Paul Sherar - Chief Photographer

Mountaineer guard Aisha Bryant picks the pocket of a Chattanooga opponent during The Mocs’ Jan. 21 86-68 win. ASU takes on Davidson tonight in the first round of the SoCon Tournament.

Tournament loss would spell end for
ASU’s Breedlove era
Mountaineers face eighth-seeded Wildcats tonight

James Nix - Sports Beat

After a season of ups and downs, few wins and the news of head coach Barbie Breedlove’s resignation at the end of the season, the Appalachian State University women’s basketball team heads to the Southern Conference Tournament today.

The ninth-seeded Mountaineers will tip off against the eighth-seeded Davidson College Wildcats today at 5 p.m. at McAlister Field House on the campus of The Citadel in Charleston, S.C.

If Appalachian makes it past the Wildcats, number-one seeded University of Tennessee at Chattanooga awaits in tomorrow’s quarterfinals.

Appalachian holds a 2-1 record over the Wildcats in post-season play, a mark that includes the 1999 SoCon championship game which sent Appalachian to the NCAA Tournament.

Appalachian also has met Davidson twice this season and won both times.

The Mountaineers first met Davidson on Jan. 8 in the George M. Holmes Convocation Center and walked away with a 72-58 win.

The second meeting Feb. 9 went into overtime and Appalachian won by a margin of only two points.

Going into the game today, Appalachian is on a four-game losing streak. Its last win was against Davidson.

The Wildcats enter the game on a two-game winning streak.
Another factor, which could hurt the Mountaineers, is the recent suspension of sophomore guard Aisha Bryant.

Bryant, along with sophomore guard Rebecca Norris, was suspended from the team after what Breedlove calls a “violation of team policy.”

Bryant received a two-game suspension, while Norris was only out for one game.

While on suspension, neither player could practice with the team.
Norris resumed practice last week after the loss to Western Carolina University. Bryant, however, resumed practice Monday after this weekend’s loss to Chattanooga.

This allowed Bryant only three days of practice with the team before today’s game.

Bryant, before her suspension, led the team in scoring with an average of 13 points a game. She was also the first Mountaineer to score 30 points in two consecutive games.

After a week of missed practices and no playing time in the last two games, Bryant’s dominance on the court may not be the same.

This tournament will be the last Breedlove spends with Appalachian.
She announced she was resigning at the end of the season after 15 seasons with the team.

Breedlove led the Mountaineers to a post-season run in 1999. The team came out of a 3-9 late-season slump and stormed through the SoCon tournament to win the championship.

The 1999 Cinderella story is not as likely this year, however.
Appalachian was ranked in the top six of the conference in 1999. This year it is ranked ninth.

The top-six ranking in 1999 automatically put Appalachian in the quarterfinals and three wins from the championship.

The Mountaineers must play the first round this year, which adds an extra game.

It will be an impressive run if Appalachian can win four consecutive SoCon games after only winning five out of 13 in the regular season.

Appalachian must correct its inconsistency if it wants success in today’s game.

The Mountaineers have constantly fallen behind in the first half and tried to play catch-up in the second half, something that cannot happen in the tournament.

Appalachian must play both halves of basketball, or it will not see the same success it saw against Davidson earlier in the season.

Following last week’s loss to Western, Breedlove said the team would work on its shooting and rebounding this week, two things that continue to show up in the first-half downfalls.

Paul Sherar - Chief Photographer

ASU guard Chris McFarland glares at Wofford opponent Adrien Borders after throwing down a dunk during ASU’s Feb. 11 win. ASU faces College of Charleston tonight at 8:30 p.m.

Mountaineers face host Cougars
tonight in tournament opener
Balanced field could culminate with memorable title game on ESPN

Chris Boyce - Sports Beat

Six regular season conference champions round out what looks to be one of the most evenly-matched fields in recent history as the Southern Conference prepares to kick off its 2002 tournament tonight.
At stake, a bid to the 2002 NCAA “Big Dance.”

The Appalachian State University men’s basketball team will have their work cut out for them when the sixth-seeded Mountaineers battle the third-seeded College of Charleston Cougars tonight at 8:30 p.m. in the first round of the 2002 Southern Conference Tournament in Charleston, S.C.

The Cougars boast a league-best overall record at 19-8 and took a share of the South Division crown during the regular season, finishing tied for first with Georgia Southern University and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.

In addition, the entire tournament will be held in the Cougars’ backyard.

But Charleston has limped into the tournament, dropping two straight, including a 70-54 loss to Georgia Southern.

It was that loss that put the Cougars in the difficult position of playing four games instead of only three.

“It’s one and done,” said Appalachian State head coach Houston Fancher about the finality of the tournament. “The season’s over for whoever loses, and we’ve got a big challenge. Charleston’s probably the toughest draw you can have.”

Appalachian enters the tournament with its own struggles, dropping the last two games and moving from fifth to sixth in the North on the final day of regular season play.

Coupled with needing to play four grueling games in four days to be crowned tourney champs, the Mountaineers’ late evening game Thursday night gives them less chance to prepare for another game
Friday.

Fancher is more worried about the four games in four days but hopes his team’s depth could overcome the obstacle.

“Depth is to our advantage. Opening up with the home team with a huge crowd will be a challenge, but the 8:30 p.m. game may allow more of our fans to come,” said Fancher.

College of Charleston head coach John Kresse stressed the importance of not looking ahead for the Cougars.

“We’re not looking at all to Friday or Saturday,” said Kresse. “We have to start it out with a win Thursday.”

“We’ll need a steady brand of defense, but also we must score points in a game where Appalachian State has a lot of quickness and speed,” added Kresse. “They’re capable and well-coached, and they use a multiple facet of players.”

Charleston’s “steady brand of defense” is perhaps the best in the conference, first in scoring defense, allowing only 60 points per game.

The Mountaineers are second-to-last in scoring defense, allowing 78 points per contest.

The tournament kicks off at noon today in the North Charleston Coliseum with the fifth seed in the North, Virginia Military Institute, facing the fourth seed in the South, The Citadel Bulldogs.

The third seed in the North, the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, will face sixth-seeded Wofford University 30 minutes after the first game, followed by fourth-seeded Western Carolina University versus fifth-seeded Furman University at 6 p.m.

Davidson College and East Tennessee State University both grabbed first-round byes in the North. Georgia Southern and Chattanooga wait to play until Friday as well.

The winners of tonight’s game play tomorrow in the quarterfinals before advancing to the semi-finals on Saturday.

The men’s championship game will take place Sunday at 6 p.m. and will be broadcast on ESPN.