ASU women near another milestone in turnaround
Now that Appalachian State’s women have made it to the Southern Conference championship game, coach Darcie Vincent says there is pressure to win it.
No longer the underdog – as regular-season champions – the Mountaineers’ turnaround from 9-22 two years ago is nearly complete. A SoCon title is a remaining prize.
“I kind of joked with the kids about the fact that we were so honored and blessed to have the awards that we had going into the postseason,” Vincent said. “We’re sitting here with player of the year, defensive player of the year, staff (coach) of the year. That puts a lot more pressure on you – hey, you better go out and win this sucker.
“For us to be there for the first time in a very long time, and the fact that we have put our program back at that level… it’s going to be a great taste for us and hopefully it’s just the first time in many years to come.”
The Mountaineers, in the final for the first time since 1999, blew past Elon 72-48 in the SoCon Tournament semifinals Sunday, improving to 25-5 and setting a program record for most wins in a season.
They’ll face Samford at 4 p.m. Monday in the title game at McKenzie Arena in Chattanooga, Tenn.
Samford (24-7) is in the final for the second straight year. The Bulldogs lost to Chattanooga in last season’s championship game, after dispatching ASU in the semifinals. Sunday, the Bulldogs knocked off perennial champion and hometown favorite Chattanooga 68-66 in overtime to advance to the title game.
Both are relatively young teams. The Mountaineers have one senior; the Bulldogs have two.
“We have to go in and play App basketball for 40 minutes and hopefully we’ll be OK,” Vincent said.
After winning 23 games and the inaugural Womens’ Basketball Invitational last season, there is no goal other than winning a SoCon title and advancing to the NCAA Tournament.
“We’ve done a lot this year winning the regular season, that’s great,” forward Anna Freeman said. “But if we had lost today we wouldn’t have really done much more than we did last year. So making it to the final is kind of that next step of what we needed to do and what we were brought here to do.
“I think it’s definitely a milestone for us to reach the final but that’s not the end of the road for what we were brought here to do.”
Forward Ashlen Dewart said: “Winning this tournament would be huge for us. I know we can do it. It’s just up to us and it’s going to be a huge statement of who we are and what we’ve become.”