Marshall University Athletics
Marshall University
Baylor (Caribbean Classic)
Marshall Falls to No. 5 Baylor
11/27/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Nov. 27, 2005
RIVIERA MAYA, Mexico - Sophia Young scored 22 points and grabbed seven rebounds to lead No. 5 Baylor past Marshall, 74-47, in the final women's basketball game of the 2005 Caribbean Classic at Aventura Spa Palace.
Marshall (2-2) used a Sikeetha Shepard-Hall (Houston, Texas) layup right off the opening tip to jump to a quick 2-0 lead, but Baylor (6-0) took control of the game in the early stages. The defending national champions got the ball to Young in the post as much as possible to the tune of 12 first half points on 5-of-9 shooting. BU's Angela Tisdale was the recipient of Young's strong play as she registered six first-half assists.
Tisdale finished with eight assists and nine points. Young, the 2005 Final Four Most Outstanding Player, added three steals and an assist on Tisdale's lone 3-pointer of the game.
"Baylor is the best team I've ever coached against at any point in my career," Herd head coach Royce Chadwick said. "They are in the top five in the country for good reason and they'll have a great shot to defend their national title."
The loss was Chadwick's first against Baylor, having won two games against the Lady Bears in previous coaching stops at Sam Houston State and Stephen F. Austin.
Foul trouble and an injured KaShawna Curry (Huntington, W.Va.) contributed mightily to Marshall's inability to counter a potent Baylor attack on both ends of the floor. Without the Herd's athletic swingman, who injured her ankle in Thursday's loss to Cal, MU failed to get into a rhythm offensively and fell victim to a lightning-quick Lady Bear transition game. Sixteen first-half fouls, including four to center Michele Hagan (Houston, Texas) and three apiece to Modupe Ishola (Washington, D.C.) and Crystal Champion (Washington, D.C.), allowed the Lady Bears to parade to the free-throw line 16 times (10-of-16).
For the game, BU enjoyed a 28-15 foul differential and got to the charity stripe 33 times to MU's 16.
"In all our years at Marshall, we've never had to scramble like this to replace players," Chadwick said. "We had a lot of people playing out of position. Losing KaShawna (Curry) forced us to shift tremendously. It's going to take some adjusting time, but we'll pull together and fight through the adversity that's come our way."
Senior guard Mary Pat Statler (New Cumberland, W.Va.) started in place of Curry, who is expected to miss 2-3 weeks. Statler found herself playing point guard in the second half, sharing duties at the position throughout the game with Shepard-Hall and junior Bridget Chacon (Las Cruces, N.M.).
Marshall is down to 10 healthy players after injuries to Curry and freshman Alyssa Hammond (knee), ineligibility rulings by the NCAA on guard Meg Withrow (transfer) and forward Chantelle Handy (partial qualifier) and the absence of point guard Teyonka Hodge (personal reasons).
"We started with 15 players we were counting on for this season," Chadwick said. "Now we're down to just five healthy guards, but we'll get stronger because of it and bounce back."
Shepard-Hall, fouled out of the game at the 9:57 mark of the second half. Ishola's three first-half fouls kept the 6-foot-2 center, Marshall's leading scorer and reigning Conference USA Player of the Week, on the bench for much of the half. In 23 total minutes, Ishola scored nine points with four rebounds and a block. Senior guard Reshundra Smiley (Modesto, Calif.) scored a team-high 11 points and had a pair of assists and steals.
"We played hard as a team, but our execution was very poor," Smiley said. "We never got our heads down and we fought to the end."
Ishola got the defensive assignment on Young, and the experience was one that the junior learned from. "It was a good opportunity to play against someone of her caliber," she said. "It teaches me what I need to do to get to where she and her team are at. She's at the next level and I'm still trying to break out to get to that level."
Prior to Shepard-Hall's disqualification, the senior guard scored eight points to move into sixth place on the Marshall career scoring list with 1,205 points. She is now 11 points shy of fifth place and will likely end her career at No. 3.
Marshall's hustle and reduction of mental mistakes was a change from its disappointing loss to Cal on Thursday in the Caribbean Classic opener. Freshman Kendra King (Fairfax, Va.) provided a spark off the bench, going 3-for-6 from the floor with four rebounds, an assist and a steal.
With the loss, Marshall drops to 2-5 against Big 12 teams.
The Herd will return to the United States and quickly get back to the hardwood with a road game at Morehead State on Wednesday. Tip-off is slated for 7:00 PM EST.
