Spalding Women’s Basketball Wraps Up Season

The Spalding University Women’s Basketball team’s season wrapped up last week in Pennsylvania at the USCAA tournament.  Spalding is the defending champion in the tournament and was looking to defend their championship. 

The Golden Eagles started their tournament with a game against Rochester College.  The Spalding offense was not flowing as well as they could have, and they were able to put up only 36 points.  Spalding fell to Rochester, the final score being Rochester 51 Spalding 36.  The loss meant that Spalding would face Penn State University-Beaver in a fifth place game.  The second game for the Golden Eagles went much better than the first.  A winner could not be decided at the end of regulation so the game went to overtime.  In overtime Penn State Beaver edged out Spalding by one point to win the game.  Lauren Reed, a junior forward for the Golden Eagles, led the team in scoring and rebounding with 25 points and 16 rebounds.  Kelly Harrod, a sophomore forward, helped with 12 points and 9 rebounds.  Despite their best efforts, Spalding’s season had ended in an overtime thriller.

Spalding ended the season with a record of 13 wins and 14 losses.  When asked if he was satisfied with the season, head coach Charlie Just said, “I wouldn’t say that I was satisfied with our season, but I was really proud of our young ladies for the way that they dealt with adversity throughout the year and became a closer team at the end of the season.  Despite our lack of size and the overall youth of our team, they battled their way to 13 wins and were competitive for the most part with the best teams on our schedule.  A few plays here and there could have resulted in 17 or 18 wins.  I think that this season was a great learning experience for all of our players, and we should be a much better team next year because of it.”  Coach Just coached Spalding to back-to-back winning regular seasons for the first time in school history.  “Back-to-back winning regular seasons has never been done here before, so that speaks volumes for our players.  I really expect winning to become a habit at Spalding, and the fact that we were able to win games this year under less than ideal circumstances is a tribute to everyone involved with our program,” Just said about his team. “We are starting to become a quality program, and this year was another step in the right direction.  I particularly appreciate the leadership that our senior, Megan Bunch, gave us throughout the year, and was happy that we could get her back to the USCAA National Tournament again.”  Bunch was one of just three players who played on the championship team from last year.
This Spalding team is young, and they will only lose one senior, Megan Bunch, next season.  It is impressive that such a young team was able to have a winning season and get to the tournament.  When asked what his expectations are for next year’s team, coach Just replied, “We have a chance to be very good next year.  We had a lot of young players who gained valuable experience in pressure situations and that can only help us.  We have a nice nucleus of returning players who proved that they could be successful, so our confidence level will be much better next year.  In addition, I expect to add some really solid recruits to this group to hopefully fill some needs that we have and add depth to our team.  Players are made in the off-season, so I am hopeful that these players will work hard to improve their game over the next 6 or 7 months.”  Just added, “Our goal every year is to compete for the SLIAC and USCAA championships.  We were not that far away this year despite playing short-handed, so I fully expect us to be right there next season.”
There were Spalding players who were recognized for their achievements both on and off the court after the regular season.  After being named SLIAC first-team All-Conference, Kelly Harrod  was named first-team All-American by the USCAA at the recent national tournament in Uniontown, Pennsylvania.  It is the second consecutive year that Spalding has had a USCAA All-American.  Shae Mercer was named to the team in 2009.

Harrod had an outstanding year for the Golden Eagles in leading the team to a 13-14 overall record and 9-7 finish in the conference.  She led the team in scoring at over 13 points per game, rebounds (8 per game) and assists (3 per game).  In addition, she led the team in free throws (118) and free throw attempts (191).  Coach Charlie Just was happy to see his sophomore forward recognized for her achievements.  “Kelly had a great year for us,” he commented.  “The fact that she led us in scoring, rebounding and assists is impressive, but her contributions to our team go well beyond that.  She was a leader on and off of the floor.  She not only showed great consistency from game-to-game, but gave that same effort in practice every day.  I am really happy that other coaches recognized her contributions.”

Kelly is an elementary education major from Mt. Washington, Kentucky.  She is the daughter of Darrell and Sandy Harrod, and attended Bullitt East High School.
Two members of the Spalding University women’s basketball team were honored at the recent United States Collegiate Athletic Association basketball tournament by being named to the 2010 Academic All-American team.  Sophomores Megan Davis and Melinda Leavell were recognized at the tournament banquet in Uniontown, Pennsylvania.

Davis is a business and accounting major from Louisville.  She attended Holy Cross High School and is the daughter of Greg and Sharon Davis.  In addition to her All-American honors, Megan was also recently named to the Saint Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Academic All-Conference Team.

Leavell is a communications major from Radcliff, Kentucky.  She attended North Hardin High School and is the daughter of Yon u and Michael Leavell.

Lauren Reed, a junior forward, was named to the SLIAC all second team, and Shontel Bates, a freshman guard, was named to the SLIAC all defensive team.

Regular Season Stat Leaders

Scoring            Kelly Harrod               13.1 ppg
Rebounding    Kelly Harrod               7.6 rpg
Assists             Kelly Harrod               3 apg
Steals               Kelly Harrod               1.6 spg