February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
By John Manley
March madness turned to sadness for three Irish hoopsters whose collegiate careers ended in postseason play within the last week.
The books are now closed on Susan Moran’s collegiate career. The St. Joseph’s of Philadelphia senior from Tullamore, Co. Offaly, scored 22 points and hauled in 10 rebounds as the Hawks (24-8) blew a seven-point halftime lead to lose to Vermont, 60-55, in a second round Women’s NIT game. Moran was perfect on seven field goal attempts in the first half. She clicked on only one of six shots after halftime, however.
St. Joe’s met Vermont by virtue of walloping Siena, 84-55, in the first round. Moran recorded game highs in both points (25) and rebounds (8). She shot 12-for-19 from the floor and 1-for-2 from the foul line.
Moran was recently named to the WBCA/Kodak Women’s Basketball All-District 1 Team for 2001-02. Each of the six players named to the District 1 squad automatically become candidates for national Div. I honors and are guaranteed honorable mention on this squad. She ended her St. Joe’s tenure as the program’s all-time leading scorer with 2,340 points. This year, Moran averaged 23.2 points per game and led the Hawks in rebounding with 8.6 caroms per outing.
Azusa Pacific went as far as the semifinals of the NAIA tournament in Kansas City, where they were knocked out by Oklahoma Baptist, 93-81. The Cougars began the 32-team tournament with a 78-44 shellacking of Spalding. Senior center Gary Dredge led Azusa with 8 rebounds, while scoring 11 points on 3-for-4 from the floor and 5-for-6 from the line. Dredge, from Clondalkin, Co. Dublin, then spent much of the next victory, 97-50 over Auburn-Montgomery, on the bench, courtesy of the referees. He picked up five personal fouls in just under 7 minutes of play. He scored only 2 points.
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Azusa then advanced through the quarterfinals by defeating Oklahoma City, 80-72. Dredge had 8 points on 3-for-6 shooting, plus 2-for-6 from the line. He picked up 5 rebounds. His final appearance, against Oklahoma Baptist, saw Dredge score 6 points and grab 7 rebounds. The Cougars finish the season 28-8.
Michael Bree’s career came to an anticlimactic finish in a first-round NCAA contest. Ohio State defeated Davidson, 69-64, with Bree unable to suit up. The senior guard from Sligo suffered a nerve injury in his right hand 10 days earlier in the Southern Conference tournament championship game, and the hand was still numb as the big dance began. Teammate Conor Grace, a freshman from Dublin, played only 4 minutes and did not score. Davidson ended the season 21-10.
The season is over, too, for McKendree College and Niamh Dwyer, 99-63 losers to Union University of Tennessee in a first-round NAIA women’s championship game. The freshman from Thurles, Co. Tipperary, led the Bearcats in scoring with 18 points. McKendree finished 20-15 for 2001-02.
Golf
Someone hose down Gr’me McDowell. The Alabama-Birmingham junior from Portrush, Co. Antrim, won two tournaments last week. He took the Seminole Intercollegiate by seven strokes, and then won the Conrad Rehling Alabama Invitational by two shots. McDowell now has five victories in the 2001-02 season. Two of those came during the fall session, with the other three after the new year.
McDowell’s Seminole victory at the Golden Eagle Country Club in Tallahassee, Fla., followed three rounds under par. His 10-under-par 206 (68-69-69) was seven shots better than runner-up Bob Cherry of North Carolina. UAB settled for second place in the team standings, five strokes behind the Tar Heels.
The Walker Cup player trailed Kentucky’s John Holmes by one stroke entering the final round of the Alabama event at the Capstone Club in Tuscaloosa and responded by tying the course record with a six-under par 65 on St. Patrick’s Day. McDowell aced the par-3 seventh hole. He finished with 201 (68-68-65) to defeat Holmes by two strokes. UAB was sixth here, 19 strokes behind Minnesota.
Toledo tied for second place at Capstone on the strength of their Irish trio. Sligo sophomore Sean McTernan carded 211 (71-69-71) for 54 holes. David Jones, a junior from Derry, tied for 14th place at 215 (73-73-69), while Alan Murray, a senior from Bray, Co. Wicklow, tied for 26th place at 218 (70-76-72).
Campbell University’s Aida Burke tied for 53rd place in the Edwin Watts Carolinas Classic, then tied for 56th place in the Green Wave Women’s Golf Classic. Burke, a sophomore from Coolasmuttane, Co. Cork, shot 164 (88-76) for 36 holes over Pinehurst No. 8 in the Watts Classic. The low score was 150, achieved by four women. Campbell tied for sixth place among teams.
Burke then carded 171 (86-85) for 36 holes at the Green Wave, played over the Lakewood Country Club in New Orleans. Tulane’s Carolin Landmann’s 149 was the winning number. Campbell finished third in the team scoring.
Tennis
Brown’s Nick Malone won two matches at first singles recently. The senior from Greystones, Co. Wicklow, defeated 75th-ranked Charleston Southern’s Santiago Falla, 6-4, 6-2, as the Bruins swept CSU, 7-0. Brown, No. 54 in the rankings, then pulled the rug out from under No. 44 Fresno State, 7-0. Malone enjoyed a 6-4, 7-6(5) win over Nick Fustar. Malone teamed with Adil Shamasdin at second doubles to defeat CSU’s Villaroell and Furfuro, 8-3. The Brown duo then returned at first doubles against Fresno, winning over Fustar and Dustin Ilic, 8-5.