Women’s Basketball Hands Out Season Awards

By Robby Gillespie
rgillespie@smu.edu

After leading the Mustangs to their third straight 20-win season, Rhonda Rompola presented the women’s basketball 2009-2010 season awards Monday.

Senior Alice Severin won the “Defense” and “Mustang” awards. She was an Academic All-Conference award winner after averaging 6.1 points, five rebounds, and 1.2 blocks per game.

Brittany Gilliam, who recently signed a training camp contract with the Tulsa Shock, won the team’s “Offense” award. Gilliam averaged 14.7 points, 5 assists, 6.3 rebounds, and 2.1 steals per game in 2009-2010. She also earned a first-team All C-USA honor.

Rompola awarded junior Haley Day the “Hustle” award. Day will be an instrumental part of next year’s team as she will be the only starting senior. She scored 9.6 points per game and averaged 6.5 rebounds.

The only underclassman to win an award was sophomore Christine Elliott who earned the “Rebounding” award after pulling down over eight rebounds per game while averaging eleven points per game.

SMU Women Fall In First Round of WNIT

By Robby Gillespie
rgillespie@smu.edu

The SMU women’s basketball team lost their second consecutive postseason game, 66-51, Wednesday to New Mexico in the first round of the WNIT in Albuquerque, NM, after shooting 28 percent from the field.

The Mustangs trailed by only five at halftime but were outscored 34-24 in the second half.

New Mexico (19-12, 9-7 Mountain West) finished sixth in their final conference standings, while SMU finished third in the C-USA final regular season standings.

After receiving a bye in the first round of the C-USA tournament, SMU (20-11, 10-6 C-USA) lost to UAB in the semi-finals, 64-55. The Mustangs were riding a four game win streak to finish the regular season with 20 wins for the third consecutive year, but that winning play discontinued in their next two games.

The loss marks the final game for SMU’s senior leader Brittany Gilliam, who led the Mustangs in scoring with 14.7 points per game. She scored 14 in the loss to New Mexico.

Sophomore Christine Elliot, who sat the last regular season game with an injury, earned her sixth double-double of the season with eleven points and eleven rebounds. Haley Day added 12 points and Jillian Samuels scored eleven.

The Lobos shot over 48 percent in the second half to secure the win as the Mustangs only made 35 percent of their shots in the second period. New Mexico used its hot shooting to open up a ten point lead in the first three minutes of the second half. SMU shot a near season low 28 percent for the game.

The Mustangs, who often rely on their three point shooting, finished a season worst 0-17 from behind the arc. New Mexico was knocked down eight of its 17 three-point attempts.

Dribbler’s Diary: We Are The Champions

Posted by Brittany Gilliam

Conference play is officially over and we, the Lady Mustangs, are standing at the top of the C-USA standings. The last two games were crucial for us because if we dropped either of those games, we could have ended up falling as low as the fifth or sixth spot. Well, don’t worry. We took care of business, even with our second leading scorer — and second team all-conference player — Delisha Wills out with a foot injury.

The Tulane game was frustrating for me. Foul trouble kept me on the bench. But my teammates Haley Day and Christine Elliott both put up career numbers. Then we turned to face No. 1 UTEP and last year’s MVP, Jareica Hughes. This was no easy task, but we defeated the Miners to seal the deal as co-conference champs.

Just minutes before being introduced as champs in front of the crowd at the men’s basketball game, we watched Southern Miss lose to Memphis and cheered in our locker room to solemnly claim the title. This gave us the No. 1 seed at this week’s conference tournament in New Orleans.

We were well represented on the C-USA All-Conference Teams. I landed a spot on the all-defensive team and was second team all-conference. Christine Elliott made the all-freshman team.

We are anxious to get to New Orleans and hope to put together another tournament championship run that will lead us to the big dance — the NCAA Tournament.

Three Mustangs Recognized by C-USA

Three stars of the SMU Women’s Basketball team have been recognized by Conference USA.

Juniors Brittany Gilliam and Delisha Wills have been named to the 2009 All-Conference USA Women’s Basketball Second Team.

Gilliam was also named to the C-USA All-Defense Team.

Freshman Christine Elliott was named to the C-USA All-Freshman Team.

2009 ALL-CONFERENCE USA WOMEN’S BASKETBALL TEAMS
First Team
LaCoya Terry, East Carolina, G, 5-10, Sr., Hephzibah, Ga.,
Courtney Taylor, Houston, G/F, 6-0, Soph., Crockett, Texas
Pauline Love, Southern Miss, F, 6-0, Jr., Luxora, Ark./Jones Co. JC
Emma Cannon, UCF, F, 6-2, Soph., Rochester, N.Y./School of the Arts Prep
Jareica Hughes, UTEP, G, 5-3, Jr., Southfield, Mich.

Second Team
Paris Leonard, Memphis, G, 5-8, Sr., Memphis, Tenn.
Brittany Gilliam, SMU, F, 5-11, Jr., Tyler, Texas
Delisha Wills, SMU, F, 5-10, Jr., Mesquite, Texas
Larrissa Williams, Tulsa, F/C, 6-3, Jr., Little Rock, Ark.
Britney Jones, UAB, G, 5-7, Sr., Chicago, Ill.

Third Team
Jasmine Young, East Carolina, G, 5-5, Sr., Richmond, Va.
Tynikki Crook, Marshall, F, 6-1, Soph., Detroit, Mich.
Stephanie Helgeson, Southern Miss, C, 6-4, Jr., River Ridge, La./Purdue
Ashley Langford, Tulane, G, 5-5, Sr., Harrisburg, Pa.
Chelsie Wiley, UCF, G, 5-7, Soph., Riviera Beach, Fla.

