Rhodes women making history
Lynx to host first NCAA game
Sarah Johnson was in class Monday afternoon — cell phone turned off, of course — when she received the text message.
As soon as class was over, Johnson hurriedly turned on her phone, and there it was. Not only did the Rhodes College women’s basketball team receive its first bid to the NCAA Division 3 tournament, but the Lynx are hosting first- and secondround action.
It didn’t take long for the news to spread across the small private-college campus.
“Everyone around campus, just the atmosphere is completely different,” Johnson said. “We did something that we set out at the very beginning in our first meeting to do. It’s a great feeling to know you’ve accomplished your goal.”
Rhodes (24-3) received an at-large bid after winning the Southern Athletic Association tournament Sunday. The Lynx will play Louisiana College (24-4) at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Mallory Gym. Washington University at St. Louis will play Texas-Dallas at 5 p.m.
The winners will meet at 5 p.m. Saturday.
It’s been a record-setting year for the Lynx. After tying the school record for wins last season with 18, the Lynx bettered that mark as they tied for the SAA regular-season title.
Rhodes then came back from four points down with less than 2 minutes remaining to win the SAA tournament championship, 66- 64, against Millsaps on its home court in Jackson, Miss.
“Last year, we had a good team,” said junior guard Lauren Avant, a former Lausanne player who transferred from Tennessee last year. “We had a good run. Injuries kind of messed up our tournament run in the conference. This year, we were just really confident. We’re more mature than last year. Everyone really First-round games: Washington Univ.-St. Louis vs. Texas-Dallas, 5 p.m. Friday; Rhodes College vs. Louisiana College, 7:30 p.m. Friday Where: Mallory Gym, Rhodes College Tickets: $6 adults; $3 children/senior citizens/students with ID bought in and trusted each other.”
It helps having a nearly healthy Avant as well. Avant missed a good portion of last season after tearing her left Achilles tendon before the season began.
This year, coach Matt Dean has been careful with his star player. Avant played in 23 of the team’s 27 games, starting 15. And she still managed to lead the SAA in scoring (20.5) and finish third in rebounding (8.8) and was named to the SAA all-conference first team.
Showing her all-around game, Avant was also named the SAA Defensive Player of the Year after recording 79 steals and 15 blocked shots.
“She plays at such a tremendously high level,” Dean said. “She has a high motor. That was evident (Sunday). She kicked it into a different gear. She was in attack mode. She got to the rim on three straight trips with two people hanging on her, and finished.”
Needless to say, it’s been hectic at Rhodes all week. Dean has been appreciative of his fellow coaches and administrators who have pitched in to help host this weekend’s games.
He’s also spent time this week trying to get his team to not just be satisfied with being in the tournament. After watching his team in the SAA tournament, Dean believes the Lynx can make some noise.
“We’re treating this as a winnable game,” Dean said. “We know we have probably one of the better teams in the South in Louisiana College coming to our gym. How we handle their pressure in the first five to 10 minutes of the game is going to be very crucial to whether or not we can sustain that effort for 40 minutes.”
Johnson, a sophomore guard from Little Rock who was a second-team all- conference player along with senior Sarah Womack from Houston High School, said she can’t wait to walk into Mallory Gym on Friday night.
“I’m expecting it to be a great atmosphere, probably a little bit of butterflies, but it’ll be the good ones,” Johnson said.