Connecticut 74, Indiana 65
Connecticut coach Mike Thibault had a simple message for his team after the Sun committed 14 first-half turnovers.
``I told them don't toss it (the ball) to the other team, toss it to the guys in the blue jerseys,'' Thibault said.
They listened.
Connecticut turned the ball over only three times after the break, shot 16-for-30 from the field and rallied to beat the Fever 74-65 Saturday night in a matchup of the Eastern Conference's top two teams.
Nykesha Sales matched her season-high with 26 points and Taj McWilliams-Franklin had 14 points and 12 rebounds to lead the first-place Sun.
Connecticut (20-6) held the Fever (15-10) scoreless for 4:43 after trailing 29-19 with 3:37 left in the first half.
``The second half we rebounded better, took care of the ball better. Taj and Nykesha came up with huge plays down the stretch,'' Thibault said.
The victory gave the Sun a 4 1/2 -game lead over the Fever.
Tamika Catchings led Indiana with 17 points and 13 rebounds, reaching 2,000 points, 1,000 rebounds, 400 assists and 300 steals faster than any player in WNBA history. She had reached each milestone except for rebounds before the game.
The final milestone for the Indiana All-Star came in her 125th game. The quickest to reach all four milestones previously was Sheryl Swoopes, who accomplished the feat in her 191st game.
Catchings now has 2,207 points, 1,002 rebounds, 454 assists and 307 steals.
Catchings, who went into the game leading the league with 69 steals, had four before the break as the Fever tied a team record for steals in a half with 13.
Connecticut scored the final eight points of the first half to trail 29-27 before the break.
Lindsay Whalen had four points during the closing run on two free throws and a disputed layup.
Whalen was credited the basket as she and Catchings had contact under the basket, and the Indiana star was called for blocking with 4.1 seconds left. Catchings drew a technical for protesting the call, but Katie Douglas missed the free throw. Whalen then completed the three-point play by making her free throw.
``We started to remember the last game we played here and realized the same thing was happening,'' Sales said. ``We got ourselves under control, started making crisper passes. ... We were more deliberate and purposeful.''
Indiana coach Brian Winters said his team had no answer for Sales, who was 10-of-16 from the field. ``I am disgusted and so are all the players.''
``With Sales we lost sight of her,'' Catchings said. ``They run her off effective screens, and we were so worried about helping in the post, we lost sight of her and gave her some open looks.''
Connecticut scored the first five points of the second half and the score was tied twice before McWilliams-Franklin grabbed an offensive rebound and put the Sun ahead to stay with a layup.
After the Sun scored eight consecutive points, Indiana cut the margin to 52-51 with 7:40 remaining. Sales then hit a 3-pointer and a 19-foot jumper and Indiana never drew closer than three again.
A season-high 9,370 fans attended the game at Conseco Fieldhouse.
August 07, 2005
August 05, 2005
Former LSU women's basketball coach dies
Sue Gunter, a Hall of Fame coach and pioneer in women's college basketball, died Thursday. She was 66. LSU said Gunter, who had suffered from emphysema, died at her home in Baton Rouge.
She coached for 40 years, 22 at LSU where she took teams to 13 NCAA tournaments and laid the foundation for trips to the NCAA Final Four the past two years. She was voted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in March and will now be inducted posthumously on Sept. 9 in Springfield, Mass.
"I learned so much from Sue about the X's and O's of the game of basketball," said Tennessee coach Pat Summitt, the winningest coach in women's college basketball.
Summitt played on the 1976 U.S. Olympic Team on which Gunter served as an assistant, and she was an assistant to Gunter on the 1980 U.S. team.
"She made playing basketball fun due to her ability to connect with her players," Summitt said. "Personally, I am going to miss her tremendously and I know the game is going to miss her,"
Gunter had missed only one game in her career - for her mother's funeral - before suffering a severe emphysema attack on her way to a game in Jan. 2004.
"I'd had some trouble over the years. They'd done a lot of tests, checked my heart," Gunter said in a 2004 interview with the Associated Press. "They hadn't identified it, but it wasn't as sudden as everyone thought."
The condition forced Gunter, a smoker for more than 30 years before kicking the habit in 1994, to the sidelines for the rest of the 2004 season.
Tethered to an oxygen tank, she continued to attend practices and film sessions for the rest of the season, but was unable to be at games. Her longtime protege, Pokey Chatman, filled in for her and took the team to the Final Four, then was named her successor when Gunter retired at the end of the season.
"It's obviously been a difficult day for me," Chatman, who had played for Gunter and joined her staff in 1991, said Thursday. "Not only have I lost a great friend and mentor, but the game of basketball has lost one of its true pioneers. She not only made a huge difference in my life, but in the life of everyone associated with women's basketball."
