Tournament experience key to women’s NCAA success

STORRS, CONN. — Making their third trip in four seasons to the NCAA Tournament, the upperclassmen on the UB women’s basketball team know what it takes to be successful in the month of March. Last season’s thrilling journey to the tournament’s Sweet 16 round not only made the season a success, but helped create a mindset for the future.

The No. 10 seed Bulls will tangle with the seventh-seeded Rutgers Scarlet Knights tomorrow in first-round action of the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament. UB has been surging the second half of the season, earning an automatic NCAA Tournament bid after winning the MAC Championship last weekend in Cleveland.

The players know they face an aggressive opponent, groomed by legendary coach C. Vivian Stringer. The Scarlet Knights play a tenacious defense, leading the Big 10 in steals and holding opponents to 37.1 percent shooting. After their heroic run to the Sweet 16 last year, the Bulls understand that 40 minutes separates them from having more fun this spring or having the season come to an abrupt end.

At Thursday’s media day event inside the 10,000-seat Gampel Pavilion on the University of Connecticut campus in Storrs, the Bulls didn’t seem phased by Friday’s high-stakes game.

“I think Coach Jack (Felisha Legette-Jack) has done a great job putting us in position,” said All-MAC First Team senior Cierra Dillard. “Early in the season, playing the Oregons and the Stanfords, playing Georgetown, who is from a big conference, kind of set us up for what we were going to achieve later in the season. We are not afraid of the limelight. We’re not afraid of the big stage. We just want to play.”

Senior Ayoleka Sodade agreed.

“We’re ready. We do everything at practice to get us prepared for games like this. We trust in ourselves and our coaching staff,” Sodade said. “We’re not nervous. We’re ready for what’s ahead and want to continue to get better every game.”

Legette-Jack urges her team to focus on themselves and not their opponents, the players said.

“We’re not worried about our opponent, we worry about us,” said Sodade. “We know if we play our best basketball, the game is going to be in our favor.”

“It’s just another game; that’s all it is,” added Dillard. “We just need to focus on Buffalo. We need to focus on what we do good, and how we got to where we were last year and this season.”

Maintaining composure can be a challenge each year, especially with a team that has seven freshmen. With the wealth of knowledge they’ve gleaned from previous visits to the NCAA Tournament, Sodade said the upperclassmen have been helping the younger players prepare for the national stage.

“We tell the freshmen, it’s just basketball,” she said. “We’ve been doing it all our lives. The game is the same. The rules are the same. Just trust in your coaching staff and teammates. We got your backs. No need to be nervous. Just put those jitters aside and play Buffalo basketball.”

The game will air at 4:30 p.m. on ESPN2.