It's Now 'Do or Die' for Mann's Troops

Release Date: February 4, 2000

Regardless of how coach Dennis Mann’s Fighting Scots fare on this weekend’s trip to Wisconsin, they can count this season as a success. Picked to finish eighth in the Midwest Conference with a young lineup that returned only one starter, the Scots (9-8, 5-6) have instead hung on the fringe of the MWC’s final playoff spot all season.

But as the season hits its final two weeks, time is running out on Monmouth’s hopes for that playoff berth. The two teams within reach, Carroll and Lawrence (both 7-4), both hold the tiebreaker over Monmouth, meaning the Scots basically need to win their remaining five league games to have a chance.

The Scots post-weekend schedule actually includes three teams that Monmouth beat the first time around this season, but their contests at St. Norbert Friday and at Ripon Saturday are what has Mann concerned at the moment.

"They’re such a balanced team," said Mann of St. Norbert, which beat Monmouth 72-59 last month. "Their post player, Nadia Czajkowski, just won the conference’s Player of the Week, and that’s three of their players now that have won it."

Point guard Liz Valela and wing Julie Schill are the others, and both of them are ranked among the nation’s leaders. Valela dishes out 5.2 assists per game and Schill is scoring at 17.4 ppg clip.

"Schill really hurt us at our place," said Mann, who saw the nation’s 50th-ranked scorer pour in 25 points, including 10 straight at one juncture. "She has one of the quickest releases coming off a screen that you’re going to see in this conference."

Monmouth can counter with one MWC Player of the Week in Sara Larkin, but the sophomore has been slowed by a broken nose suffered Jan. 25. She now wears a protective mask, and Mann said it’s affected her.

"She’s still going to have to wear it this weekend, and she’s not really comfortable with it," he said. "It’s a shame, because she’s done so many good things for us."

Those good things diminished with the mask as Larkin, who has season averages of 10.6 points and 6.9 rebounds, scored just seven points in the Scots’ two-game homestand and pulled down nine rebounds.

A bright spot did emerge, though, as freshman Kara Kuhrts produced career highs in points, rebounds and assists in last Friday’s win over Beloit.

"Kara wasn’t a point guard in high school, but with Carla Sweet leaving the program, she’s taken on the job for us," said Mann. "She’s struggled at times, but Friday she came up big."

Indeed, it was Kuhrts who hit the key shots during a second-half run that rallied Monmouth from an 11-point deficit. Erin Bradshaw’s game-winning trey with 25 seconds to play wouldn’t have been possible without Kuhrts’ performance minutes before.

If the Scots can hang with St. Norbert (10-1), the challenge of beating Ripon (4-6) seems easier, but Mann said that is deceiving.

"Ripon is the most difficult place in the conference for us to play," he said. "They’ll come out and play us hard. We had a nice lead on them earlier this year and then they went to a zone and slowed us down. They’ll probably play it wire-to-wire this time around."

In Monmouth’s 71-63 win in January, the Scots jumped out to a 43-25 lead but struggled from the field in the second half, shotting just 24.3 percent. Ripon was able to cut the lead to four points, but the Scots sank their free throws to hang on.

If Monmouth manages a split instead of a sweep this weekend, it must count on Carroll to drop both of its games this weekend. The Pioneers play MWC co-leader Lake Forest Friday and host an up-and-down Illinois College (5-6) team Saturday.