After retirement Gunter limited her activities because of the illness. She watched all the LSU games on television, however, including their Final Four run in 2005 when she was hospitalized with pneumonia.
"Sue was one of the keystones of women's basketball," former Auburn coach Joe Ciampi said. "She was a role model for all players and coaches to use. She had the ability to be a great competitor on the court as well as have great compassion for her players and fellow coaches."
Gunter saw women's basketball go from half-court to a full-court high speed game that had begun to rival the men's game in popularity.
"A lot of the things you see today in the game of women's basketball are due to a large price earlier paid by people such as Sue Gunter," Texas Tech coach Marsha Sharp said.
Gunter was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in June, 2000.
"We've lost one of the giants in this business," former Louisiana Tech coach Leon Barmore said. "I have always felt like Sue was one of the top three or four coaches in the women's game."
Gunter had 21 seasons with at least 20 victories and 708 wins overall. She was not credited for two years at Middle Tennessee, when her teams were 44-0, or her first four years at Stephen F. Austin, because official records were never turned over to the NCAA.
Even with the six missing years, Gunter was No. 3 in wins and games coached and fourth in 20-win seasons.
Gunter played on the 1960-62 U.S. teams that competed against the Soviet Union.
"I loved her," said ESPN analyst and Hall of Famer Ann Meyers. "There was always a lot of respect, not just as a coach, but in life. She was an unbelievable friend and sister. I will always cherish what we had. And she was a hell of a coach."
Sue Gunter, a Hall of Fame coach and pioneer in women's college basketball, died Thursday. She was 66. LSU said Gunter, who had suffered from emphysema, died at her home in Baton Rouge.
She coached for 40 years, 22 at LSU where she took teams to 13 NCAA tournaments and laid the foundation for trips to the NCAA Final Four the past two years. She was voted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in March and will now be inducted posthumously on Sept. 9 in Springfield, Mass.
"I learned so much from Sue about the X's and O's of the game of basketball," said Tennessee coach Pat Summitt, the winningest coach in women's college basketball.
Summitt played on the 1976 U.S. Olympic Team on which Gunter served as an assistant, and she was an assistant to Gunter on the 1980 U.S. team.
"She made playing basketball fun due to her ability to connect with her players," Summitt said. "Personally, I am going to miss her tremendously and I know the game is going to miss her,"
Gunter had missed only one game in her career - for her mother's funeral - before suffering a severe emphysema attack on her way to a game in Jan. 2004.
"I'd had some trouble over the years. They'd done a lot of tests, checked my heart," Gunter said in a 2004 interview with the Associated Press. "They hadn't identified it, but it wasn't as sudden as everyone thought."
The condition forced Gunter, a smoker for more than 30 years before kicking the habit in 1994, to the sidelines for the rest of the 2004 season.
Tethered to an oxygen tank, she continued to attend practices and film sessions for the rest of the season, but was unable to be at games. Her longtime protege, Pokey Chatman, filled in for her and took the team to the Final Four, then was named her successor when Gunter retired at the end of the season.
"It's obviously been a difficult day for me," Chatman, who had played for Gunter and joined her staff in 1991, said Thursday. "Not only have I lost a great friend and mentor, but the game of basketball has lost one of its true pioneers. She not only made a huge difference in my life, but in the life of everyone associated with women's basketball."
After retirement Gunter limited her activities because of the illness. She watched all the LSU games on television, however, including their Final Four run in 2005 when she was hospitalized with pneumonia.
"Sue was one of the keystones of women's basketball," former Auburn coach Joe Ciampi said. "She was a role model for all players and coaches to use. She had the ability to be a great competitor on the court as well as have great compassion for her players and fellow coaches."
Gunter saw women's basketball go from half-court to a full-court high speed game that had begun to rival the men's game in popularity.
"A lot of the things you see today in the game of women's basketball are due to a large price earlier paid by people such as Sue Gunter," Texas Tech coach Marsha Sharp said.
Gunter was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in June, 2000.
"We've lost one of the giants in this business," former Louisiana Tech coach Leon Barmore said. "I have always felt like Sue was one of the top three or four coaches in the women's game."
Gunter had 21 seasons with at least 20 victories and 708 wins overall. She was not credited for two years at Middle Tennessee, when her teams were 44-0, or her first four years at Stephen F. Austin, because official records were never turned over to the NCAA.
Even with the six missing years, Gunter was No. 3 in wins and games coached and fourth in 20-win seasons.
Gunter played on the 1960-62 U.S. teams that competed against the Soviet Union.
"I loved her," said ESPN analyst and Hall of Famer Ann Meyers. "There was always a lot of respect, not just as a coach, but in life. She was an unbelievable friend and sister. I will always cherish what we had. And she was a hell of a coach."
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