Monday, March 5, 2007

2007 SEC Champions: Vanderbilt Commodores


The Lady Commodores capped off an incredible SEC tournament run on Sunday with a 51-45 victory over LSU in the championship game. This was the third SEC championship for Vandy in the past 6 years. The Dores also captured the championship in 2002 and 2004. On the other side of the coin, LSU reached the finals for the third straight year, and like the previous two, came back empty-handed.

The Commodores started off their tournament run with a 105-77 blowout of 11th-seeded Florida on Friday night. But the biggest victory of the tournament would come on Saturday. Playing essentially in the Bulldogs' back yard (only 55 minutes away from Athens), the Commodores demolished a very impressive Georgia squad 81-56 thanks to a 21 point effort by Christina Wirth. Vandy shot an unbelievable 56.8% from the field, and even more impressive 61.5% from behind the arc on the way to defeating the second-seeded Dawgs.

Thanks to a big upset win over Tennessee, the Commodores faced LSU for the second-time in two weeks. Even the best shooting teams have bad nights however, and Vandy struggled with the three ball all day on Sunday. But when the usual strategy isn't working, you rely on your veterans and playmakers to carry the team, and that's exactly what 1st team All-SEC point guard Dee Davis did.
Davis dropped 19 on LSU, including a huge breakaway basket with 23 seconds left to carry the Commodores to the SEC Championship. In addition, Carla Thomas added 13 points and six boards to add to a very meager 51 point total. The Dores held LSU to just 28.8% shooting from the field in what was a very ugly game.
Not that there was any worry of it to begin with, but the 'Dores captured an automatic NCAA Tournament berth, and as Bobby says are looking at a probable #2 seed, a very advantageous position. Also of note is that Carla Thomas captured the tournament MVP award. In any case, these ladies should make the Commie faithful proud as we fast-approach March Madness.


1 comment:

Anonymous said...

It should be noted that Carla was also SEC Tourny MVP as a freshman back in 2004, the last time Vandy won the tournament.

Go Commies.