Lions reach final

Rick Devereux

It would be fairly easy to say that the Vanguard University women’s

basketball team is a one-star team considering how dominating forward

Kelly Schmidt is.

But the Lions showed how diverse a group they can be in their

78-62 victory Saturday over Azusa Pacific in the semifinals of the

Golden State Athletic Conference tournament at Hope International

University.

But the diversity was born out of necessity.

Schmidt, who was the leading scorer in 22 of Vanguard’s 31 games

coming into the contest against Azusa, averaged 22.6 points per game

and is a candidate for year-end accolades.

But the 6-foot sophomore left the game with 2:08 left in the first

half after colliding with a teammate. Schmidt was running through the

paint on defense and was inadvertently elbowed in the nose by 6-3

center Rachel Besse.

“Yeah I was worried [when Schmidt went down],” Coach Russ Davis

said. “She’s a legitimate NAIA Player of the Year. But Lindsey Rinke

and Anna Dittenbir both stepped up big for us.”

When Schmidt left, the Lions were ahead, 34-23, and she had a

game-high 16 points. Rinke, a freshman forward, was inserted into the

lineup and paid dividends immediately.

Rinke scored eight of Vanguard’s first 14 points in the second

half. Rinke finished with 10 points, all from inside the paint.

“Rinke played awesome,” Schmidt said. “I didn’t need to step in

[in the second half].”

Dittenbir, a sophomore guard, also contributed with five points in

10 minutes of action.

“I told the team [at halftime], ‘Can you give me two rebounds? Can

you give me two points?’ ” Davis said. “I’ve never been more proud of

a team than I am today.”

Besse also answered Davis’ call for productivity. She finished

with a game-high 24 points and 13 rebounds.

Andrea Jacobson, a 6-3 center, finished with 11 points and four

rebounds as Davis instructed his squad to slow down the tempo of the

game and feed the ball inside as much as possible.

Vangaurd, which improves to 28-3, dominated under the basket,

outscoring Azusa 50-12 inside the paint. The Cougars, who fall to

23-9, were also outrebounded 49-33.

Doing most of the dishing inside was Lisa Faulkner.