DEFENSE KEY IN BUCS’ ROUND TWO WIN

Defense leads Buccaneers past No. 2 Walters State

SALINA, Kan. – Leading to his team's NJCAA national tournament showdown against No. 2 Walters State, Blinn women's basketball coach Jeff Jenkins was going through the biggest upsets in NCAA basketball.

There was Boston College's upset of No. 1 North Carolina in 1994, 75-72; Virginia Commonwealth's 71-61 win over Kansas in 2011; or the unforgettable victory Villanova pulled over Georgetown, 66-64, in 1985.

Jenkins and his 12^th-ranked Buccaneers went on to pull off their own upset Tuesday night with a 57-52 win over No. 2-ranked Walters State Community College at the NJCAA Division I Women's Basketball National Championship.

The Bucs, not a team known for their defense, won the game with a defensive showing that included 61 stops, which fed to a 30 percent shooting percentage for the Lady Senators and only 21 second-half points.

"That's as good defensively we've played all year," Jenkins said. "We usually outscore people, and tonight we didn't shoot the ball well, we had turnovers, but we played good enough defense to beat the (second-ranked) team in the nation."

A second-ranked team that had also not lost a game this season.

Entering Tuesday's game, Walters State first of the tournament, the Lady Senators were 32-0, trailing only Trinity Valley Community College, a Region XIV Conference team with Blinn, in the national rankings.

In the most important game of the season, Blinn erased Walters State's perfect run.

"I was nervous at first coming in," sophomore forward Fatima Adams, who scored 20 points and pulled down 14 rebounds. "Coming into the game, I had never been nervous being the underdog, until now. But once it got started, it was great. Getting the blocks, getting them to turn the ball over, not giving them second-chance opportunities, it was awesome."

Blinn did a masterful job in shutting down the Lady Senators' two dangerous posts, Jasmine McAllister and Jephany Brown, who are 5-foot-10 and taller. The Bucs were able to shut down Walters State's set offense with a tight, in-your-face defense, deflections, and not allowing the Lady Senators to find McAllister and Brown in the paint.

The Bucs held Brown to eight points and McAllister to 11.

 "The game plan was to basically deny them so they don't start their offense," sophomore guard Katrina Hayden said, who scored 14 points. "That's how they get the majority of their points from the high-low. I think we did a pretty well."

It was a defensive showdown the entire game, which was a complete change of pace for a Buccaneer team that is average 81 points per game this season.

Blinn trailed by as many as seven in the first half but entered halftime with a 32-31 lead. With 2:33 to play in the game, Blinn had only scored 17 second-half points but led 49-48.

Both teams hit an offensive lull that included a stretch of nearly six minutes when neither team hit a field goal.

"We got frustrated, but when Coach called timeouts or when we would slow the ball down, we would talk to each other and calm each other down," Adams said, who's returning to her second straight Elite Eight with the Bucs. "We stayed together, and that was the most important thing."

Also important were to strong defensive plays by Adams that helped seal the win.

With 40 seconds to play and Blinn clinging to a 55-52 lead, Walters State forced a turnover near half court and Donnesha Shuler Brown looked as if she'd stroll in for an easy layup to cut Blinn's lead to one.

Adams, though, sprinted down the court and just as Shuler Brown pulled up for the layup, Adams got a block that Blinn recovered. Hayden drained two free throws 16 seconds later to give Blinn a 57-52 lead.

 "I honestly didn't think I was going to get that block," Adams said. "I was trying to hustle back and some way make her miss the layup or fumble the ball out of bounds. When I got the block, it was just a big energy burst inside of us."

"Not too many girls can make that play," Jenkins said. "The timing of that block was remarkable. That won the game."

And she wasn't through.

When Walters State's Karly Frye pulled up for a 3-pointer at the baseline with 13 seconds remaining, Adams was there to swat the ball away and seal the victory.

"Thankfully her block didn't let that girl get a shot off," sophomore Tierra Tucker said, who scored five points and had seven rebounds. "It would have been a much closer game, but we managed to get the loose ball and do what we had to do."

Enough for the Bucs to pull off an upset over one of the best teams in the country.

(Story & Photos Courtesy: Matt Keyser, Blinn Information)