ALL-FRESHMAN TEAM
Jean Best, East Carolina, C, 6-5, Wilson, N.C.
D’Frantz Smart, Rice, G, 5-0, Chicago, Ill.
Christine Elliott, SMU, P, 6-3, Wichita, Kan.
Brett Benzio, Tulane, F, 6-3, Jensen Beach, Fla.
Dietra Caldwell, UTEP, G, 5-8, Missouri City, Texas

ALL-DEFENSIVE TEAM
Jasmine Young, East Carolina, G, 5-5, Sr., Richmond, Va.
Courtney Taylor, Houston, G/F, 6-0, Soph., Crockett, Texas
Brittany Gilliam, SMU, F, 5-11, Jr., Tyler, Texas
Larrissa Williams, Tulsa, F/C, 6-3, Jr., Little Rock, Ark.
Jareica Hughes, UTEP, G, 5-3, Jr., Southfield, Mich.

Information compiled by Alan H. Rose.

Mustangs Are Conference Champions

By Robby Gillespie
rgillespie@smu.edu

The SMU women’s basketball team beat UTEP, 78-65, in its season finale Saturday to win the C-USA regular season championship.

The Mustangs (19-10, 12-4 C-USA) went into the game in a three-way tie at the top with UTEP (18-11, 11-5) and Southern Mississippi. SMU beat UTEP and Memphis beat Southern Miss Saturday to give the Mustangs the outright lead in the conference and the No. 1 seed in the C-USA tournament next week.

“The five that started got things going for us,” said SMU Head Coach Rhonda Rompola, who started three juniors. “Our junior leadership has been like this all year.”

After a slow shooting start, junior Brittany Gilliam scored 13 second-half points to lead the Mustangs with 24 total, her second highest of the season.

“Earlier today, I said, “big time players show up in big games like these,”’ Rompola said. “That was the best half of offense and defense I have seen from (Gilliam).”

SMU faced a seven-point deficit at halftime, but fought back with a 17-9 run to take the lead for good with 13:41 left. The Mustangs forced 19 turnovers, while only recording 12.

After earning her second double-double of the season, Haley Day saw 35 minutes of playing time. She scored seven points and pulled down five rebounds.

“I don’t think we got her involved enough,” Rompola said. “If we can get her going, we’re a better team.”

“My confidence is a lot higher,” said Day who has played 72 minutes in the last two games.

Freshmen Christine Elliott earned her second consecutive double-double game, with 15 points and 11 rebounds.

“I want her to be more selfish in the paint,” Rompola said.

Elliott was only one of four Mustangs in double figures in the points column– Gilliam, Samuels, and Hill.

“Any one of us are capable of going off at any one point,” Gilliam said. “We could go seven deep.”

Before the game, SMU recognized its two seniors on the team, Brittani Allen and Elbie Gates. Neither saw any playing time in the game.

The players get two days off before they’ll get back to work to prepare for the C-USA tournament which begins Thursday in New Orleans. As one of the top four seeds, the Mustangs earn a first round bye.

Rompola won’t schedule conditioning practices this week, just shooting drills.

“I want rested and ready legs for New Orleans,” she said.

Listen to the archived broadcast in the Sports Blog.

Women’s Basketball Loses Nail-Biter in Houston

By Robby Gillespie
rgillespie@smu.edu

The Mustangs, led by 22 points from Delisha Wills, were up by eight at halftime, but were unable to hang on, falling to Houston, 75-73, at Hofeinz Pavillion Friday night.

Down two points with two seconds left, Brittany Gilliam’s inbound pass bounced off the backboard and through Haley Day’s hands on the final play. The Mustangs never got a shot off.

“I’m really not sure how we won, but we did,” said Houston Head Coach Joe Curl, whose team is now in a four-way tie for second place in Conference USA. “We just came up with big shots down the stretch.”

SMU (16-10, 9-4 C-USA) led most of the game until Houston took its first lead of the second half, 69-68, off a Courtney Taylor fast-break lay-up with 2:08 left.

The Mustangs regained the lead momentarily after Delisha Wills hit her 51st three pointer of the season.

The final points were scored on Porcshe Landry’s free throw with eight seconds left, putting Houston (17-8, 9-4 C-USA) up 75-73. Then LaShandra Hill brought the ball past half court and called timeout with two seconds remaining, before Gilliam’s incomplete pass.

Wills led the Mustangs with 22 points, one shy of her career high. She earned her third double-double of the season. Junior Brittany Gilliam finished with 20 points.

Houston’s Courtney Taylor scored 23 points and 14 rebounds. Taylor was only one steal away from becoming the fourth player in Houston history to earn a triple-double.

SMU led 41-33 at halftime after Brittany Gilliam hit a buzzer-beating three. The Mustangs maintained the eight point lead with under nine minutes left, until Houston cut the deficit down to one possession for the rest of the game.

SMU freshmen Christine Elliott finished with eleven points on 5-8 shooting, to become the third Mustang in double digits in the scoring column.

With a win, SMU could have taken a share of the top spot in the conference, but instead remain in a four-way tie for second place.

The Mustangs stay in Houston to take on the Rice Owls (7-19, 2-11 C-USA) Sunday at 2 p.m.

Listen to Robby Gillespie and Alan Rose’s archived broadcast of the game in the Sports Blog.