2005-2006 News

Springfield Basketball – 2006 USCAA Women’s National Tournament

Robert Morris-Springfield – 2nd Place

Quarterfinals:
RMU-Springfield                   74
Briarcliffe College                 59

Stephanie Brake paced four in double figures for Robert Morris-Springfield with 15 points as the top-seeded Lady Eagles advanced to the semifinals of 2006 USCAA Women’s National Championships over eight-seeded Briarcliffe College.

The Eagles held a lead throughout the majority of the first half and saw Briarcliffe make a run in the second half to the game at 41-41 all.  RMU then went on a run to push the lead back to double figures and never was headed from there.

Brake scored her 15 points coming off the bench and was joined in double-figures by Beth Whitt with 14 points and 11 rebounds, Becky Hobson added 12 points and Katie Fleetwood scored 10 points and had 10 rebounds.

Semifinals:
RMU-Springfield                   69
Apprentice School                  63

Stephanie Brake scored 26 points, hitting 4-of-6 from 3-point range as the top-seeded Lady Eagles came back from 14-5 early deficit to defeat fourth-seeded Apprentice School.

Apprentice pushed the tempo all through the first half and never surrendered their lead, but did see the Lady Eagles close the margin just before half.  After intermission, the Eagles went to their advantage over Apprentice which was to post up with their three players of 5’10”, 6’2” and 6’4”.  The first five minutes saw the lead change hands five times.  Brake drained a 3-pointer with 3:31 left in regulation to start 8-1 run that put the Eagles ahead 65-58 with a minute left on a pair of Beth Whitt free throws. 

Whitt was next in scoring for the Eagles with 16 points, while Nicole Dearing added 10.

Championship:
Southern Virginia Univ.         81
RMU-Springfield                   69

Tournament MVP Kendra Romito scored 15 points and had 13 rebounds to lead five SVU players in double-figures as they went on a 26-5 run over a seven minute span in the second half to rally from a 10-point deficit to defeat the Lady Eagles.

The first half saw the lead change hands four times with Robert Morris taking a 38-36 lead into the locker room at half.

In the second half, the Lady Eagles started scoring quickly as they scored the first eight points of the half.  That lead grew to 52-42 with 15:13 left to play.  From then the Knights went on their devastating run and took a 68-57 advantage with 8:14 left to play.  SVU never looked back and held the Eagles at bay to claim the national championship.

Beth Whitt paced RMU with 20 points; Katie Fleetwood added 11 and a trio scored 10 points including Stephanie Brake, Becky Hobson and Erica Cash.

Individual Achievements:
2006 All-Tournament Team – Beth Whitt (junior; Catlin, IL)
2006 All-American – Beth Whitt
2006 Academic All-American – Nicole Dearing (senior; Valparaiso, IN)

The Lady Eagles finished 19-11 for the season.

Congratulations to all these young ladies for their incredible season!

Lady Eagles earn #1 seed in USCAA Championships!

Robert Morris-Springfield will be heading to Rhema Bible as the women's #1 seed in the 2006 USCAA Women's Basketball Championships.  Runners-up in 2005, the Lady Eagles are hungry to capture their first National Championship. 

The Lady Eagles received a bye in their first round game, and they will play the winner of #8 Briarcliffe/#9 Southern Maine in the quarter-finals on Thursday at 1:00pm.

All action can be followed at: www.theuscaa.com

Go Eagles!

Lady Eagles lose season finale!

NCAA Div. II Oakland City University freshman Chelsea Miller scored a career-high 36 points to lead the Oaks past Robert Morris 79-63.  Nicole Dearing, one of three seniors being honored on Senior Night, led Robert Morris with 13 points.  Rachel Clines contributed with 12 points and 11 rebounds.  Robert Morris hung tough trailing only 33-31 at the half.  With about 15 minutes remaining, Robert Morris was able to tie the score at 40-40, but a technical foul on a questionable call led to four-straight free throws for the Oaks and they never relinquished the lead.

Robert Morris-Springfield now are awaiting their seed and pairing at the USCAA Women's Basketball Championships to be held at Rhema Bible College in Broken Arrow, OK.  Championship information will be released next week.

Seniors honored
Nicole Dearing (guard; Valparaiso, IN)
Katie Kuhns (guard; Mt. Prospect, IL)
Becky Hobson (guard; Marshall, IN) *junior graduating early

Taylor-Fort Wayne snaps win streak!

