Basketball seasons end

But watch out for the Scots next year

by Mallory Mulvihill
Sports Editor

The men’s and women’s basketball teams had their fair shares of ups and downs, heartbreakers, close calls, and inconsistent games. After four months, the basketball season has ended, but hopes for the future, and just the right chemistry of people will both teams the chance to make a statement in the conference next year. With important seniors to the program leaving, they put their leadership and enthusiasm in the hands of the juniors to push Monmouth over the hump and into the MWC playoffs.

The men had a frustrating year and struggled to put together a full forty minute game. They started off the year strong with three straight wins and a promising season. The Midwest Conference picked them to finish fifth in the league and be the darkhorse of the conference maybe pulling off a playoff berth when the end of the season came. Approaching the first games of the conference, the men were putting all their hopes in the seniors and in the hands of smooth shooting Anthony Beaird and Chris Hebeler.

The men lost two tough conference wins right off the bat and had trouble getting back on their feet. Although, the did beat Aurora University on a three point showdown in which Hebeler hit 12 threes and earned himself a Midwest Conference Player of the Week.

Unfortunately after the break, the men went on a five game losing streak all against conference teams before winning their first game against Illinois College.

The one heartbreaker this year was the Scots’ inability to beat Knox at home and were swept by the Prairie Fire losing away also. The home Knox game could possibly go down as one of the best games in Knox-Monmouth history. The men came back from a 20 point deficit with less than nine minutes to play to lose by one in overtime. Blaise Rogers tied the game on a buzzer beating three pointer while leaning around a defender.

The Scots scored on 13 of their last 16 possessions and hit threes on seven of them. With 34 seconds to go, the Scots had pulled within six and just kept plugging away. Raun Singleton sank a quick three and after fouling a Knox player to force him to shoot free throws, Rogers was fouled behind the arc. He calmly stepped to the line and sank all three charity shots. After a quick foul, a Knox player made only one shot to keep the game within one possession. Then came Rogers’s shot that gave the Monmouth fans just that much more hope as the gym exploded in loud cheers.

With all the seniors sitting on the bench in the extra period, the Scots tied the game at 79. Knox then stole an inbound pass with seven seconds to go and was fouled making one of his two free throws.

Rogers had an amazing game with 19 points, 14 of which were in the final minutes of the game.

Another important spot of the Knox game, was the one three pointer Beaird hit that shoved him over the 1000 career point marker. He is one of 19 players to earn such an honor, some which include baseball coach Roger Sander and Steve Glasgow.

After a tough loss, the Scots came back the next Tuesday and beat Illinois College in their first conference win of the season. None of the seniors got the starting nod during this game, but Beaird came off the bench to score 18 points and only miss two shots the whole game. He hit all his free throws at the end of the game to keep it out of reach for a comeback by the Blue Boys. David Price added a double double with 13 points and 11 rebounds.

In the final home game of the season against Lake Forest, the men pulled off a victory that they were just short of the first time around. Being senior night, the men wanted to hand their four seniors one final win in Glennie Gymnasium. Joe Terwelp did just that. He missed just one shot the whole game and had 18 points, 6 assists, and 5 rebounds. Singleton and Rogers came off the bench and scored 15 points each. Rogers was an impressive 3-3 from behind the arc.

The ball seemed to bounce in favor of the Scots this game as the Foresters missed two easy buckets at the end to keep the Scots ahead. Rogers, who has been full of big plays this year, cleared the glass, was fouled, and sank both his free throws. The Scots won 67-63.

If we remember last year, the men were in a must win situation and hoped that fate took care of the rest. Carroll was facing top ranked Lawrence and if the Pioneers would have lost, it would have put them in a fourth place tie with the men. Since the men beat Carroll earlier in the season, they would have earned a spot in the MWC playoffs. Well the basketball gods spoke, and Carroll upset Lawrence, leaving Monmouth one win shy of the playoffs. Unfortunately, the men were not in that position this year, but knew the last game of the season was about pride.

