OUCH! UM's early blitz dooms K-State

Topeka Capital-Journal, The, Mar 24, 2004 by Derek Boss Capital-Journal

MINNEAPOLIS --- The crowd noise was deafening, forcing Kansas State coach Deb Patterson to try unorthodox methods, scribbling her team's offensive sets on a dry-erase board and holding it aloft.

"Never had to do that," she said. "There wasn't a prayer of hearing anything on that floor."

She could have saved herself the trouble.

The No. 2-seeded Wildcats (25-6) buckled against Minnesota's in- your-face pressure defense amid an ear-splitting home crowd of 13,425 inside Williams Arena, leaving them scrambling from the start as the seventh-seeded Gophers pulled an 80-61 stunner in Tuesday night's NCAA Tournament second round.

K-State's much-anticipated postseason run, in the final year for two-time All-American and Big 12 player of the year Nicole Ohlde, was over.

It had collapsed.

"I definitely don't think I've had time to reflect on anything," Ohlde said. "Right now, we're all extremely disappointed. I'm sure it's going to be a long night."

A 31-6 first-half flurry for Minnesota (23-8) all but crushed the Wildcats, who were eliminated in the second round for the second straight season and in a fashion no one could have envisioned.

They suffered an even bigger meltdown than last year's debacle at Bramlage Coliseum against 11th-seeded Notre Dame. They could not equal the magical Sweet 16 trip that K-State danced to in 2001-02, when Ohlde was a sophomore and Laurie Koehn, Kendra Wecker and Megan Mahoney were freshmen.

Instead, the Gophers will travel to their second-ever regional semifinals. They will play third-seeded Boston College on Sunday in Norfolk, Va.

The bitter emotion began to set in for Ohlde --- she led K-State with 23 points and joined only Mahoney (17) in double figures --- midway through the second half. With 8 1/2 minutes remaining, Ohlde was on the verge of tears in the middle of the lane and reacted far too late as Minnesota All-American Lindsay Whalen blew past her for a layup.

K-State only can wonder what could have been.

"This is really kind of eating away at me, just the fact that for two years in a row we just were unable to get over that hump," said Wecker, who was held to eight points and three rebounds. "It's definitely frustrating, and this feeling (stinks). It's terrible."

It began to slip away from the very beginning.

K-State trailed just 12-9 on a 3-pointer from Koehn with 14:25 remaining in the opening half, but virtually nothing went right the rest of the way as UM built its massive, game-changing 31-6 flurry that spanned until the period's final 34.5 seconds.

The Wildcats made just two of their last 18 shots in the half, including a stretch of 10 consecutive misses that allowed a string of 11 straight UM points. The Gophers finished the half hitting six of nine 3-pointers.

Wecker was a non-factor, making just one of eight shots and going to the bench with three fouls with 6:14 left in the half. She fouled out with 7:15 remaining in the game.

Sophomore guard Shannon Schonrock was the unlikely hero for UM, posting more points (14) than K-State (13) by the 5:39 juncture of the opening half. A Whalen trey at the 3:54 mark later pushed Minnesota's commanding bulge to 35-15, the Wildcats' largest halftime deficit of the season.

The Gophers led 43-17 at the break --- by far K-State's lowest offensive output of the year --- and by as many as 29 early in the second. The closest the Cats drew was 17 in the waning minutes after rebounding to shoot 55.2 percent out of the locker room.

"It feels horrible. I hate this feeling, and it doesn't go away," Mahoney said. "We've had this feeling the last two years, and it's a sick taste in your mouth. We didn't get it done."

MINNESOTA 80, KANSAS STATE 61

MINN___________MIN_____FG_____FT______R____A____T____F___TP

Bolden__________36____4-6____0-0______3____1____0____0___10

Andersson_______20____4-8____0-1______2____1____1____3____8

McCarville______31____5-8____5-7_____18____7____2____4___15

Schonrock_______34____3-6____5-5______2____0____3____0___14

Whalen__________32____2-9____10-10____7____9____4____2___15

Roysland________17____2-4____0-0______0____0____0____2____5

Dimitroff________1____0-0____0-0______1____1____0____0____0

Garry____________1____0-0____0-0______0____0____0____0____0

Broback_________22____3-5____2-4______3____2____2____4____9

Collison_________1____0-0____0-0______0____0____0____1____0

Podominick_______5____2-2____0-0______1____0____0____3____4

Team_____________1

Totals_________200__25-48__22-27_____38___21___12___19___80

K-STATE________MIN____FG______FT_____R____A____T____F___TP

Dutmer__________10____0-1_____0-0____0____1____0____0____0

Wecker__________22____4-11____0-0____3____0____2____5____8

Ohlde___________39____7-16____9-12___6____4____2____4___23

Koehn___________30____1-4_____0-0____3____2____0____4____3

Mahoney_________38____6-11____4-5____6____3____2____3___17

Coggins_________11____0-2_____0-0____1____0____0____2____0

McIntyre________19____2-4_____1-1____0____3____1____1____6

Domenico________10____0-1_____0-0____1____0____0____0____0

Madden__________21____2-5_____0-0____2____0____0____1____4