The Lady Eagles ran into an emotionally charged group at Taylor-Fort Wayne as they were hosting their Senior Night.  With Robert Morris leading 36-35 at the break, Fort Wayne came out on fire in the second half shooting 54% from the field.  Taylor-Fort Wayne went on to win 78-66.  Leading the way for Robert Morris was Rachel Clines (junior; Thayne, WY) with 14 points and 8 rebounds.  Becky Hobson (junior; Marshall, IN) and Beth Whitt (junior; Catlin, IL) with 12 points each, and Stephanie Brake (freshman; Independence, KY) with 11 points.

Lady Eagles win streak continues!

Traveling to Ullin, IL to face Shaunee CC, the Lady Eagles knew they were facing a very tough opponent.  With end-to-end action, Robert Morris-Springfield were able to hold on for the victory 87-84.  With Robert Morris leading 36-32 at the break, Shaunee battled till the final whistle actual outscoring Robert Morris 52-51 in the second half.

Leading the way for Robert Morris-Springfield were:
Beth Whitt (junior; Catlin, IL) - 19 points
Erica Cash (junior; Union City, TN) - 19 points
Nicole Dearing (senior; Valparaiso, IN) - 15 points
Stephanie Brake (freshman; Independence, KY) - 9 points

Lady Eagles climbing in the rankings!

Winner's of their last seven games, Robert Morris-Springfield Lady Eagles are now ranked #3 in the latest USCAA Women's Basketball National Poll.

For a complete look at standings and individual stats, visit www.theuscaa.com

Whitt, Eagles continue winning streak!

Beth Whitt led all score's with a game-high 22 points and Robert Morris-Springfield improved their winning streak to seven games and are now 16-8 for the season.  Leading 39-26 at the break, RMU continued to dominate in the second half defeating USCAA opponent St. Mary's of the Woods 75-55.  Becky Hobson also scored in double figures finishing with 12 points on 4 of 8 shooting behind the 3-point line.

Whitt boosts Robert Morris-Springfield!

Beth Whitt had 21 points to pace Robert Morris-Springfield over USCAA opponent Rochester College 79-64.  Stephanie Brake added 13 points, and Rachel Clines and Lisa Sanderson added 12 apiece for the Eagles.

Hobson, Robert Morris-Springfield defeat USCAA rival Marygrove!

Becky Hobson (junior; Marshall, IN) led the Eagle's in scoring with 22 points and Robert Morris-Springfield downed USCAA opponent Marygrove University 90-83 in OT on the road.  Marygrove All-American Tiffany Byrde led all score's with 29 points.  Tied at 80 points all at the end of regulation, Robert Morris-Springfield outscored Marygrove 10-3 in the extra-period to improve to 14-8 for the season.  Others contributing for Robert Morris-Springfield were Beth Whitt (18 points and 14 rebounds), Erica Cash (18 points and 6 rebounds) and Rachel Clines (11 rebounds).

Lady Eagles down USCAA opponent!

The Lady Eagles of Springfield defeated USCAA opponent St. Mary's of the Woods 71-54.  Leading 38-24 at the half, RMU out-scored their opponent 33-30 in the second half.  Leading the way for Robert Morris was Beth Whitt with 16 points, 14 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals.  Others contributing were Nicole Dearing and Stephanie Brake each with 11 points, and Lisa Sanderson with 9 rebounds and 4 steals.

Lady Eagles go 1-1 in tournament!

Trying to capture Southern Virginia's Tournament for the second year in a row, the Lady Eagles were defeated in their first game by NCAA Div. II Chowan College 71-51.  Chowan outscored RMU by 10 points in each half.  Beth Whitt (Catlin, IL) led RMU with 11 points.  In their second contest of the tournament, RMU would face the host school and current #1 ranked USCAA Southern Virginia.  The Lady Eagles would explode out to a 38-26 half-time lead.  Beth Whitt continued her strong play in the tournament with 20 points, 7 rebounds and 5 steals.

Second Half shooting hurts Eagles!

Leading 42-40 at the half, Lincoln Land Community College women continued their hot shooting into the second half.  Unfortunately, the Lady Eagles weren't able to match the Lady Loggers shooting.  LLCC shot over 48% in the second half compared to RMU's 36%.  The Lady Eagles were able to narrow the score 54-53 with 12:41 left to play, but LLCC were able to fend off the Eagles and pull away in the last ten minutes.