Entering the Illinois College game, the men had only won three conference games, one which included beating the Blue Boys at home earlier in the season. In the final game of their careers, the seniors came out ready to end their season on a high note. Beaird hit the first basket of the game, which was of course from behind the arc, but aws silenced for the rest of the game. The Scots and the Blue Boys stayed close throughout the first half, and the men were down by just four, 29-25, at halftime.

The men traded baskets with the Blue Boys all throughout the second half and rode on the coattails of Hebler’s hot hand. The Scots were up by one with a minute to play, when a turnover by Hebeler and a jump shot by Illinois College put the home team up by 2 with 25 seconds to play. The Scots came down the floor in hopes to tie the game and did so on a tough shot by Price with ten seconds to play to force the game into overtime.

The overtime period saw the men playing down the whole game. The Blue Boys came out of the regulation period running on all cylinders. Hebeler and Terwelp carried the team during the overtime period, which the Scots lost 67-61. Hebeler led the team in scoring with 23 points and 7 rebounds. Terwelp pitched in his usual numbers with 14 points and 9 rebounds.

Terwelp had quite a season. He led the team with 14.7 points per game. “Joe had a real consistent season over the last half dozen games or so,” said Coach Terry Glasgow. He was nearly 67 percent from the field and 39 percent from behind the arc. He averaged 6.8 rebounds a game and in his two seasons with the Scots already has 440 points. He nearly tripled the amount of points he scored in his sophomore season than his freshman season. In his senior season, Beaird averaged 12.8 points per game and was 35 percent from behind the arc and finished his career with 1149 points.

The Scots will look to be one of the top teams next season. Although the Scots will lose four seniors, they will return Terwelp, Price, and Rogers. The Scots could come into the season next year picked to fall in the final half of the Midwest Conference, but if a few players improve their game over the summer, and they recieve some hopeful recruits, they could be one of the teams to beat in the following years.

The women came into this season having finished in the bottom of the MWC in last two years, winning only 12 games combined. After the release of Dennis Mann and the hiring of Melissa Jones, the Scots made quite an impact on the MWC and the school. Jones worked the girls to the bone and made them into a team that could compete with anyone.

The women started off the season slow, not really understanding what it takes to close out the close games and pull ahead of the teams that couldn’t play with them. The women didn’t quite know how to win yet. All the ingredients were there to make the women one of the best teams Monmouth has had in a long time, but the experience wasn’t.

The two lone seniors on the team were determined to make their senior year memorable and be known as a winning team. Although the women didn’t end up with a winning record (10-12), they were close, and Courtney Scherrer and Lisa Curry put their handprints all over the season that may in fact change Monmouth women’s basketball for the better in the future.

In the first games of the season, the women won one game and lost two, but both loses were by less than ten points. The women lost to top ranked Rockford in their own Thanksgiving tournament by just three points. Rockford has won their conference the last few years in a row, were in contention to make an NCAA tournament appearance, and had a pre season All American on their team. The women were actually winning for most of the game, but fell apart in the last few minutes of play. From that moment on, the Scots knew they would be a force to be reckoned with.

The Scots struggled to find their chemistry as a team and just what they needed to win the close games. After the women’s first win, they lost five games in a row. All except two, which were against two of the best teams in the country, were lost by less than ten points.

After the winter break, the Scots traveled to Minnesota and crushed Macalester 81-58, then came back home and crushed Eureka 81-36. The women were starting to come into their own, and realize that their athleticism and defense was what was going to win them games. The Scots found the teamwork they were lacking, and the ability to put together full 40 minute games.

In the second half of the season, the women put together some amazing games that resulted in wins. The Scots finally knew what it took to put wins together and hold off teams at the end of games. The Scots struggled against Knox at home, but held off a run at the end of the game to win 73-65.

