Tomorrow, the University of the Incarnate Word women's basketball team will take on another team that they were unable to defeat in the regular season, as the Cardinals try to knock off another team seeded higher than them in the Lone Star Conference Championships when they tip off against West Texas A&M at noon.
After knocking off the No. 3 seed in Midwestern State, 75-71, in the women's tournament-opener, the Cardinals have shown that they can play with the best of the LSC and now have to try and upset the No. 2 seed in order to advance to the championship game on Sunday, March 4th.
But, UIW (now 15-12 overall and 10-11 against Lone Star opponents) is in familiar territory as they prepare to go up against a team that they lost to twice – 61-51 at home and 67-60 in Canyon – and know what to expect from their opponent.
Head coach Angela Lawson spoke of how at this point in the season, teams can no longer surprise anyone since this will be the third time they have faced each other in the post-game press conference after defeating the Mustangs. Both coaching staffs have game tape from two different games and have had a chance to scout one-another in their respective first-round games.
So now, like Lawson said: “It will come down to who plays better that day.”
West Texas (19-8 overall, 17-4 in games against LSC teams including the tournament) advanced to the semifinals with a victory over Texas Woman's University on Thursday. They boast an All-Lone Star Conference First Team honoree in forward Kenisha Harris as well as three All-LSC Honorable Mention winners in Ashley Leven, Devin Griffin and Joni Unruh.
Harris scored 12 and 9 points against UIW in the regular-season matchups, but the player who truly hurt Incarnate Word in those games was Griffin, the sophomore forward who scored 16 and 17 points, respectively, in those two games.
Griffin also seems to be a different player at the free throw line when she plays the Cardinals – hitting 14-of-14 chances when getting the chance at the charity stripe (10 at the McDermott Center and 4 in her home building), although normally, she is a high-70s percentage shooter from the free throw line.
Free throws has played a key role in both games between the Cardinals and West Texas during the regular season. In San Antonio, the Lady Buffs enjoyed a 24-to-18 opportunity advantage and in Canyon, WT were afforded 22 free throws to UIW's 12 (a 21-to-13 foul differential against Incarnate Word on WT's home floor).
During the regular season, West Texas attempted an LSC-high 732 free throws, hitting 500 (68.3%) while Incarnate Word had just 603, but converted 417 for 69.2%. If the referees in Allen keep the whistles even, then the free throw-advantage for the Lady Buffs might be neutralized or even swing that factor of the game in UIW's favor – especially with Incarnate Word having three players with better shooting percentages from the charity stripe than the top shooter for WT.
Incarnate Word's Katy Cooke (83.5%), Jocelyn Jarmon (77.0%) and Ashlyn Green (75.9%) are all better from the line than West Texas' Griffin (75.7%), while Rose Whitehead comes off of UIW's bench with a 77.5% success rate in 40 attempts (Casey Land of WT is an 83.3% free throw shooter, but has only 48 attempts, despite starting 26 games for West Texas this season).
In the end, however, it won't be just about the free throw line – it will be about if the Lady Buffs were able to sweep Incarnate Word in three games or if the Cardinals can take down a team in the third and most-important meeting of the 2011-12 season.
Tipoff for the game is scheduled for noon on Saturday and the game will be broadcast, for free, on Fox Sports Southwest Online. The Lone Star Conference will also provide Live Stats for the game, and Cardinal fans can find links for the stats and the streaming video by clicking this link.
In addition, fans back in San Antonio can join other Cardinal fans at the official Watch Party hosted by UIW Athletics at the Student Center Lounge.