Fleetwood, Eagles down Principia!

Katie Fleetwood (junior; Amboy, IL) came off the bench to lead Robert Morris over Principia scoring 16 points and pulling down 10 rebounds.  Also doing her share of boardwork was 6'4" Rachel Clines (junior; Thayne, WY), Clines pulled down a team high 11 rebounds against Principia.  Beth Whitt contributed with 13 points and 7 rebounds while Nicole Dearing showed her all-around game with 12 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals while running the point.

Defense key to victory!

"Strong defense and solid rebounding were keys to victory tonight" commented second year coach Brad Hansen.  RMU, who held a 45-27 advantage rebounding, led by the score of 35-18 at the break.  Leading RMU was Beth Whitt (Catlin, IL) and Nicole Dearing (Valparaiso, IN) with 14 points apiece.

Eagles hold on for victory!

Leading 24-23 at the break, RMU watched their lead vanish and found themselves down by nine with just under ten minutes to play.  Turning up their defense, RMU nipped away at Spoon River's lead and held on for a 50-47 victory over the 14th ranked NJCAA D2 squad.

Kudos goes out to Beth Whitt (junior; Catlin, IL) who scored 10 points and grabbed 7 rebounds.  Nicole Dearing (senior; Valparaiso, IN) scored 9 points, dished out 4 assist and had 3 steals.  Coach Hasen also stated that sophomore guard Lisa Sanderson, along with Whitt, did a tremendous job defensively holding Spoon River's Katarina Martinovic to only 4 points.  Martinovic put up 30 points on the Eagles the first time these two teams met.

Blue Jays stop Eagles in second half!

Playing their fourth game in five days, the Lady Eagles were running on empty in the second half against the visiting Blue Jays from Elmhurst College.  Trailing 33-31 at the break, Elmhurst outscored RMU 35-21 in the second half to win 66-54.  As the legs wore down so did the consistency of the Eagles play.  RMU committed 20 turnovers to just 11 by Elmhurst.

Lady Eagles rebound with two straight victories!

After their SIU-E game, the Lady Eagles of Springfield have regained form and completed a sweep of weekend action.  After defeating Blackburn College on Friday evening, RMU shot 52% from the floor to defeat Monmouth College.  Leading the way for RMU, Nicole Dearing (senior; Valparaiso, IN) with 20 points and Beth Whitt (junior; Catlin, IL) with 14 points.

SIU-E rolls to victory over RMU!

The Lady Eagles ran into a high powered SIU-E squad on Tuesday evening.  The Lady Cougars, an NCAA DII member of the Great Lakes Valley Conference, shot over 53% from the field with four players scoring in double figures.  Katie Fleetwood, a junior center from Amboy, IL, led the Lady Eagles with 11 points and 4 rebounds. 

Whitt and Cash named to All-Tourney Team!

Congratulations to Beth Whitt (junior; Catlin, IL) and Erica Cash (junior; Union City, TN) for their outstanding play and for being named to the Silver Lake All-Tournament Team. 

Leading the way for the Lady Eagles in their championship game over Moody Bible was Erica Cash with 14 points.  Becky Hobson hit for 14 points and LaShonda Adams pitched in with 10 points.  On Friday, the Lady Eagles dismantled their opponent Northland Baptist Bible 84-35.

Hobson's 3-pointers pace Eagles!

Becky Hobson went 6-for-9 from 3-point range and scored 24 points to lead RMU past Danville Area Community College 78-69.  Beth Whitt and Erica Cash added 15 points each for the Lady Eagles as they record their first victory in 2005.  Cash also recorded nine rebounds.

Lady Eagles defeated in season opener!

Robert Morris-Springfield Lady Eagles started their 2005-2006 campaign against NJCAA powerhouse Rend Lake CC.  From the opening tip-off, Rend Lake proved to be a force with their athleticism and precisions shooting.  Rend Lake shot 65% from the field for the game and 77% in the second half.  Leading the way for Robert Morris were junior forward Erica Cash (Union City, TN) with 15 points, junior center Katie Fleetwood (Amboy, IL) with 10 points and junior center Rachel Clines (Thayne, WY) added 7 points.