The best game of the season came against Illinois College, in which the women went up by nearly 20 points in the first half, but played basket for basket in the second half. The women picked up their defense in a game they knew they should win, and never looked back. The women played as a team, listened to their coaches, and used their fast paced tempo to take the Lady Blues by surprise. The Lady Blues based their game plan around slowing the game down, throwing the ball into their post players, and getting easy baskets.

The Scots and the Lady Blues were tied with just a minute to go, when junior Mallory Mulvihill hit a three pointer to put the women ahead by two. Jones then made a wise decision by putting in strong free throw shooting Laura Jahn in at the end of the game. She calmly sank two freethrows with 12 seconds left to play and the women ended up winning the game 58-54.

Ashley Yeast and Curry had quite a game in the post. Yeast finished with 13 points and 15 rebounds to record yet another double double, and Curry had 18 points in 32 minutes. Scherrer recorded 5 assists in her attempt to reach the all time career assists mark.

The Scots put together quite a week after beating Knox, Illinois College, and upsetting top ranked Lawrence by three. The Knights weren’t ready for the Scots who finally realized that they could in fact play with and beat anyone. They came into the game with a game plan and a new found confidence.

The women shut down the Knight’s best player and did everything right to take the Knights by surprise. Yeast put together another stellar performance with 17 points and 14 rebounds and Curry added 15 points. Yeast earned herself Midwest Conference Performer of the Week after her week that included two double doubles. After this week, the Scots were deemed the darkhorse of the conference, and advised teams to watch out for them.

The Scots needed to win seven of their last eight games, and fell to Grinnell and Ripon which immediately dashed their playoff hopes. The women could have given up when they knew their playoff chances were over, but knew they had something left to prove. The Scots knew they had given teams a scare by beating Lawrence and losing to some of the top teams in the conference by less than ten points.

Going into the final home game of the season, the Scots hadn’t beaten Lake Forest in 22 years. On the women’s senior day, the women laid it all on the line for the two seniors that had bled and sweat Monmouth basketball for the last four years. Scherrer had already beaten the career assist record in the previous game against Knox on a beauty to Jahn going back door. She only needed two assists to break the record but recorded a game high eight.

The Scots ended up beating the Foresters by two points, 65-63, in one of the most influential wins of the season. Jahn scored 16 points and Melissa Gorski scored 15. Yeast grabbed 15 rebounds and in the process broke the single season rebounding record.

Scherrer was clutch from the free throw line at the end of the game, going 9-9. Her performances against Knox and Lake Forest earned herself Midwest Conference Performer of the Week. It was the second time the women’s team had a player earn such award. The last time a Monmouth women’s basketball player earned such honor was when Jones played for the Scots in 02-03.

In their final game of the season, the Scots had the opportunity to secure a fifth place spot in the Midwest Conference with a victory. It would be the second best finish ever for the women in their history. The Scots struggled to find momentum away from home, which had been a problem for them all season, and ended up losing a heart breaker to Illinois College in overtime.

The Scots were up by three with a minute left to play, but a turnover by Mulvihill which resulted in a lay up tied to the game. The Scots had a chance to win the game at the end on a wide open lay up at the buzzer, but Gorski’s shot went just wide. The Scots ended up losing the game 64-58.

The Scots will lose two of the most important players to their season to graduation. Scherrer finished her season with 115 assists, which beats Vanessa Treat’s single season assist record by two and 344 assists for her career which also beat Treat’s previous record of 331.

Yeast grabbed 275 rebounds this season which beat the previous record held by Heather Robertson with 249. Gorski had quite a freshman year, leading the team in scoring with 12.3 points per game.

Two important players to the start of a new era leave, but hand over the reigns to juniors Mulvihill and Jahn. With Gorski, Yeast, and strong post Tanesha Hughes returning along with Mulvihill and Jahn, they look to take the conference over next year and make the playoffs for only the second time in Monmouth history.

The men and women’s basketball season starts again in six months. The youth of both programs look to add improvements to both teams’ records and have both teams make appearances in the Midwest Conference Tournament.