Sunday, January 16, 2000
Newport claims All 'A' Ninth Region
Snaps 3-year title run for Holy Cross
BY MARK SCHMETZER
Enquirer contributor
The Newport Wildcats broke tradition Saturday night — for themselves and Holy Cross.
Newport captured its first regional tournament in 25 years and broke Holy Cross' three-year stranglehold on the region's All “A” Classic championship with a 57-49 victory at Dayton.
“It's been a long time,” second-year Newport coach Aric Russell said.
The 13-4 Wildcats, who hadn't won a regional title of any kind since winning the overall Ninth Region championship in 1975, advance to the state All “A” Classic at Eastern Kentucky. They will play the Third Region champion at noon on Wednesday, Jan. 26. The semifinals are scheduled for Jan. 29 and the championship game will be Jan. 30.
Newport also avenged its 48-41 loss to Holy Cross in last season's All “A” Classic regional finals. It was the first loss in six championship appearances for Holy Cross (9-5).
“That was a major disappointment last year. “We knew we didn't want to do the same thing again,” said Newport senior guard Molly White, the tournament's most valuable player.
“Last year made a big difference,” Russell said. “Last year, we fell behind and we couldn't catch up. This year, we hit some key free throws and Jessica Beatsch hit a huge layup.”
Beatsch led all scorers with 16 points, including the layup with 1:17 left in the game that gave Newport a 51-47 lead. She added two free throws after White hit three of four free throws to clinch the championship.
“They're the same players, but that's a completely different team,” Holy Cross coach Rob Kues said. “They played a lot of zone last year, but they're quicker this year. They played man-to-man the entire game.”
While building an 8-0 lead, Newport took a 25-22 halftime lead, and the Wildcats started working the ball inside in the third quarter. Junior center Nicole Wagner and junior forward Stephanie Atkins each scored four points to help Newport take a 41-34 lead into the fourth quarter.
Holy Cross senior forward Natalie Gardner's four consecutive points capped an 11-5 Indians run that pulled them to within one point of the lead with four minutes left in the game.
“When they came back, we were aggravated,” White said. “They thought we had the game, but we knew we just had to hold on. We play a lot of bigger teams in other tournaments, and we knew that if we played as hard against Holy Cross as we do against those other teams, we'd be alright.”
Newport freshman guard Christina Jones responded with the second of her two consecutive put-backs and, after Julie Halpin hit a layup to again cut the deficit to one for Holy Cross, Beatsch hit her layup to give Newport a three-point lead.
Holy Cross (9-5) didn't help itself with shoddy foul shooting. Holy Cross was 0-of-7 in free throws, including the front ends of four bonus situations.
Beatsch and Jones each made the all-tournament team, as did Halpin, who led Holy Cross with 11 points.
“The girls knew they were going to come out and play hard,” Russell said.
HOLY CROSS (49) — Halpin 5 0 11, Noll 4 0 8, Mitts 1 0 2, Hall 3 0 6, Vogelpohl 2 0 4, Warken 4 0 8, Gardner 5 0 10. Totals: 24 0 49.
NEWPORT (57) — Seibert 1 0 2, Beatsch 4 8 16, Wagner 4 0 8, Jones 4 1 9, Mills 1 0 2, White 4 5 13, Atkins 3 1 7. Totals: 21 15 57.
Holy Cross ....... 10 ....... 12 12 15—49
Newport ....... 10 15 16 16—57
3-pointers: H—Halpin. Records: H 9-5, N 13-4.
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