UPPER MARLBORO, Md. Delaware quickly eliminated any doubt and then went about finishing off North Carolina Wilmington today at the Colonial Athletic Association Womens Basketball Tournament.
Delaware led by as many 30 points in the first half and cruised to a 66-39 triumph in the semifinals at the Show Place Arena.
The Blue Hens advanced to Sundays 12:30 title game (The Comcast Network) against the No. 3-seeded Drexel (18-12), which trounced No. 2 James Madison 67-50 in today's second semifinal.
Delaware, ranked No. 7 nationally in the AP Top 25, improved to 29-1 with a school record 19th straight win.
'We're on a mission,' Delaware coach Tina Martin said. 'We really want to get this. This has been one of our goals and the team is focused, and we've got one more game.
'As I said, we just want to keep this thing going. These young ladies are amazing. They play hard and, hopefully, if things go OK, we'll have a chance to get a championship tomorrow and that's what we came here for.'
Martin was able to substitute early and often as Delaware charged to a 42-13 halftime lead.
All-American and NCAA scoring leader Elena Delle Donne played just 18 minutes, a season low, and scored 15 points, snared seven rebounds and blocked three shots.
Sophomore guard Akeema Richards (170-G) scored 13 points and grabbed seven rebounds and sophomore forward Kelsey Buchanan supplied a career-high 10 points with six rebounds.
Delaware shot 51.9 percent from the field (28-for-54) and outrebounded UNCW 46-30. The Seahawks shot 25 percent (15-for-60).
The Blue Hens were No. 7 seeds last year when they upset No. 3 UNCW in the CAA semifinals, but the Seahawks (20-12) couldnt return the favor.
'We have been here before,' Delle Donne said, 'and we drew confidence from that. Also, this whole season has been in preparation for tomorrow's game.'
UNCW made its first two shots of the game then went 9:19 before making another shot from the field. The Seahawks also didnt make a field-goal attempt in the final 7:47 of the first half, and were 4-for-28 from the field at halftime.
Eleven Blue Hens played and nine scored during the opening 20-minute blitz, during which Delaware had just one turnover and shot 51.4 percent from the field.
Delaware had dominated UNCW in the first of their two regular-season meetings, winning 69-37 Jan. 12 in Newark. However, four weeks later at UNCW, Delaware led by just one at halftime and by as few as four points with 2:20 left before winning 62-53.
In its 11th CAA season, Delaware is bidding for its first CAA Tournament title, which earns an automatic NCAA Tournament berth. The NCAA field will be announced Monday at 7 p.m. on ESPN with first-round games March 17 and 18. Delaware would certainly qualify as an at-large team if it fails to win the CAA Tournament, but would have a lower seed.
The top-seeded Hens won the CAA regular-season title with an 18-0 record, the conferences first unbeaten regular-season champion in 10 years.
Drexel gave Delaware its toughest CAA test, as the Hens needed Delle Donnes jumper with two seconds left to win 40-39 in Philadelphia Feb. 19.
'It's going to be challenging,' Martin said. 'It was the first two times we played them. Their system offensively is tough to defend and they've got such good shooters. They control the pace of the game and so that makes it difficult. And, in their zone, they have tough kids who use their bodies well.'
Lanese Bough(168-G-93), a Region 14 All-Conference Honorable Mention selection this season, has signed an NCAA National Letter of Intent with the University of Nebraska-Omaha. UNO is a member of the Summit League and competes at the Division I level. Bough averaged 6.1 points per game, while pulling down 6.1 rebounds per game from the point guard position. Her 4.8 assists per game average was good for second best in Region 14 [read more]
Lanese Bough (168-G-93), a Region 14 All-Conference Honorable Mention selection this season, has signed an NCAA National Letter of Intent with the University of Nebraska-Omaha. UNO is a member of the Summit League and competes at the Division I level. Bough averaged 6.1 points per game, while pulling down 6.1 rebounds per game from the point guard position. Her 4.8 assists per game average was good for second best in Region 14.
The Maverick womens basketball program and I are more than excited about the addition of such a quality person and player found in Lanese Bough. Lanese is a coachs dream at the point guard position with her unselfish play, high IQ, versatility, and well-rounded ability to impact the game in a multitude of ways. Our staff looks forward to her impressive maturity, competitiveness, and experience she will bring to our program and instill in her teammates, as she has done so during her career at Panola.
FAIRFAX, Va. -- George Mason head coach Nyla Milleson announced that Tajama Ngongba has joined the women's basketball staff as an assistant coach. Ngongba arrives in Fairfax after spending the past five seasons as the head coach at Radford University. Tajama brings a wealth of experience as a coach, student-athlete and professional athlete to Mason, stated Milleson [read more]
FAIRFAX, Va. -- George Mason head coach Nyla Milleson announced that Tajama Ngongba has joined the women's basketball staff as an assistant coach. Ngongba arrives in Fairfax after spending the past five seasons as the head coach at Radford University.
