Vanguard women begin the title quest

JACKSON, Tenn. ? The Vanguard University women’s basketball team had hoped for perfection. Now, the Lions would settle for preeminence, should they claim the program’s first NAIA Division I national championship.

Coach Russ Davis’ squad, the No. 1 overall seed in the NAIA Division I Championships after holding the top national ranking all season, is looking for a five-game winning streak when the 32-team tournament tips off today at Oman Arena.

Vanguard (28-1) had its 28-game winning streak snapped by The Master’s in the semifinals of the Golden State Athletic Conference Tournament on March 3.

Davis said the 78-72 setback could help his team refocus on the task at hand, which begins with an 11:45 a.m. first-round game against Texas College (13-16).

“The players’ attitude at practice has been really, really good,” Davis said of the more than a week of preparation for their fifth straight trip to the NAIA Tournament, their seventh in the last nine seasons since Davis assumed the helm. “We worked on being consistent with our intensity. I turned things up the first three practices [after the loss], because we needed to refocus. We wanted to refresh and regroup. We worked on some of the things that were important to our success earlier in the season.

“You never really want to lose, but you have to try and find some positives.”

Davis cited learning what it felt like to lose and the absence of any pressure to complete an unbeaten season as two such positives. Another, Davis said, is the players’ increased receptivity to his cautionary tales.

“I’d been trying to get their attention for a while about not always playing with intensity,” Davis said. “It just wasn’t sinking in, because we were still winning games. But now it’s sinking in and I think we’re getting our competitive edge back.”

Vanguard was eliminated in the quarterfinals of this tournament each of the last two seasons, after reaching the semifinals in 2003.

But this year’s squad has a level of talent previous Lion units did not.

In addition to two-time All-American Kelly Schmidt, the two-time GSAC Player of the Year who is a candidate for NAIA Player of the Year honors this season, All-American Rachel Besse and veteran standouts Lacey Burns and Melissa Cook, Davis added a pair of transfers from NCAA Division I programs in the offseason.

Sophomore guard Jessica Richter, who played at Syracuse as a freshman, is averaging a team-leading 21 points per game. She is also contributing 5.2 rebounds, 4.0 steals and 2.7 assists per game. She is second in NAIA Division I in steals and fourth in scoring. Her 71 three-pointers also lead the Lions.

Junior point guard Tiari Goold, who transferred to Vanguard from BYU, leads NAIA Division I with 9.1 assists per game. Her ability to run the offense has helped ease the loss to graduation of Lisa Faulkner, last year’s Division I Player of the Year who is now an assistant coach.

Schmidt, a junior forward, averages 20.5 points, 7.3 rebounds and is shooting 57.6% from the field. She also leads the team with intangibles, most notably undying determination and effort and an uncanny ability to be consistently productive.

Besse, a 6-foot-3 junior center, is averaging 13.2 points, 7.4 rebounds, 2.0 blocks and is shooting a Division I-leading 62.2% from the field.

Another difference in this year’s Lions team is depth and versatility. Cook, a sophomore super sub, can play all five positions.

The Lions’ typical eight-player rotation also includes 6-3 junior Andrea Jacobson and sophomore Lindsey Rinke.

Davis said there will be situations this week when he will have Besse and Jacobson on the floor at the same time.

“We can go small, or we can go big,” Davis said. “That’s a big advantage, because we can adjust according to which team we’re playing.

A victory today would put the Lions into the second round Friday morning, against either Cumberlands of Kentucky (20-8) or Cumberland of Tennessee (23-8).

Tyler-based Texas College lost in the title game of the Red River Athletic Conference Tournament to Houston Baptist (27-3), the No. 6-ranked team in the final Division I poll. Texas College upset the Nos. 2 and 3 seeds to reach the tournament final.

The Lady Steers are led by 5-11 sophomore Erica Delley, who leads Division I in rebounding (12.5 per game) and is averaging 13.8 points per game. She has 17 double-doubles this season.dpt-vanguard15.IMGGraphicInfo3O1OUQ86200603153O1OUQ86No Captiondpt.15-vanguardhoops-3--CPhotoInfoQP1OUPS520060315iw5a1dknKENT TREPTOW / DAILY PILOT(LA)Kelly Schmidt will lead Vanguard into today’s NAIA tournament game.