Thursday, March 23, 2000
Highlands loses in Sweet 16
BY RAY SCHAEFER
Enquirer contributor
RICHMOND, Ky. - If only Highlands' game against Louisville DuPont Manual Thursday could have ended after four minutes.
The Ninth Region champion Ladybirds blew a 12-point lead and eventually fell to the Seventh Region champion Lady Crimsons, 56-37, in the opening round of the girls state tournament at Eastern Kentucky University.
Manual meets Third Region champion Muhlenberg North in the quarterfinals at 8:30 p.m. today. The Lady Stars eliminated 14th Region champion Perry County Central, 75-72, behind sophomore guard Holly Mills' 20 points.
Junior guard Chelsey Thompson led Manual with 13 points, and junior guard Liz Plass and senior center Emily Church each added 10. Junior forward Stephanie Ripberger led Highlands with 10.
Highlands finished the year at 26-6. The Ladybirds fell to 5-6 in six state tournament trips and exited in the first round for the first time since 1995 and the third time overall (Highlands lost to Marshall County in 1985).
Manual (25-4) has never finished sooner than the quarterfinals in its four trips to state.
The Ladybirds had plenty of reason for optimism in the first quarter: they shot 3-of-3 shooting over the first two minutes helped; senior forward Heather Dickerson and senior guard Joanna Imhoff each hit a 3-pointer - part of a 9-2 run.
Highlands could play defense - the Ladybirds had allowed just 37 points a game, sixth stingiest in the state. Thursday, the Ladybirds had one major objective: make Manual play a half-court game on offense.
Manual obliged. The Lady Crimsons shot 6-of-17 for the first quarter.
With Highlands shooting so well, Manual couldn't unleash its uptempo game. The Lady Crimsons were just 2-of-6 over the first four minutes.
Highlands remained hot the next two minutes. Field goals by sophomore center Tara Boothe and Ripberger and Imhoff's second 3-pointer made it 16-4 Highlands with 4:03 left in the quarter.
Those were also the last points Highlands scored in the quarter - and it was the last lead the Ladybirds had the rest of the night.
It was the suddenness that shocked the Ladybirds, and it came from an unlikely source.
Manual is one of the tallest teams in the tournament -- the Lady Crimsons start with the 6-1 Church and 6-3 junior Chandra Brown - but it was 5-3
sophomore guard Ashley Butler's four points and a steal that pulled the Lady Crimsons to 16-12 after one quarter.
The Lady Crimsons, making its first appearance since 1990, finally untracked its offense in the second quarter. An 8-0 run put Manual ahead 21-16 three minutes in.
Highlands' woes were numerous.
The Ladybirds were just 8-of-19 shooting for the half and 2-of-7 in the second quarter. They committed 13 turnovers -- sophomore guard Christian Stefanopoulos had five) -- which Manual turned into 17 points, and they did not another point until Ripberger's 3-pointer with 1:41 left in the half.
To top it off, Boothe, the team's leading scorer and rebounder, missed the final 6:14 of the half with an ankle injury.
Plass led the Lady Crimson's at halftime with eight points. In a 7-2 Lady Crimson run over the final 2:02, she scored three points, and Thompson and Brown added two apiece.
Thompson's six points in the third quarter gave Manual a 36-26 lead. Highlands went 4:21 without a point and never came closer than seven the rest of the night.
HIGHLANDS (37): Imhoff 2 2 8, Winkler 1-0 3, Ripberger 4 1 10, Sheanshang 1 0 2, Stefanopoulos 2 1 5, Boothe 2 2 6, Dickerson 1 0 3. Totals: 13 6 37.
DUPONT MANUAL (56): Butler 3 2 8, Carcara 1 0 2, Benbery 3 1 7, Thompson 6 1 13, Plass 4 0 10, Hohmann 1 0 2, Brown 2 0 4, Church 3 4 10. Totals: 23 8 56.
Highlands ....... 16 6 4 9 — 37
DuPont Manual ....... 12 16 10 18 — 56
3-point goals: H-Imhoff 2, Winkler, Ripberger, Dickerson. DM-Plass 2. Records: H 26-6, DM 25-4.
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