Glenville State looks forward to Elite Eight battle
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GLENVILLE -- The journey toward cutting down the nets in the final game of the NCAA Division II women's basketball season is quickly approaching.
The Elite Eight officially gets underway at 1 p.m. (EST) Monday when No. 3 seed Glenville State (32-1) takes on No. 6 West Texas A&M (26-10) inside the Birmingham CrossPlex in Alabama.
North Georgia earned the No. 1 seed and faces No. 8 Pace at 7 p.m. The second quarterfinal, which starts at 3:30 p.m., pits No. 2 Grand Valley State against No. 7 Missouri Western. The nightcap, slated for a 9:30 p.m. tip, features No. 4 Valdosta State clashing with No. 5 Western Washington.
Three-time Mountain East Conference Coach of the Year Kim Stephens, who currently has a 155-21 career record, watched her team put together one of their best efforts during an 89-58 blowout of Charleston in the Atlantic Regional championship game.
The Pioneers, who are led by MEC Player of the Year Re'Shawna Stone (16.5 ppg), Zakiyah Winfield (17.9 ppg) and Atlantic Regional MVP Dazha Congleton (12.5 ppg), also boast Taychaun Hubbard and her 11.4 points per game average.
Depth is always one of coach Stephens' keys to her program and GSU has plenty of that thanks to Mashayla Cecil (7.6 ppg), Abby Stoller (7.0), Vendela Danielsson (7.0), Kaylee Pierce (5.7) and Tyesha Taylor (4.3).
The Buffs of head coach Josh Prock are currently riding an eight-game winning streak as Karley Motschenbache has been the team's leading scorer the past four games. On the season, she's averaging 10.2 points and 8.0 rebounds.
Zamorye Roberts, who exploded for 30 points in a game earlier this season, leads West Texas A&M in scoring (13.4), steals (1.9) and assists (2.8). Alivia Lewis, who like Roberts previously played for coach Prock at Eastern New Mexico, is one of the nation's top shot blockers. She averaged 2.7 rejections a game to go along with 8.4 points and 8.3 caroms.
Lauren Taylor also gives the Buffs another scoring option with her 7.9 ppg average. Haylei Janssens (6.9) and Taylor Williams (6.3) also will have to be accounted for by the GSU defense as too will Jayla Burgess, who averages 7.1 points, 5.3 boards and better than a block per contest.
"We started off 2-6 and we finished 24-4," said coach Prock, who in his first year as head coach led the program to the South Central Regional title. "I knew we were pretty talented early on.
"I knew it was going to take a while to kind of get everybody together. We played a very difficult schedule, as difficult as anyone in the country. We were very blessed to finish the year like we did."
Prock began his coaching career back in 2001 as a graduate assistant at Oklahoma under head coach Kelvin Sampson. Suffice it to say that experience had a big impact on his coaching philosophy.
"Defense and rebounding. He wouldn't let us do anything else," Prock quipped of what he learned from Sampson and continues to preach each day. "We've kind of prided ourselves on that.
"At the end of the regular season we were number one in the country defensively. Offensively, we've kind of hit a good stride here and playing with some confidence. Just really proud of our kids. It's been a fun ride."
Coach Prock said the biggest key to the season was just the team coming together and learning to play for one another.
"They've been peaking and playing well and it's been a lot of fun," he added. "We're more of a half court defensive team and we are different from them defensively. Earlier in the year we did press a little bit more. We're not doing it as much now."
Of course, coach Stephens likes to press and force the tempo from start to finish, which is something that concerns the Buffs' head man.
"First reaction watching Glenville is wow," admitted Prock, who thrice led Eastern New Mexico to the NCAA tournament. "They are really good. They are really, really good. Everyone at this point are really good teams, but Glenville, they do as good a job as anybody in the country at running their system.
"One of the most impressive things I saw, that Shepherd game got pretty close, but they have bought into her system so well. They run their system as well as anybody in the country. You know they are going to press you and sub in and out and try to get the ball to the rim and shoot and play with confidence. They are a fun team to watch. They really are."
The winner of Monday's quarterfinal will advance to the 7 p.m. Wednesday semifinal versus the victor of Grand Valley State and Missouri Western.
"It's going to be a big, big challenge. We're going to have to be ready for them on Monday," Prock added.
Contact Jay Bennett at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com