By Thomas Corhern, TTU Sports Information
COLUMBIA, S.C. – With Tennessee Tech's 12th appearance in the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament in the rearview, the Golden Eagles close the books on what has been an incredible season. After all, that's the facet to look at following Friday's first round game against the top-seeded South Carolina Gamecocks.
With a 108-48 loss to the defending national champions, yes, there's disappointment. When wouldn't there be as a season comes to a close, especially with an incredible group of people who have gone through so much and lifted each other up to new heights?
As Tech head coach Kim Rosamond noted in the post-game press conference, it took the defending national champions to end the Golden Eagles' impressive 17-game winning streak.
There's no point in going blow-by-blow. The Gamecocks (31-3) showed their skill, their strength, their worthiness – indicating why they are one of the favorites in cutting down the net at the end of the Big Dance. The Golden Eagles (26-6) showed their heart.
At no point in the game did the Tennessee Tech squad lower their heads. From the first seconds of the game all the way to the final seconds as fifth-year Peyton Carter drained a long 3-pointer, the Golden Eagles fought to the end. South Carolina made it tough, but Tech wasn't going to quit.
The Golden Eagles got double-digit scoring from Taris Thornton and Peyton Carter as the former scored 13 and the latter 12. Reghan Grimes scored nine.
Joyce Edwards scored 22 points on 9-for-12 shooting, followed by MiLaysia Fulwiley with 15 points on 6-for-8 shooting and Chloe Kitts with 10 points. With the home crowd behind them every step of the way, the Gamecocks shot a scorching 67.2 percent from the field (43-for-64), 63.2 percent from long range (12-for-19) and 76.9 percent from the free-throw line (10-for-13).
Tech had good looks, but was held to 32.2 percent shooting from the court, 4-for-20 from beyond the arc and 6-for-7 at the line.
"I don't think this gets talked enough about South Carolina – I just respect so much the way their kids handle themselves, the way they play the game, the way Dawn coaches," Rosamond said. "They do it the right way, they do it with honor, they respect the game and they respect their opponent. Even when they're kicking their butt, they respect their opponent. We wish South Carolina and Coach Staley and her staff the best of luck.
"I also want to talk about our crew. I'm so proud of our team and what they've accomplished, the historic season. One day they're going to be able to tell their children that it took the defending national champions to break their 17-game winning streak, so there's no shame in what these kids have accomplished today."
Rosamond continued: "Obviously the outcome was not what we wanted, but we've not focused on the outcome all year. You know, it's been about the process, about our dash and about our journey, and this team has done it better than any team that I've ever coached. It has been an honor to be their coach."
For Carter, she knows it's the end of an incredible ride, so ending her final campaign on a made 3-pointer was an exclamation point on a tremendous career.
"That's cool," Carter said. "Yeah, we've run that play all year. A lot of times Chloe (Larry), our point guard, runs it because it's kind of for the point guard. I've ran it a couple of times. I really don't know if -- that might be the first one that I've made on that one, so how cool was it?
"Being out there and just looking around seeing how many people out there, it's just such a surreal moment. Yeah, the last three was pretty cool to end up on."
As the fight continued, the Golden Eagles never gave up. The players believed in themselves. The coaches believed in their young charges and kept the battle up until the final buzzer sounded.
Rosamond said this in the press conference: "You talk a lot in athletics about players needing coaches to believe in them. Well, coaches need players to believe in them as well."
"The way this group believed in our staff, the way this group believed in our culture, the way this group represented Tennessee Tech, I will never ever forget it and they will always have a special place in my heart. I am so proud of not only the players that they are and the milestone that they achieved, but the person is greater than the player in our program. We talk about that all the time. That's the most important thing. I got to coach some incredible human beings this season."
She continued: "Look, our community – I want to thank our community in Cookeville for what they have done over the last season, but especially this last month the way they have showed up for these kids, the way they've supported them. When we came down today for the send-off, all the people that drove here, I mean, you saw the love they were giving our kids. It's because of who they are, and Cookeville has embraced them, and our players have embraced Cookeville and the Upper Cumberland. That's what sports are all about."
Tradition is everything at Tennessee Tech. With the multitude of banners hanging in the rafters of the Hooper Eblen Center, the gathering of loyal alumni in the stands, the never-ending support of the fans and the community, to have two everlasting reminders of what this team accomplished was worth everything.
"My goal in coming here was to win championships," Grimes said. "To still have another year and already have two banners up is huge, and I know that I'm ready to go win another one and have three for my career here.
"I think it wouldn't be possible without the season that we had last year for us to hang this one this year. Coming in and some of the adversity we hit this year, I think a lot of it helped us get to where we were. It's been really huge to just go through what we've gone through, but then still push through and be able to win like we won this year."
Carter added: "You know, it sucks for the girls that couldn't come back this year and experience it, but you know, for the ones who did come back, we came together and we knew what it took to win a championship. To come in there and not be satisfied and not be finished, we got a group of girls who were just completely bought in, a bunch of ball players who love each other and love playing with each other, and we came together and got it done. It's been awesome."
Two years ago, Tennessee Tech was making its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2000. Now the Golden Eagles have made two appearances in the last three years.
"We're back at championship expectations," Rosamond said. "You heard Peyton talk about that. You know, it's no longer just the standard to have a winning season. When we first got here, that was where we were trying to get it back to -- just to have a winning season. Now we expect to win championships and we expect to win in every area of our life.
"You know, I was thinking about this today. What South Carolina has done, we want to get to that point in the OVC. We want to become the dominant team in the OVC and I think we're starting to take a step forward in doing that. We've played in three out of the last four championship games. We've won two out of the last three, and tied the most league wins in a single season in OVC this year.
"Now we're going to take some time to reflect on this, enjoy it, take a break. My staff needs one, and what an incredible staff that I have, but we're also going to get back to work to keep taking steps forward and continue to take it to the next level."
Photo | Sean Meyers, Sean Meyers Photography
