2008 Woodie Awards
Rock falls short in upset bid against fifth-ranked IUP
By Josh Rizzo
Rocket Contributor
Issue date: 1/25/08 Section: Sports
As the Slippery Rock women's basketball (7-11, 1-2) team has found out this season, winning on the road is no easy task.
Heading into Wednesday night's contest with Indiana University of Pennsylvania (17-1, 2-0), the Green & White was 1-5 away from home. On top of that, entering the game, the Crimson Hawks were ranked No. 5 nationally and had yet to lose at home. And to make things worse, the Rock had to go at the swarming IUP trap defense with no "natural" point guard in the lineup.
Despite all that, the Rock was able to stay with the heavily favored Crimson Hawks until the very end, and in doing so may have stumbled onto something or someone special.
Rock junior guard Amanda Nero, who came into the game averaging just more than 11 points per game, nearly tripled that Wednesday night. Nero poured in a career-high 30 points while also pulling down seven rebounds and dishing out five assists.
"Amanda played an amazing game," said senior KellyAnn Staudinger. "It was the best game I have seen her play and we hope it is a sign of things to come for her."
In order to try to prepare her team for the pressure, Coach Laurel Heilman tried a few different strategies in practice.
"This week I had eight people on the court playing defense at all times," Heilman said. "We had two or three people trapping...our players need to have composure and find the open shooters."
If the intense defensive pressure didn't put enough pressure on the Rock, it also had to deal with defending junior Jahzinga Tracey. Tracey, a key component of the IUP defense, was averaging 18.4 points per game coming in as well.
But the Rock women weren't intimidated by the challenge presented to them.
"I wouldn't say there is a much of an intimidation factor in playing IUP," Staudinger said. "We managed to beat them once last season and we saw this game as more of a challenge than anything else."
All of the practice and preparation helped the Rock stay point for point with IUP in the first 20 minutes. At the half, the Rock and IUP were tied at 40.
Heading into Wednesday night's contest with Indiana University of Pennsylvania (17-1, 2-0), the Green & White was 1-5 away from home. On top of that, entering the game, the Crimson Hawks were ranked No. 5 nationally and had yet to lose at home. And to make things worse, the Rock had to go at the swarming IUP trap defense with no "natural" point guard in the lineup.
Despite all that, the Rock was able to stay with the heavily favored Crimson Hawks until the very end, and in doing so may have stumbled onto something or someone special.
Rock junior guard Amanda Nero, who came into the game averaging just more than 11 points per game, nearly tripled that Wednesday night. Nero poured in a career-high 30 points while also pulling down seven rebounds and dishing out five assists.
"Amanda played an amazing game," said senior KellyAnn Staudinger. "It was the best game I have seen her play and we hope it is a sign of things to come for her."
In order to try to prepare her team for the pressure, Coach Laurel Heilman tried a few different strategies in practice.
"This week I had eight people on the court playing defense at all times," Heilman said. "We had two or three people trapping...our players need to have composure and find the open shooters."
If the intense defensive pressure didn't put enough pressure on the Rock, it also had to deal with defending junior Jahzinga Tracey. Tracey, a key component of the IUP defense, was averaging 18.4 points per game coming in as well.
But the Rock women weren't intimidated by the challenge presented to them.
"I wouldn't say there is a much of an intimidation factor in playing IUP," Staudinger said. "We managed to beat them once last season and we saw this game as more of a challenge than anything else."
All of the practice and preparation helped the Rock stay point for point with IUP in the first 20 minutes. At the half, the Rock and IUP were tied at 40.
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