either at the end of regulation or at the end of the second overtime, and in both instances Eastern was intentionally fouling to try to claw their way back into the game.
Eastern head coach Brady Sallee saw those two factors - turnovers and free throws - as the reason the Panthers faltered. He said he didn't think he used his bench the way he should have in overtime.
Sallee played his starting five throughout the entire end of regulation, all five minutes of overtime, and the entire second overtime up until senior guard Ellen Canale fouled out with 1:05 remaining and the game out of reach. But that should not be second-guessed. Those five got Eastern to that point and Sallee had faith in them to bring home a title. Still, Edwards played a career-high 48 minutes and all five starters played at least 40 minutes in the game. Exhaustion had to have set in by the end of the second overtime.
That's not an excuse, though, because the Lady Govs also had four starters play 40-plus minutes, including junior guard Brooke Faulkner, who didn't come out of the game once, playing the entire 50 minutes.
It's easy to second-guess. It's easy to wonder what went wrong and to think about what could have been, but the fact remains that Eastern was flat-out outplayed by an inferior team Saturday afternoon. No excuses can be made and no questioning can be done.
All that's left to do is to look back at a successful - regardless of how it ended - season, and get ready for another grueling season eight months from now.
Collin Whitchurch can be reached at 581-7944 or cfwhitchurch@eiu.edu.
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