March 24, 2008

• 2008 Postseason ACCtion Central

BC Women's Basketball Sinks Vermont, 76-64

Boston College had three players reach double-figures - junior Brittanny Johnson, sophomore Mickel Picco and freshman Carolyn Swords - to lead the Eagles to a 76-64 victory over Vermont in a second-round game of the WNIT on Monday night at Conte Forum.

The Eagles improved to 21-11, while Vermont dropped to 24-9. Boston College will travel to St. John's to play the Red Storm on Thursday, March 26 at 7 p.m.

Johnson scored her career-high 20 points (6-for-13 from the field) and went 2-for-3 from the three-point arc. Swords was perfect from the field for the fifth time this season, shooting 9-for-9 from the field and 2-for-2 from the free throw line for 20 points, and seven rebounds.

Picco added long range punch to the offense, shooting 4-for-4 from the three-point line and finishing with 18 points, six assists and two steals.

In the second half, the Eagles shot 52 percent from the field and slowly pulled away. At 11:10 freshman Jaclyn Thoman (seven assists) found Mickel Picco in the corner. Picco calmly hit a three-pointer to give BC a 57-50 lead. At 8:11, Picco hit her fourth three-pointer to give the Eagles a nine point lead, 60-51. Two inside hoops from Swords and BC was up by 13 with 5:51 to play.

Wolfpack Women Top South Carolina 72-69 in WNIT

RALEIGH, N.C. - NC State's lone senior, forward Khadijah Whittington, wouldn't let one of the poorest performances of her career be her last.

So, even though she had missed 12 of her first 14 shots and six of her 10 free throws in the first 37 minutes of Monday night's second-round game in the Women's National Invitational Tournament, she still managed to make the biggest difference in the Wolfpack's 72-69 victory over South Carolina.

"The only thing that went through my mind was that I was not ready to end my career like this," Whittington said. "So I just buckled down and played smarter."

Immediately after Nikitta Gartrell hit a 3-pointer with 2:20 remaining on the clock to cut the Gamecock lead to just one point, Whittington stepped in front of the inbounds pass, intercepted the pass, hit a layup and converted a three-point play with a free-throw. On the other end of the court, she blocked a layup by USC's Samone Kennedy.

Gartrell, who finished with 14 points and seven rebounds, hit another jumper and three free throws to give the Wolfpack its final margin, as Whittington watched from the sidelines after fouling out with 1:13 remaining.

It was a hard-fought, if ruggedly played, victory for the Wolfpack at Reynolds Coliseum's Kay Yow Court. Whittington finished the game with 11 points and 15 rebounds for a Wolfpack team that was noticeably rusty after 18 days off since its last game, a frustrating 65-60 loss to Clemson in the first round of the ACC Tournament.