02-27-2013, 05:01 PM
The Dow was up 51 points Tuesday night but ultimately closed with a defeat.
Despite a historic 51-point effort by Christian Academy senior China Dow in the girls' Class Act Seventh Region Tournament quarterfinals, the Centurions lost to Sacred Heart 77-67 at Bellarmine's Knights Hall.
The loss ended an illustrious career for Dow, a Middle Tennessee State signee, who scored over 2,000 points during her time at Christian Academy.
"Tonight is something that I'll be able to flashback on, that I can cry back on, laugh about," said Dow.
"But it wasn't about scoring 51. It was being with my teammates," she continued. "(For my career), I take away that you can't do it or just be by yourself. Everybody sees me as a star, but a star can't just win all the games. A star has to have a great team behind them, and it's not just a one-man game."
Having Dow "do it by herself" was exactly what the victorious Valkyries were hoping for. Earlier in the week, SHA coach Donna Moir made it clear that her team was going to allow Dow to get her points but make an effort to shut down the rest.
Dow finished 19 of 38; the rest of the Centurions were 6 of 28.
Mission accomplished.
"I pride myself and I think our teams play excellent defense, so (Dow) earned all 51 points," said Moir. "But we weren't going to leave (Kate Joss). We followed her all night. We weren't going to let one player beat us."
The Valkyries, which lost to CAL 59-50 back in mid-January, opened up a 21-point fourth-quarter lead behind a memorable individual performance on their own team. Junior DaiJia Ruffin, who finished with a team-high 35 points and game-high 21 rebounds, made 15 of the 19 shots she attempted, had five assists and played all but 35 seconds in a fast-paced contest.
"The other night she got her 1,000th (career) point, just at Sacred Heart...so I told her, 'Play like you're going to get that 1,000th point (tonight)'," said Moir of Ruffin. "She got to the basket. When we played (CAL) before, DaiJia kind of floated out on the perimeter and we felt like we needed her down on the block to challenge - we knew her and (China) were going to go head-to-head."
"This is actually my first 35-point game ever," said Ruffin, who admitted that she peaked at the stat sheet at halftime. "Tonight, I just knew I had to go out and play as hard as I could so that we could get this win."
Ruffin said that her and her teammates knew it was win or go home, and it wasn't going to be them.
CAL 12 12 13 30 - 67
Sacred Heart 15 22 21 19 - 77
Christian Academy (18-11) - Dunn 3, Helm 4, Joss 3, Bowman 2, Dow 51, Campbell 4
Sacred Heart (22-8) - Johnson 16, Samsel 6, Matula 9, Ruffin 35, Stough 9, Long 2
3-point goals - Dunn, Joss, Dow 5, Johnson 3, Samsel, Stough
http://www.usatodayhss.com/louisville/ar...3302260079
Despite a historic 51-point effort by Christian Academy senior China Dow in the girls' Class Act Seventh Region Tournament quarterfinals, the Centurions lost to Sacred Heart 77-67 at Bellarmine's Knights Hall.
The loss ended an illustrious career for Dow, a Middle Tennessee State signee, who scored over 2,000 points during her time at Christian Academy.
"Tonight is something that I'll be able to flashback on, that I can cry back on, laugh about," said Dow.
"But it wasn't about scoring 51. It was being with my teammates," she continued. "(For my career), I take away that you can't do it or just be by yourself. Everybody sees me as a star, but a star can't just win all the games. A star has to have a great team behind them, and it's not just a one-man game."
Having Dow "do it by herself" was exactly what the victorious Valkyries were hoping for. Earlier in the week, SHA coach Donna Moir made it clear that her team was going to allow Dow to get her points but make an effort to shut down the rest.
Dow finished 19 of 38; the rest of the Centurions were 6 of 28.
Mission accomplished.
"I pride myself and I think our teams play excellent defense, so (Dow) earned all 51 points," said Moir. "But we weren't going to leave (Kate Joss). We followed her all night. We weren't going to let one player beat us."
The Valkyries, which lost to CAL 59-50 back in mid-January, opened up a 21-point fourth-quarter lead behind a memorable individual performance on their own team. Junior DaiJia Ruffin, who finished with a team-high 35 points and game-high 21 rebounds, made 15 of the 19 shots she attempted, had five assists and played all but 35 seconds in a fast-paced contest.
"The other night she got her 1,000th (career) point, just at Sacred Heart...so I told her, 'Play like you're going to get that 1,000th point (tonight)'," said Moir of Ruffin. "She got to the basket. When we played (CAL) before, DaiJia kind of floated out on the perimeter and we felt like we needed her down on the block to challenge - we knew her and (China) were going to go head-to-head."
"This is actually my first 35-point game ever," said Ruffin, who admitted that she peaked at the stat sheet at halftime. "Tonight, I just knew I had to go out and play as hard as I could so that we could get this win."
Ruffin said that her and her teammates knew it was win or go home, and it wasn't going to be them.
CAL 12 12 13 30 - 67
Sacred Heart 15 22 21 19 - 77
Christian Academy (18-11) - Dunn 3, Helm 4, Joss 3, Bowman 2, Dow 51, Campbell 4
Sacred Heart (22-8) - Johnson 16, Samsel 6, Matula 9, Ruffin 35, Stough 9, Long 2
3-point goals - Dunn, Joss, Dow 5, Johnson 3, Samsel, Stough
http://www.usatodayhss.com/louisville/ar...3302260079