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Home > SECWB News & More! > Our Staff & Contributors > LeAnne Harrington > Vanderbilt Blows Away Belmont
Vanderbilt Blows Away Belmont
by LeAnne Harrington, SECWB.com
Posted: November 23rd, 2007 @ 10:53pm
Source: View Box Score
The Vanderbilt Commodores proved to be less than hospitable hosts to their neighboring school, blowing Belmont away in the first round of their Thanksgiving Tournament by a score of 104-43. The Vanderbilt and Belmont campuses are only 2 miles apart, but it can be said that their basketball teams are miles apart as well. Fresh off a trip to the 2007 NCAA tournament, the first in school history, Belmont had high hopes for the 2007-2008 season, but they are off to a rocky start, falling to 2-4 with today’s loss. To his credit, Belmont’s head coach Tony Cross has put together a tough non-conference schedule for his team, with Vanderbilt being the second SEC team the Bruins have faced in 8 days.
This was a game of total domination in every area. Vanderbilt led 56-27 at the half, and then went on a 30-0 run to start the second half, holding Belmont scoreless until the 10:24 mark. The Commodores forced Belmont into 31 turnovers, scoring 40 points off those turnovers. Vanderbilt committed a season-low 10 turnovers, and Belmont was only able to convert those to 3 points. Vandy held a 42-38 rebounding margin, with Chanel Chisholm coming off the bench to grab 8 boards. The Commodores were led in scoring by senior center Liz Sherwood with 24, while Christina Wirth scored 19, Lauren Lueders scored 12 and Jen Risper added 10. Belmont’s only double digit scorer was Shaunda Strayhorn with 10.
Vandy shot 54.8% from the field, and even better from behind the arc, connecting on 7-of-12 3-pointers for 58.3%. Vanderbilt’s one glaring area for improvement so far this season has been in free-throw shooting, and today’s game showed a marked improvement in that area. The Commodores connected on 82.9% of their free throws, hitting 29 of 35 from the charity stripe. Vanderbilt coach Melanie Balcomb stated: “We've been shooting a lot of free throws lately, shooting 100s at a time and putting pressure on them. That was nice to see that we've built some confidence in getting to the line and making free throws.”
The road doesn’t get any easier for Belmont. They will face Michigan in the consolation game on Sunday afternoon, Nov. 25 at 12 pm CST. Immediately following that game, Vanderbilt will face Iowa State, winners over Michigan by a score of 67-43, in the championship. Gametime for that matchup is approximately 2 pm CST in Memorial Gym. Both games are free admission.
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