Niemann's shooting bears out

0 Comments | USA TODAY, April, 2005 | by Malcolm Moran

INDIANAPOLIS -- When Emily Niemann arrived at the biggest stage of her basketball career, the Baylor University sophomore looked up, and up, and up into the vastness of the RCA Dome and had a chilling thought. She arrived for the NCAA Women's Final Four having made seven of 22 shots in the previous four tournament games. What she saw wasn't encouraging.

"When I walked into the arena," she said, "I was thinking this is one of the worst shooter's gyms ever. It was so wide and so deep, and the ceiling was forever up there."

She departed a champion Tuesday night, an essential part of Baylor's 84-62 victory against Michigan State. Niemann scored 19 points, one less than her season high. She made five of eight three-point shots, six of 10 overall, and 11 of 17 in the...