After ending the regular season on a high note with an impressive win against SMU, the women's basketball team fell in the opening round of the Conference USA Tournament 65-58 to Marshall, in all likelihood ending their season.
According to Lisa Stockton, the team that beat Kansas St. and SMU showed up in the second half while the team that stunk it up in conference showed up in the first half. The question remains: why? Was the team not motivated, or did they not feel a sense of urgency? Any team that shoots 17% for an entire half doesn't deserve to be competitive in a game. It's hard to imagine motivation being a factor, and Marshall's defense isn't exactly the one of the best in the nation (although they are fourth in C-USA). Even if it was, there's really no excuse for shooting that poorly unless the effort or sense of urgency wasn't there.
In the end, it was a combination of the understandable inconsistency of young players and the lack of mental fortitude on this team that hurt it in conference play. When shots weren't falling, everything seemed to fall apart and the scrappy, tenacious mindset that characterized last season's team disappeared. The loss of scorers and team leaders like Montagnino and Henry
Still, there's a lot to look forward to next season. Ashley Langford should be All-Conference and, if she improves over the summer, an All-American. Slaton and Aidoo showed a lot of potential, and only Alendra Brown, Nikki Luckhurst and Dominique Philpots will graduate, leaving a number of solid role players. But in order to avoid a repeat of this season, someone will have to step up an score over 15 points per game and show they can bail the team out during offensive slumps.
Here's an unusually succinct quote from a usually-chatty Nikki Luckhurst (from the game story on the official website):
"I can't believe that it's over. It's been a great four years, I couldn't ask for anything better."
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