March 23, 2002
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By JOEL ESKOVITZ
Associated Press Writer
MILWAUKEE (AP) - Old Dominion's pressure was too much for Kansas State'syouth.
Lucienne Berthieu scored 30 points and the Lady Monarchs, angered by theirseventh seed, beat Kansas State 88-62 in a Mideast Regional semifinal gameSaturday.
Old Dominion will play Connecticut on Monday in the regional final, with thewinner advancing to the Final Four.
"We're in a position now to ruin parties and that's a great place to be,"Old Dominion coach Wendy Larry said. "When you're in that position, you can bemore relaxed."
Berthieu shot 13-for-18 from the field, and the three-time Colonial AthleticAssociation player of the year was a dominating presence on the low post,drawing as many as three defenders.
"She got the best of me pretty much all the game," Kansas State centerNicole Ohlde said.
Old Dominion (28-5) shot 66 percent, including an 8-for-8 performance byMonique Coker, who finished with 16.
The Lady Monarchs played stingy defense early, limiting Ohlde to fourfirst-half points. She finished with 23.
The Wildcats' other two top scorers also were held in check.
Laurie Koehn scored her first points with 15:41 left and finished with 11.
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Kendra Wecker led Kansas State (26-8) early. After scoring 11 points in thefirst 15 minutes, Wecker picked up her third foul and sat out the rest of thefirst half.
"We had athleticism and size, and I'm not sure that's a combination theysaw very often," Larry said.
Old Dominion limited the Wildcats' shot from beyond the arc, forcing KansasState to attempt to penetrate. That move frustrated the Wildcats' lineup, whichincluded two sophomores and two freshman, and forced 21 turnovers.
"We got intimidated early and never recovered from that emotionally,"Kansas State coach Deb Patterson said. "We played extremely tight. We were ourown worst enemy the first 10 minutes of the game."
The Lady Monarchs were up nine by the 10-minute mark. Myriah Spence put themup 45-21 at the half with a 3-pointer at the buzzer.
Old Dominion pushed its lead to 31 in the second half and maintained atleast a 20-point lead the rest of the way.
Old Dominion displayed the same dominance on the boards its showed whileknocking off second-seeded Purdue last week, finishing with 10 more reboundsthan the Wildcats.
Larry said the Monarchs found inspiration in their seventh-seeded position.
"I can tell you we weren't just happy to be here," Larry said.