Erika Smith leads UR to second Final Four

Senior Erika Smith scored 20 points and added 10 rebounds to lead the women’s basketball team to the NCAA Division III Final Four for the second consecutive year with a 61-57 win over Marymount University.An estimated 1,000 spectators witnessed the Yellowjackets tie a school record for wins in a single season. UR improved their overall record to 24-4, while dropping Marymount to 26-5.Senior Tara Carrozza added ten points and a team-high five assists. Sophomore Jessie Graham was the other player to score in double digits, also scoring 10 points. Junior Kelly Wescott narrowly missed a double-double, scoring nine points and nabbing a team-high 11 rebounds. UR won with trademark defense and rebounding, outrebounding the tenacious Marymount squad 42-39. “We rebounded well very well,” Head Coach Jim Scheible said. “Kelly really stood out in the second half and [junior] Megan Fish did too. This was a really good team effort.”Smith scored nine points in a key 14-0 late first-half run that gave UR a 38-23 lead. The Yellowjackets lead 38-26 at halftime.In the second half, Marymount fought back to get within 44-41 at the 9:41 mark. However, they would get no closer the rest of the game.Down 59-54 with 33 seconds remaining, Marymount’s Annetta Benjamin fouled Smith, who sank both free throws, giving the Yellowjackets a comfortable 61-54 cushion. Marymount’s Ashlee Courter hit a meaningless three-point shot with four seconds remaining to give the game its final score.”The whole game was a bunch of runs,” Smith said. “In the first half, we were making all out shots.”Last season, the Yellowjackets lost to eventual national champion Trinity College of Texas in the semifinal, and then to top-ranked University of Wisconsin at Eau Claire in the third-place game.The Yellowjackets will play Wilmington College of Ohio in the national semifinals at Norfolk, Va. Tip-off is scheduled for 3 p.m. Friday. That game will be followed the other semifinal between unbeaten and top-ranked Bowdoin College of Maine and the University of Wisconsin at Stevens Point. Winners from the semifinals will play at 2 p.m. on Saturday in the national championship game. The third place game will be held at 11 a.m. Tipton can be reached at rtipton@campustimes.org.