Cal’s defense key to winning NCAA title
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – The California University women’s basketball team will be looking for its second NCAA Division II championship tonight, and they’ve got a surprising opponent standing its way.
The Vulcans (31-4), who won the first title in 2004, have reached the title game as the top-seeded team from the Atlantic Regional. They face Cal Baptist (29-6), which entered the tournament unranked, but CBU has hit its stride in the postseason, defeating its five opponents by an average of 17.0 points.
The Lancers are scoring at a profound clip, averaging 80 points per game and are 12-0 this season when scoring 85 or more points. They’re an offensive threat, and Cal will have to have another gem to claim the title.
In their Final Four victory over Emporia State, the Vulcans dug in and played one of their best defensive games of the season, limiting the Hornets to a season-low 46 points. Emporia scored just 15 second-half points and was a dismal 22 percent from the floor over that span.
Cal will need a similar effort tonight.
“We rely a lot on what we like to do, and that’s defend,” Cal coach Jess Strom said. “It is tough when you don’t know a team well, so we just go back to our principles and do what we like to do. We just want to be us, and hopefully it works out.”
The Vulcans will focus on senior Darsha Burnside, a 6-2 junior who has been the key player for CBU in its two games leading up to the final. In their national quarterfinal and semifinal wins in Sioux Falls, S.D., Burnside is averaging 22.0 points and 17.0 rebounds per game.
Though the Vulcans haven’t had the opportunity to take a deep dive into scouting Cal Baptist, they’re familiar with the style of play and their focus of defending the high-powered offense hasn’t changed.
“I think Bloomsburg is comparable,” Strom said, when asked if there is a similar team to Cal Baptist the Vulcans have faced this year. “They like to shoot and I know Cal Baptist likes to shoot. I think we have played some teams that are similar outside the PSAC as well. West Liberty is similar, so we are familiar with their style. But again, it’s 40 minutes, and it’s going to come down to trying to defend.”
To slow Burnside, the Vulcans will have to have a solid interior defensive effort, which they got in their semifinal win against Emporia, when they played a suffocating zone defense in the second half. Part of that fortress came from freshman Seairra Barrett, who’s played pivotal minutes for the Vulcans.
“She has come off the bench for us big in a lot of big games,” Strom said. “She is that kind of player; she loves big games. She gets up for them. I thought coming in she would do well so it doesn’t surprise me. She has been awesome. She doesn’t act like a freshman when you are out there watching her.”
Cal continues to play with a lot of motivation after the loss of their teammate, Shanise Clark, who died Jan. 18 of complications from the sickle cell trait. Team members continue to chant her name after games, and Clark’s No. 44 is referenced in several places with the team.
“You can tell they are playing with a lot of passion, and a lot of inspiration,” Cal Baptist coach Jarrod Olson said. “Any time a team is motivated by something bigger than the game, you know you’re going to get their best. It’s going to be a tough game for us.”
Even Olson knows that it’s going to take another high-scoring performance to overcome Cal’s stifling defense. Cal hasn’t allowed an 80-point performance all season, the closest coming in an 84-79 victory in the quarterfinals against Nova Southeastern. And that was an overtime game.
“They’re really scrappy and they play really hard,” Olson said. “I’m just looking forward to it because I know it will bring out the best in our team. I just want to see what we have.”