Tajama brings a wealth of experience as a coach, student-athlete and professional athlete to Mason, stated Milleson. Her strong familiarity with the area will only help us in recruiting local kids to the program and her passion and energy for the game will help move this program forward.
While at Radford, Ngongba mentored five Big South All-Conference honorees, a Big South All-Tournament selection, an All-Rookie honoree and the 2008-09 Big South Defensive Player of the Year. In just her third season as head coach, Ngongba was tabbed the Big South Coach of the Year after guiding the Highlanders to a second-place tie to cap the regular season and a quarterfinal appearance in the Big South Tournament.
Prior to Radford, Ngongba served as an assistant coach at her alma mater, George Washington University, for four years. From 2002-04, Ngongba was an assistant coach at Virginia Commonwealth and spent the 2001-02 season in the same role at the University of Richmond.
Before arriving at Richmond, Ngongba was a member of the coaching staff that helped the U.S. Virgin Islands Womens Junior National Team to a gold medal in the 2001 Caricom Junior Basketball Championships in Nassau, Bahamas. Aside from her role as an assistant, she also served as the team captain for the U.S. Virgin Islands Womens Senior National Team.
A former standout player for GW womens basketball from 1994-97, Ngongba remains the programs most prolific scorer having tallied a school-record 2,134 points during her four-year career. Ngongba was named a Kodak First-Team All-American in 1997 as a senior and the Atlantic 10 Conference Player of the Year.
A Kodak Honorable Mention All-American and Basketball Times Honorable Mention All-American in 1996, she received a unanimous first-team all-league selection in 1996 and 1997, earned second team all-conference honors in 1995 and was the Rookie of the Year in 1994. Ngongba was selected to the Atlantic 10 All-Tournament team in 1997 and was the tournaments MVP in 1996 when GW claimed the A-10 crown.
After graduating from GW, Ngongba was drafted as the seventh pick in the fourth round of the inaugural WNBA draft by the Sacramento Monarchs. She spent the 1997 season with the Monarchs before joining the Detroit Shock for the 1998 campaign. During the 1998-99 season, Ngongba traveled to Nice, France to play for the Nice Cavigal before returning to GW as an administrative assistant in October 1999.
A native of St. Croix, Virgin Islands, Ngongba became the sixth player to be inducted into the GW Athletics Hall of Fame on January 24, 2004. A 1997 graduate from GW with a degree in Sociology, Ngongba completed her Masters work in Parks, Recreation and Sports Leadership in 2006 from VCU. She married former GW mens basketball player Patrick Ngongba in 2003 and the couple has a daughter, Naja, and son, Patrick II.
DURHAM, N.C.- The Duke womens basketball team will head to St. Thomas for the 2013 Ezybonds Global Payments U.S. Virgin Islands Paradise Jam, which will be played at the University of the Virgin Islands from Nov. 28-30, 2013. The Blue Devils will be part of the Island Division and will face Xavier, Central Michigan and Kansas. Duke will take on Xavier in the first game on Nov. 28 at 1:15 p.m., following by a contest with Central Michigan on Nov. 29 at 1:15 p [read more]
DURHAM, N.C.- The Duke womens basketball team will head to St. Thomas for the 2013 Ezybonds Global Payments U.S. Virgin Islands Paradise Jam, which will be played at the University of the Virgin Islands from Nov. 28-30, 2013. The Blue Devils will be part of the Island Division and will face Xavier, Central Michigan and Kansas.
Duke will take on Xavier in the first game on Nov. 28 at 1:15 p.m., following by a contest with Central Michigan on Nov. 29 at 1:15 p.m., before closing the tournament with Kansas on Nov. 30 at 3:30 p.m. (all times are Eastern and are subject to change)
The Blue Devils have played in the Paradise Jam on two other occasions in 2002 and 2007, while collecting a 5-1 overall record.
Duke is coming off a season where the Blue Devils totaled a 33-3 overall record, won the ACC Regular Season and Tournament titles and advanced to the NCAA Elite Eight for the fourth straight year. The Blue Devils will return all five starters and their top seven scorers from 2012-13, while welcoming in the No. 2 rated recruiting class in the nation as head coach Joanne P. McCallie enters her seventh year at Duke.
Looking at the rest of the field, Xavier totaled a 13-16 overall record, while Central Michigan advanced to the NCAA Tournament first round collecting a 21-12 mark. Kansas reached the NCAA Sweet 16 with a 20-14 record.
For those fans looking to travel to St. Thomas for the 2013 Paradise Jam, you can contact Basketball Travelers by heading to http://www.paradisejam.com/.
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