Tennessee Wesleyan women surge to NAIA tourney

ATHENS, Tenn. -- The basketball Lady Bulldogs of Tennessee Wesleyan College had it in them all along. In the last couple of weeks, they just did it.

The Lady Bulldogs have a 17-15 record after winning their last five games. The last three were in the home gyms of higher seeds in the Appalachian Athletic Conference tournament, so they're leaving today on a long bus trip to Sioux City, Iowa, and the NAIA Division II national tournament.

Wesleyan is seeded 31st out of 32 teams and opens play Thursday at 6:15 p.m. EST against second-ranked Davenport University (30-2) from Michigan. TWC's six seniors said Friday they're going to enjoy the program's first trip to the nationals in six years but still want to extend their careers.

"We've got no pressure at all," said Lindsey Jackson, a former Bradley Central standout who leads the Lady Bulldogs with 11.6 points a game and holds the program records for made 3-pointers with 91 this season and 250 for her career. "I want to keep playing, but I know I'm going to be done after this trip no matter what."

"We've got nothing to lose," said Jessica Sweat, a 6-foot post player from Knoxville Halls.

The Lady Bulldogs did nothing but lose for six weeks spanning the holiday break, with eight defeats in a row from Nov. 28 until they edged Union College 53-52 at home on Jan. 9.

Union is the team they beat last Tuesday in the AAC tournament final, 77-74 in two overtimes, in a boisterous atmosphere at Barbourville, Ky.

"It was nuts," Wesleyan coach Jeff Rice said. "Both Union and Milligan had great crowds, but that one was an unbelievable game all the way. We took a good crowd, too."

Senior Ashley Burrell from Walker Valley said the Union fans "were already in our ears during warmups, and I was listening to them. But Katie (Blevins) told us to block them out, and she was right. That's what we had to do."

Union was seeded second in the tournament, and TWC had lost there 77-70 on Feb. 10 -- then 51-48 at Bluefield three days later. That was the Lady Bulldogs' last two losses. They beat Reinhardt 59-49 and regular-season champion Milligan 73-63 at home before the tournament.

The Milligan game wasn't even as close as that score, Rice noted, and TWC thumped the top-seeded Lady Buffs 80-63 in a tournament semifinal. That was after winning 68-60 at Bluefield, which previously had lost at home only on Dec. 2.

Blevins, TWC's senior point guard from McMinn Central, made 25 of 26 free throws and totaled 52 points in the last two games.

"She's getting contact on penetration. That's a pretty good offense for us right now," Rice said. "She's been hitting some 3s as well."

Former Central High and Cleveland State player Ragan Elliott had a season-high 17 points at Milligan. She's mostly a rebounding and defensive workhorse.

"I think we have a chance to win this first game in the nationals," Elliott said, adding that the Lady Bulldogs have been showing their "love for the game." And Blevins noted that Davenport will look at their record and "probably think they're going to breeze through."

Mindy Cox Hodge from Walker Valley was the acknowledged team leader but tore the ACL in her left knee just before the season started, and junior guard Leah Frazier never was able to come back from a February 2009 ACL injury. Casha Foster, another senior, had to take a medical redshirt.

"We had to retool," Rice said. "We thought all along we could be good when we figured out something, and that just took awhile."

Said Blevins: "Mindy was like the heart and glue of our team. We kind of fell apart without her."

Sweat said several players tried to do more to make up for Hodge's absence, instead of working together to do it.

"We weren't trying to just do our jobs. We were overcompensating," Sweat said.

"And when we overcompensated and didn't win, it was even more frustrating," Burrell added.

Hodge decided to wait until after the season for surgery, but a couple of attempts to play in a limited capacity resulted in more pain. But starting in January she has played short stretches at a time in 15 games, and that clearly helped the team's psyche.

"Just having her back out there, working hard with a torn ACL," Rice said, "everybody sees that and sees somebody else busting her tail for each other. I think that's been a big help."

Hodge is one of those seniors proud to have extended their final season.

"It's been either win or be done these last few games," she said, "just meeting the goals and challenges we set for ourselves."