Ress soars for Eagles
HARTFORD -- She's a freshman, she's from Italy, and she had to sit out the first 12 games of the season with the Boston College women's basketball team. So Kathrin Ress says she's still adjusting.
She looked perfectly adjusted yesterday.
Ress went from scoring no points in Saturday's first-round game of the Big East Tournament to scoring a game- and career-high 20 yesterday as BC defeated Miami, 65-53, in a quarterfinal before 10,833 at the Civic Center. BC will face the University of Connecticut in the semifinals tonight, the third time in the last five years the Eagles have advanced that far.
BC and Miami ended the season with identical 11-5 conference records, but Miami, which defeated BC in January, was seeded fourth and received a first-round bye, while BC was seeded fifth and had to face Syracuse Saturday. So the Eagles wanted payback.
The score was tied seven times in the first half, as both teams rushed things and shot poorly. Miami shot 9 for 28 from the floor for 32 percent, and BC was 10 for 28 (35.7 percent). And as they threw the ball away 10 times, it looked like the Eagles were headed for a repeat of the teams' meeting earlier this season, when BC committed 26 turnovers.
After a brief surge by Miami at the beginning of the second half, the Hurricanes led by 1 (30-29) with 16:08 left. But then BC (23-6) went on a 22-7 run to build a 14-point lead, 51-37, with 6:06 left. Junior Clare Droesch, who finished with 12 points and 8 rebounds, started the run with a jumper and finished it with two free throws.
"I was happy with the second half, because the first half I thought both teams were a little bit sloppy," said BC coach Cathy Inglese. "But we did a good job of shutting down their inside game."
The Eagles outrebounded the Hurricanes, 34-31, and cut their turnovers in the second half to five. They also made 17 of 21 free throws in the half, and improved their shooting from the floor to 61 percent (11 for 18).
BC junior Jessalyn Deveny, who had 17 points, said the team realized it had to get in gear.
"It was reminiscent of our first game against them," she said. "But at halftime, we just settled ourselves down and realized we had to make it a little less sloppy." Also scoring in double figures for the Eagles was Amber Jabobs, who had 13 points.
Miami (22-6) was led by junior guard Yalonda McCormick, who had 19 points, including three 3-pointers.
Miami coach Ferne Labati said the Hurricanes could not solve the Eagles, especially Ress.
"We felt we had the ability to run with them, and stay on the boards with them, but I think we did a very, very poor job on Ress," Labati said. "We couldn't defend her very well, and offensively, we had a very poor performance."
Inglese first spotted Ress, from Salorno, Italy, when the Eagles played in Europe three summers ago. The 6-foot-4-inch forward spent last year in West Virginia, where she averaged 16 points and 10 rebounds at the Mount de Chantal Academy in Wheeling.
She joined the Eagles this season but had to sit out the first 12 games because of an NCAA rule -- there were professionals on the team she played with in Italy.
"It's really hard as a freshman to miss games when you're getting your feet wet and learning the system at the college level," Inglese said. "But she's a strong kid, and has played smart; she's made some good decisions."
Ress said she didn't know what to expect of the tournament.
"I think [Saturday] was kind of tough," she said. "It was my first time, and I'm a freshman, and everything is kind of new. But I know what I have to do and I know what I can do. I just didn't do it, and I don't know why. Tonight was the second game, so I felt more comfortable, and it was just a great game."
Inglese couldn't help but interject, "So the third game will be even better?"
Ress laughed, and shrugged off having to face the defending national champion tonight. "As long as we play confident, it doesn't matter who we play," she said.
