Friday, March 24, 2000
Highlands loses in Sweet 16
BY RAY SCHAEFER
Enquirer contributor
RICHMOND, Ky. — If only Highlands' game against Louisville DuPont Manual Thursday could have ended after four minutes.
The Ninth Region champion Ladybirds blew a 12-point lead and eventually fell to the Seventh Region champion Lady Crimsons 56-37 in the opening round of the girls state tournament at Eastern Kentucky University.
Manual meets Third Region champion Muhlenberg North in the quarterfinals at 8:30p.m. today. The Lady Stars eliminated 14th Region champion Perry County Central 75-72 behind sophomore guard Holly Mills' 20 points.
Junior guard Chelsey Thompson led Manual with 13 points, and junior guard Liz Plass and senior center Emily Church each added 10. Junior forward Stephanie Ripberger led Highlands with 10.
“We went to war (Thursday),” Highlands coach Luci Cecil said.
Highlands finished the year at 26-6. The Ladybirds fell to 5-6 in six state tournament trips and exited in the first round for the first time since 1995 and the third time overall (Highlands lost to Marshall County in 1985).
Manual (25-4) has never finished sooner than the quarterfinals in its four trips to state.
The Ladybirds' woes were numerous: They shot just 13-of-38 from the field, were outrebounded 31-23, went just more than 10 minutes without scoring and committed 18 turnovers.
“It was awfully long; it was nasty,” Cecil said of the scoring drought.
Still, Highlands had plenty of reason for optimism in the first quarter. The Ladybirds shot 3-of-3 over the first two minutes, and senior forward Heather Dickerson and senior guard Joanna Imhoff each hit a 3-pointer — part of a 9-2 run.
Highlands remained hot the next two minutes. Field goals by sophomore center Tara Boothe and Ripberger and Imhoff's second 3-pointer made it 16-4 Highlands with 4:03 left in the quarter.
“We told the girls just to weather their storm, and our press became a huge factor,” Manual coach Mina Todd said.
It was the suddenness of Manual's turnaround that shocked the Ladybirds, and it came from an unlikely source.
Manual is one of the tallest teams in the tournament — the Lady Crimsons start the 6-1 Church and 6-3 junior Chandra Brown — but it was 5-3 sophomore guard Ashley Butler's four points and a steal that pulled the Lady Crimsons to 16-12 after one quarter. They led 21-16 three minutes later.
Highlands was just 8-of-19 shooting in the first half and 2-of-7 in the second quarter. It committed 13 turnovers — sophomore guard Christian Stefanopoulos had five of her six for the night — which Manual turned into 17 points.
“It was a very tight press,” Stefanopoulos said. “When you threw over the top, their people caught it, because they jumped so high.”
To top it off, Boothe, Highlands' leading scorer and rebounder, missed the final 6:14 of the half with an ankle injury.
“When Tara came out, it threw us for a loop,” Cecil said.
Thompson's six points in the third quarter gave Manual a 36-26 lead. Highlands went 4:21 without a point and never came closer than seven the rest of the night.
Highlands graduates four seniors, but three starters — Boothe, Ripberger and Stefanopoulos — return. Stefanopoulos said she would keep stories about Thursday's game as a motivator.
“But hopefully not a picture,” Stefanopoulos said. “I wasn't too pretty.”
HIGHLANDS (37): Imhoff 2 2 8, Winkler 1-0 3, Ripberger 4 1 10, Sheanshang 1 0 2, Stefanopoulos 2 1 5, Boothe 2 2 6, Dickerson 1 0 3. Totals: 13 6 37.
DUPONT MANUAL (56): Butler 3 2 8, Carcara 1 0 2, Benberry 3 1 7, Thompson 6 1 13, Plass 4 0 10, Hohmann 1 0 2, Brown 2 0 4, Church 3 4 10. Totals: 23 8 56.
Highlands ....... 16 6 4 9—37
DuPont Manual ....... 12 16 10 18—56
3-point goals: H-Imhoff 2, Winkler, Ripberger, Dickerson. DM-Plass 2. Records: H 26-6, DM 25-4.
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