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Monday, March 15, 2010 |
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O'Dell enters senior season with Holy Cross hoopsters |
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Wednesday, 18 November 2009 |
By STEVE MAZZONE
Sports writer
Time sure does fly.
It was just a few short years ago that Bethany O’Dell was lighting up the courts for Lincoln High where she became the school’s all-time scorer and led the Lions to two consecutive Division II state titles.
Now she’s a senior at the College of the Holy Cross. How quick the time has gone by. That was the feeling for O’Dell and head coach Bill Gibbons as the Crusaders faced Bryant University in a non-conference game Wednesday night at the Chace Athletic Center.
“It is just blowing by,” O’Dell said. “Everyone says when you come in as a freshman that that year is kind of tough because you’re transitioning. It goes by kind of slow, but every year after that has gone by faster and faster. This year has definitely been the fastest.”
“It’s hard to believe,” Gibbons added. “She’s had such a great run you just subconsciously think that she’s always going to be here. It’s kind of difficult to imagine that this is her last year.”
As Gibbons indicated, it has been a great run for the 21-year-old O’Dell, the former Lions standout who finished her high school career with 2,433 points. Entering her final season for the Crusaders, O’Dell has already etched her name in the record books as the school’s all-time three-point leader (222). In fact, it was against Bryant when she first set the mark, hitting her 180th shot from long range in the Crusaders’ 73-53 win on Jan. 9 at the Hart Center.
She’s also averaging a solid 12 points per game and has cracked the 1,000-point barrier with 1,104 in her first three seasons on the hardwood. This winter she wears the label of captain along with fellow senior and roommate Brianna McFadden.
“They are probably the two hardest working players on the team,” Gibbons said.
While she has cherished her first three season donning the purple and white uniform of the Crusaders, O’Dell list her freshman campaign as the most memorable. She averaged 32 minutes of playing time and 12.4 points per game and was a prime reason that the Crusaders were able to clinch their 11th Patriot League title in the program’s history, scoring 20 points in a win over American University.
She had a team-high 19 against top-ranked Duke University in her first-ever NCAA Tournament.
“My freshman year sticks out the most by far,” said O’Dell, who was named the league‘s rookie of the week six times and was the Patriot League Rookie of the Year. “We went through a lot. We had two torn ACLs for our point guards. I was coming in and thinking I could just go in and shoot some threes and I am not really going to be a big part of it. But I had a big impact and so did the rest of us. My freshman year we overcame so many obstacles. Then we got to play Duke (an eventual 81-44 loss) in the NCAA Tournament. It was unbelievable.”
“I guess you could say that year would stick out,” Gibbons said. “That was kind of a Cinderella Story. Then she scores 19 against Duke in the NCAAs. It would have to be that year.”
In her first two games prior to the Bryant contest, O’Dell had averaged 12 points, but her shooting touch has been a bit off. She notched a dozen in a season-opening 66-60 loss to Yale on Nov. 13, making just 3-of-12 from the field. She scored 12 again in a 55-50 win over Central Connecticut this past Monday, but was 3-for-14 from the field.
“She hasn’t really shot the ball really well in the first two games,” Gibbons said. “But that doesn’t concern me. She’s just got to relax. I think she’s feeling a little bit of senior pressure that senior’s feel. She’ll be fine.”
In Wednesday’s game against the Bulldogs, O’Dell scored a season-high 15 points and was a leader on defense as the Crusaders overcame a sluggish start en route to a 57-45 victory..
“Today, it was a little better,“ said O’Dell, who made 6-for-13 shots and had a pair of three-pointers. “The past few games I have been shooting and it’s been rolling around and it’s just not falling for me. My coaching is telling me I just have to keep shooting the ball. It’s going to fall. I just got to get in a rhythm.
“I have been taking a lot of shots a day, like hundreds of shots,” she continued. “That’s all you can do. You just have to go out there and play, but shooting is not the only thing that I can do. That’s what I realized over the last few years that I could do other things like make a nice pass, go on the floor for a loose ball, get some rebounds. There’s other things besides just shooting the ball and putting it in the hoop.”
During her first three seasons with Holy Cross, O’Dell has shown she can do other things well. She has averaged just under 50 steals and 70 assists per year.
“It has been great,” she said. “I have been fortunate enough to play since I was a freshman. I think that’s one of the things I have to thank coach for…It has been an unbelievable experience. Not only has the basketball been great, but it’s been a great opportunity to travel. I have been to Italy, San Diego, Florida. We have been to all these different places. I have gained some of the best friendships I have ever had in my life. My classmates, the five of us, are so close. I don’t think I could have gotten any of that if I didn’t play basketball for Holy Cross.”
One of those friends happens to be former Westerly High all-stater Meredith Ward, a sophomore guard for the Crusaders. She played against Ward in a few non-leaguers as a high-schooler, but has known her since she was young.
The two players, along with O’Dell’s younger sister Ashley, an ex-Lincoln all-stater and a freshman at Central Connecticut State, had the opportunity to play together in AAU ball.
“I’ve known her basically my whole life,” Bethany said. “She’s played with Ashley since third grade maybe. I’ve watched her grow up. It’s just great. She’s maturing as a player. It’s just been really fun playing with her the last two years.”
For Gibbons, it’s been a great experience coaching his star senior. He admits it will be tough when she plays her final game under his tenure.
“She’s just a joy to coach and I’m going to try and cherish every game here down the stretch,” he said.
***
In Wednesday’s game, Holy Cross couldn’t seem to get anything going in the early stages of the game, while Bryant had everything going its way. The Bulldogs bolted to a 21-9 lead during a nine-minute span that included five 3-pointers, including a pair from Lekia Cowen and Kristin Mraz. The Crusaders missed their first six shots and shot 7-for-17 from the field.
.Not too long after the Crusaders were able to switch the momentum around with 10 unanswered points to get within two, at 21-19. O’Dell had two steals during the run, one she converted to a cross-court layup while the other aided in a shot underneath by teammate Alyssa May.
The Crusaders out-shot the Bulldogs, 9-3, the final few minutes to take a 28-27 lead into the break.
Holy Cross didn’t let up in the second half and took its biggest lead at 17 when McFadden nailed a three-pointer to give the visitors a 56-39 cushion with less than four minutes remaining. The Crusaders held the Bulldogs to just 17 second-half points and 27.3 percent shooting for the game.
In addition to her 15 points, O’Dell also had three steals and fueled the defense.
“The other two games we started off like a house on fire,” Gibbons said. “We were up 13-0 and 14-0. Today, I don’t know what it was. We didn’t have the same intensity. Give Bryant credit. But I would rather have it this way, no problem, of finishing strong. I just thought we played great team defense and Bethany is our leader. She usually picks up the ball and starts our defensive intensity and I thought she was terrific.”
“The past few games we started so well,” O’Dell said. “This was a total opposite. The fact is those shots eventually went in. We just scraped and clawed and we got back into the game with our defense. Our defense makes offense. I just give a lot of credit to my teammates because we were not going to let them have a 10-0 run at the beginning and not come back. There was no way.”
The win by Holy Cross upped its record to 2-1 overall. On Friday, the Crusaders match up against powerhouse Connecticut at the Hart Center. Bryant dropped to 0-2 overall and plays host to Lafayette this Saturday. |
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Last Updated ( Sunday, 20 December 2009 )
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