Monday, March 26, 2001

By Rusty Bryan, Stars and Stripes

MANNHEIM, Germany — Even on a day when her shooting touch deserted her, "the best three-point shooter in Europe" still had plenty of impact.

"I was a little off today," said Mannheim’s Catrina McCants after her Lady Mustangs climbed out of a 24-14 halftime hole to claim the 2001 USAREUR women’s basketball championship with a 51-44 victory over Kaiserslautern on Sunday. "But we play such good team ball, you can’t guard just one person."

McCants, on whom Mannheim coach Mike Newsome bestowed the "best three-point shooter" title, may well be that, but she wasn’t on Sunday. She missed all five attmepts from behind the arc.

Kaiserslautern, though, couldn’t count on McCants to keep misfiring. They had to send their best interior defender, forward Melissa Nafzger, out to the arc to guard McCants, leaving plenty of open space down on the block.

Heady Mannheim point guard Sonja Stribling sized up the situation in the first half, scoring eight of her game high 20 points by driving into the space Nafzger vacated.

When Kaiserslautern adjusted to cut Stribling off, Newsome turned to formidable inside presence Tonya Weaver. When the ball went to McCants on the baseline, prompting Nafzger to come out, Weaver cut to the basket, and McCants fed her for a lay-up.

That play resulted in four straight baskets during a 15-4 Lady Mustangs run that put them ahead 29-28 with 12:35 to play, their first lead since the game’s opening moments.

They wouldn’t trail again, because Newsome found the answer at the other end, too, by having Cathy Holmes and McCants deny the entry pass to K-town’s Tina Baines and Nafzger, and by having his guards harrass every Lady Panther who touched the ball.

Nafzger still finished with a team-high 13 points, most of which kept her team close late in the game, but Baines, after scoring her team’s first five points, did not score again.

In fact, Kaiserslautern, the only team to have defeated Mannheim so far this season, was unable to score at all during the first 5:35 of the second half as Newsome’s defenders were tightening the screws. The Lady Panthers finished the agonizing final 20 minutes just 9-for-26 from the field, a far cry from the 12-2 run with which they opened the contest.

Mannheim wisely kept the ball in Stribling’s hands as much as possible in the late going, and she iced the game by going 4-for-6 from the line in the final minutes.

"We just wanted it more, I guess," said McCants, who finished with 10 points despite her bad luck outside the arc.

Newsome, who spent the past two seasons as a volunteer coach leading Bad Kreuznach high school’s boys to European Division III crowns and 34 consecutive victories, now has a USAREUR trophy to add to his mantel.

Mannheim, along with K-town, will be chasing another title April 5-8 at the U.S. Forces tournament in Würzburg, and McCants, for one, likes the Lady Panthers’ chances.

"We have an awesome coach," she said.

And a team to match, she might have added.

———

In a game just concluded at presstime Sunday, the Mannheim Mustangs defeated the Baumholder Bears, 79-66, to claim their second straight USAREUR men’s basketball championship.

For Mannheim, which held a 33-18 lead at the half, Rodney Carmichael led the way with 21 points; Dennis Stribling added 17 and Lyvell Perry finished with 15. Wade Taylor (13), John Vick (13), Tommy Tolliver (11) and Cornelius Rodgers (10) were the scoring leaders for Baumholder.

Both teams advance to the U.S. Forces Europe tournament, to be held in Würzburg, Germany, April 5-8.

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