April 01, 2005

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Palo Alto Online

Sad end to the season

by Pat Sangimino

If Kelley Suminski's bloodshot eyes didn't tell the story, the emotional description of her failed attempt at a game-tying 3-point shot spoke volumes.

"I wanted it," said the senior guard, her voice faltering as the tears rolled down her face. "I hadn't been shooting well the whole game, but I thought that was my chance to kind of redeem myself."

Alas, her shot from the top of the key with about 20 seconds to play rattled around the rim before bounding long to the right. And as it did, Stanford's dream of getting back to the Final Four for the first time since 1997 came to an end.

Michigan State's 76-69 victory over the Cardinal, before a sparse gathering of 2,475 fans in Kansas City, Mo., sent the top-seeded Spartans to Indianapolis, where they will play in their first Final Four tournament.

Heck, this is the first time the Spartans have ever made it past the second round of the NCAA tourney. By doing so, Michigan State becomes just the sixth school ever to send its men's and women's teams to the Final Four in the same year.

"We are thrilled to join our men in the Final Four and to have Michigan State represented so nationally," said Spartans coach Joanne McCallie.

It was a berth that the Spartans earned - one that Stanford honestly believed would be its own when it embarked for Kansas City five days earlier.

Stanford showed great resiliency in battling back from a 13-point deficit in the second half - and that assisted in making the loss Tuesday even more gut-wrenching.

"A loss is painful every way - by one point, five points or six points," said Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer. "When you work this hard to get into this position and then come up short, it hurts. There was a lot invested by the players.

"We're all very disappointed. For me, it will probably hit at four in the morning and it hits hard."

Game's are not won and lost with last-second shots. No one pointed the finger of blame toward Suminski. Stanford's season-ending loss can be attributed to three things: It struggled all night with its perimeter shooting. There were breakdowns on the defensive end that led to some easy baskets, particularly in the second half when the Spartans pulled away, and Michigan State dominated the boards.

The Cardinal acknowledged its shortcomings, but that didn't make it any easier to digest.

"You dream about this moment. You dream about going to the Final Four," said freshman Candice Wiggins, who scored 19 points and was named to the All-Regional team. "It hurts because we came so close. It hurts because there was something different about this team. There was something special."

The Cardinal (32-3) was special. Tuesday's loss was its first since Dec. 29. Twenty-three victories later, it was out to prove its detractors, which selected it to be a No. 2 seed despite the fact that it was the top-ranked team in the final regular-season national poll, had erred.

It just wasn't meant to be.

The Cardinal, which spotted Michigan State the first eight points of each half, fell behind by as many as 13 points midway through the second half.

"We started making the extra pass in the second half," said junior forward Liz Shimek, who scored a game-high 24 points and pulled down 10 rebounds. "We came out in the second half in attack mode. We came out more aggressive on the defensive end and that helped offensively."

The Cardinal battled its way back into the contest. A 15-2 run tied the contest at 57, but Stanford never took the lead in the second half.

"I felt like it was an uphill battle the whole game," VanDerveer said. "... We were always playing from behind. We could never get over the hump."

Wiggins hit a couple of free throws to tie the game at 61, but the Spartans (32-3) had one more run. Four free throws and a 3-pointer by Rene Haynes gave Michigan State a 68-61 lead with less than three minutes to play.

Suminski hit a three to make it 68-64 and Susan King Borchardt followed with a jumper that cut the lead to two points with 1:25 to play. But Shimek, as she had all game, came through with a running layup for the Spartans to make it 70-66.

"We weren't making stops when we needed to make shots," VanDerveer said.

Wiggins drove to the basket for a layup and free throw with 43.6 seconds to play to cut the lead to one, 70-69. The Spartans followed with a key jumper from Lindsay Bowen, who had been pestered all night by King Borchardt, but was able to get free for a 14-footer that put them up by three points. It was Bowen's first basket of the night.

That set up Suminski's chance to tie the contest.

"That was our chance," VanDerveer said. "We made that run to get back in the game. It just came down to certain times in the game where if you make your shot, you have a chance. One of those was when Kelley's rattled out."

The players openly showed their emotion following the game. Suminski broke down twice and center Brooke Smith, who keyed the second-half comeback by scoring 16 points, lowered her head into the crook of her arm as she spoke of her disappointment.

"At this point of the season, all the teams are good and they all want to go to the Final Four," she said. "Only one team goes home happy this time of the year."

Pat Sangimino is a sports writer for The Olathe News in Kansas.

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