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Date Posted: 17:20:09 12/08/01 Sat
Author: Matt Barber
Author Host/IP: net206-164-036.xu.edu / 206.21.164.36
Subject: XU snaps four-game slide by topping Red Flash

The next game plan for the Xavier women’s basketball team might include some deep breathing and meditation.
“We play great when we’re relaxed,” said head coach Melanie Balcomb following her team’s 79-65 victory over St. Francis (Penn.) in the first contest of the Provident Bank Xavier Invitational in the Cintas Center Saturday afternoon that ended a four-game skid.
“We play great for the middle 20 minutes of a game, when we’re relaxed,” Balcomb continued. “But we start off slow and finish slow.”
True enough, the contest began with the Musketeers (3-4) spotting a four-point lead to the Red Flash (2-4) as XU guards Amy Waugh, Shavon Bell and Reetta Piipari all missed their first shots.
It was freshman forward Alexis Henderson who broke the ice for XU with a lay-up nearly 2:30 into the contest, but that basket sparked a 12-4 run for Xavier over the next 4:37.
Xavier’s momentum began to slip away, however, when center Kate Kreager picked up her second foul of the game and headed to the bench with 11:50 left in the first half.
Balcomb called on reserve center Colleen Yukes, who was coming off the best game of her short career a week before against Cincinnati, and, again, Yukes responded by providing solid post play on offense and defense.
“Colleen is getting more confidence,” said Balcomb. “She’s working hard and getting aggressive.”
With 9:13 until halftime, SFU tied the score at 20 with a three, but Waugh responded for the Musketeers shortly after with a three of her own, and Xavier never trailed again, building the lead to as much as 10, thanks to five-straight points from freshman forward Nikki Wells, before taking a 39-30 score into the locker room at the end of the half.
Still relaxed, Xavier started the second half playing very well, building the lead to 17 on a three from Piipari less than five minutes in, and pushing that margin to 25 points with accurate outside shots and free throws with just over 9:30 to go in the game.
Then the tightness returned for XU as the young squad struggled with how to finish the contest.
“Game experience is the issue,” said Balcomb. “We’ll improve as our young kids get more.”
Slowly, St. Francis chipped away at the lead, getting as close as 13 with under three minutes remaining, but the gap was too wide for the Red Flash to overcome completely.
Waugh finished with a game-high 16 points and eight assists. Bell added 14 points and five rebounds, while Piipari contributed 11 and seven assists.
Despite the foul trouble, Kreager scored 10 points and has now reached double figures in every game this season for XU. While Kreager was on the bench, Henderson, Yukes and Wells played solidly in the frontcourt as all three set or tied career-highs in points.
“As a team, we have confidence in them,” said Kreager of the trio.
Yukes tallied eight points, six more than her previous best, on a 4-5 shooting day over 20 minutes. Henderson tied her best effort with eight points and was one board shy of her best rebounding mark by pulling down a team-high six. Wells’s five-point burst at the end of the first half pushed her past her previous best of two, as she played very aggressively despite, listed at 5-10, being Xavier’s shortest post player.
“[Wells] posts bigger than any player on our team,” said Balcomb. “She’s a lot more aggressive and not afraid. Height’s overrated.”
What’s not overrated, though, is experience, and the young Musketeers, while building the bank, are doing so slowly.
“The veterans are taking what we work on in scrimmages into the games with them,” said Balcomb, “but our freshman are still working on taking it from the drill to a five-on-five situation in practice. They get in the game and forget the plays; they’re still a step behind.
“We’ll turn that around. We had our best week of practice by far, and we’ll be better.”
Xavier will play in Sunday’s championship game against the winner of the Howard-Toledo game that followed Saturday’s victory. The championship game should start around 3 p.m.
XU has never won in seven tries against Toledo, which is coached by former Musketeer coach Mark Ehlen.

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