UB Women's game recap and look ahead

Sunday's East Coast Conference Final Round game vs C.W. Post

C.W. Post 69 Bridgeport 66 Final

Key Players for the Purple Knights in the lost:

1. Senior center Kelly Keil 27 pts on 9 of 17 shooting 14 rebs 4 blocks
2. Senior forward Ivana Savic 11 pts 4 rebs 4 assists 2 steals
3. Junior guard Edna Marant 10 pts 5 rebs 3 assists.

What happened in the game: We knew from the get go that this wouldn't be an easy game. All three meetings have resulted in close games. The first 17 minutes of the first half was very close as the margain of lead was only three points for the Pioneers as they led by seven at halftime. The Purple Knights did indeed pick up the energy and were agressive as they were neck and neck with C.W Post and eventually took a four point lead with 3 and a half minutes left in the game.

Where it went downhill: After UB took that four point lead, they started to miss some shots and committed some fouls that really hurt them when it mattered most. When the lead was down to one point, Felica Joyner of C.W. Post made a layup with 26 seconds left. A costly turnover by Keil resulted in free throws that the Pioneers hit to give them a one point game. Marant tried on last three point to try and give the Purple Knights a two point lead but it wouldn't fall and UB had to foul with one second left and the road team hit two additional free throws to propel them to the win.

Final Results: C.W. Post gets an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament as they improve to 17-12 overall and Bridgeport ends the season 17-14.

Where UB turned the season around that led them to a sucessful season: When the ECC preseason standing poll was released on October 15, the Purple Knights were slated to finish sixth in the conference. After starting the season off 3-7, many of the players and coaches told me they were statisified with their play. That all changed on Dec. 30 when they played Northeast-10 opponent Southern New Hampshire University on the road, the Purple Knight roared out to a 28-15 halftime lead and took charge to a big 66-53 win. During the final 15 games of the regular season, UB went 12-3 along the way and at one point won 9 out of 10 games.

More postives: The Development of certain players.

1. Kelly Keil : After spending her first two years of college at Divison 1 University of Dayton in Ohio as the member of their basketball team, she transfered to UB after hardly getting any playing time. Her first season as a Purple Knight in 2009-2010, she was top reserve backing up former UB standout forward Shannon. During that season, she averaged 6 points and 4 rebounds and 1 block per game. This season, she was given a full opportunity to become the team's starting center and did not disappoint averaging a team high 15.8 points per game, 8.3 rebounds per game and 3.1 blocks per game, which was good for second in the ECC and setting a UB single season record with 83. Keil, also earned 1st team all ECC this weekend.
2. Elsebeth Birman: Backing up former UB standout Sidney Parsons in 09-10 was a great learning curve for Birman, even though she struggled with her game. This season, she was able to establish herself as an up and coming point guard. She finished this season third in the ECC in assists with 4.5 per game her scoring went up from 1.0 per game in 09-10 to 8.3 per game. Finally she finished eighth in the ECC in steals with 1.86 per game.

Final Thought on why UB will still have alot to look forward too: Even though Seniors Keil and Savic will not be back next year, the team still returns three starters in Marant, Julia Colley and Birman. Coach Stephanie Del Preore has established herself into a very good head coach in only her first season. Her players have been able to trust and her and she trust them. Freshman Aziza Patterson will most likely be asked to take a bigger step to fill the shoes of those who graduated. Plus good recruiting will help Del Preore out as it showed this season. Trust me there will reason for optimism next season after the Purple Knights proved that a sixth place preseason finish wasn't to their liking as they finished in a respectable third place to conclude the season.