It wasn’t exactly a Cinderella story, but this season was somewhat of a fairy tale for the Saint Louis University women’s basketball team. Last Thursday, the clock struck midnight for SLU’s Cinderellas with a season-ending loss in the Women’s National Invitation Tournament to the University of Iowa.
The Billikens were looking to extend their season with their first post-season bid to the WNIT, but fell more than short with a 93-64 loss to Iowa in the first round.
“Getting to the tournament was a great stepping stone for our program,” Angie Lewis said. “It was our first time in post-season play which was a great experience for us, even if the game didn’t turn out the way we wanted.”
Senior guard Star Jackson hit a layup to start the game, giving the Bills a 2-0 lead. The Iowa Hawkeyes went on to score eight straight points. Senior Harmonie King looked to break the run with a shot of her own, but Iowa then went on to score 11 more, putting them up 19-14.
The Hawkeyes would continue to score and at the half they were up 48-34. Iowa’s 48 points were the most that Saint Louis has allowed an opponent to score in one half. Iowa shot 51.3 percent in the first half.
“Iowa is a pretty good team. We had to come in and play them on their home court which wasn’t easy,” Lewis said.
“We were out there and giving it our all, diving for loose balls, but we just have to give credit to Iowa for making a lot of their shots.”
The Bills came out of the locker room and scored the first five points of the second half.
King sank a three-pointer and Jana Haywood made a jump shot, to cut the lead to nine, but that was the closest the Bills were able to come.
The Hawkeyes continued to build onto their lead and with 11:01 remaining in the game, the lead had reached 20 points. However, Iowa’s biggest lead came after their final shot with six seconds left, putting them up 93-64 for the victory.
“Although the score doesn’t reflect it, we played our hearts out. We worked together as a team and played really hard,” Lewis said.
“We could have done better on the defensive end; we let them score way too many points though.”
Iowa dominated the boards, out-rebounding Saint Louis 57-27.
The Hawkeyes’ 57 rebounds broke the WNIT record for most rebounds in a single game.
The Billikens only shot 38 percent from the field to Iowa’s 52 percent.
The Hawkeyes shot 86 percent from the free-throw line, while the Bills struggled with 53 percent.
Lewis led the Bills in scoring with 15 points, and Shanda Greer and Jackson added 10 points each in the effort to move on to the second round.
Despite the disappointing finish, all hope isn’t lost. The Billikens finished the season 17-14 and earned their first post-season appearance in program history.
The Billikens’ record fell one win short of tying the program’s best record, set during the 1978-79 season and tied in the 1979-1980 season.
This year’s squad posted the best season finish in coach Jill Pizzotti’s eight seasons at the helm of the Billikens. Pizzotti picked up her 100th career win against Louisville.
“I think going to the WNIT was a big event for our program. Next year we will have many new people coming in, but I think this year we started something,” Lewis said.
