Heartbreak and Controversy Dooms the Lady Hornets

March 12 will be the date the lady hornets basketball will let them stinging and searching for answers. During the quarterfinals of the Delaware State-Hampton game, the lady hornets were ready for a fight and hoping to get one step closer to their goal.

Delaware State, the number three seed knew that they had very few wins against the lady pirates in the series.

When I was watching the game on meacsports.com it was a great ball game. Both teams had a series of runs. In the first half the lady hornets took a 20-13 lead until Hampton scored 21 straight points (before halftime and starting the second half) to take a double digit lead.

Head Coach Ed Davis and the lady hornets were almost in panic mode but they manage to climbed back in the game with their offense. With less than seven minutes in regulation, the lady hornets went on a 13-2 spurt to tied the game and retake the lead.

That's when the game went down to the nitty gritty:

Hampton's Ashlee Finley tied the game at 52 a piece by hitting two free throws followed by a lady hornet put back to regain the lead at 54-52.

Keyhana Wakefield tied the game at 54 on a pair of free throws with 20.9 seconds and two seconds later, Quanneisha Perry gave the lead Hampton right back.

On the lady hornets final possession, Keyhana put the petal to the metal with a strong move to the basket for the bucket to the tied the game.

That's when things when horribly wrong:
Hampton threw a long pass down court to Sherelle Leslie to hit the game-winning shot with 0.8 seconds left. The hornets defense did not recovered on that possession. After the basket was scored, a Hampton player storm out of her bench area and on to the court and circle around her coach.

I don't know if the referees saw it or not but a technical foul should be called so the lady hornets will shoot free throws and tied the game to forced overtime. Instead the lady hornets got cheated and heartbroken with some 808's from an echo Kayne West.

The lady hornets had the defense but they need more offense in order to win games and the championship. Not only does defense wins games but offense wins as well.

Hornets Visit to Winston-Salem a One Night Stay

The Hornets were eliminated before the game even started. On Tuesday, the Hornets were playing the Hampton Pirates in hopes of getting a fresh start. Instead they were dismissed from the start of tip-off.

Before the game started the hornets were short-handed because Marcus Neal was suspended for the game for a altercation during shoot-around and Arturo Dubois was already dismissed from the team three weeks ago.

More problems begin to set in when the hornets could not get out Hampton's 2-3 defense zone all night as the hornets shot a miserable 26%. The hornets offensive could not find any rhythm in making shot as Donald Johnson put up Jashua Bluntt like numbers from the conference championship round by shooting 1-10 from the field for two points.

Not only did the hornets score 16 in the first half but the smae number of points in the second half.

It was the lowest scoring game in the 37 year history of the MEAC Tournament and the lowest scoring for the Hornets this season. It's been a dissapointing end to the hornets season but Greg Jackson says in his final interview, "We will be back better than ever." I hope Greg Jackson knows what he is doing.

One Down Two to Go

The lady Hornets bowling team continue their winning ways by being crowned the 2009 ECAC Champions back on Sunday. The Lady Hornets goal is not over because they have the Valderbelt Tournament on the weekend of March 13 followed by unfinished business at the MEAC Tournament (weekend of March 20) and then the big dance of Bowling the NCAA Tournament.

Congratulations to the three lady hornets who made the ECAC Tournament team: Adrian Jamie, Jazmyne Hefflefinger, and Brooke Peterson.

The lady hornets finished the weekend tournament by going 5-1 in regular team play when they defeated teams like Kutztown, Adelphi, St. Francis, Long Island, and New Jersey. They also won the Baker Quad and the Best of seven series.

The lady hornets has a lot of of work to do when they go to the Vanderbilt and the MEAC Tournament but I will assured you that they will get the job done.

Sonia Johnson: The MEAC Rookie of the Year

Congratulations to Sonia Johnson for becoming MEAC Rookie of the Year for 2008-2009. Johnson became the first lady hornet to become MEAC Rookie of the Year since Marin Hightower was award back in 1996.

I am so proud of Sonia for accomplishing her efforts all year as a freshman. During the beginning of the season, I had no idea who Sonia Johnson was but during Christmas break I begin to realize how good she had become.

Let's think about it, I thought either Keyhanna Wakefield or Jamkea Smith would be the leading scorers for the lady hornets. But, Johnson was making her presence felt at Delaware State by tallying four 20 point games, 18 double figure games, and the leading scorer on the team by averaging 11.5 points per game.

Sonia leads the conference in the rookie category by averaging 14.5 points and 4.5 rebounds against MEAC opponents. To add more to her rookie resume, she is also named All-MEAC Second Team and All-MEAC Rookie Team.

So when ever Sonia plays next season as a sophomore, junior, and senior every Hornet fan will get to scream her name everytime she scores: SONIA!!!

Sonia can add one more award to complete her freshman year a MEAC championship. Let's see if Johnson and the Hornets can win the MEAC Championship tournament this week. First things first, the lady hornets will play the winner of the Norfolk/Hampton game Thursday.

A Successful Sunday for Hornets Indoor Track Team

It was a great weekend for the Hornet men Indoor Track Team. On Sunday, the Hornets finished third at the IC4A Championship that witnessed career bests in the fastest time.

First, congratulations to Donte Holmes for qualify to the NCAA Championships with a first place finish at the 800 meter run with a time of 108 seconds. He is also has the sixth best finish in Division-I indoor track this season. Remember, Holmes is the reigning MEAC Indoor champion when it comes to 800-meters.

Holmes was also a team player when he helped his teammates Leslie Murray, Kelli Thibou, and Burton Clarke finished first in the 4x-400 meter relay with a time of 3:09.49.

It was double Sunday treat for Larrone Moore posted victories in the 55 meter and 200 meter dash.

Also, Murray finished second in the 400 meter dash with a career best of 47.09 seconds.

With all the victories and best the hornets has posted, Boston witness history as DSU exceeded the NCAA provisional qualifying standards.

What other Hornets will join Donte Holmes in the NCAA championships? The answers may and will surprise you.

The Tournament Begins This Week for the Hornets

Well Hornet fans the regular season is over and it is time for a new season: The 2009 MEAC Tournament in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. What better place to play in but at the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum aka "The Joel."

Now people wonder who usually plays at "The Joel," well it is home to the Wake Forest Demon-Deacons where the CIAA Tournament was held from 1994-1999. It's the place where the NCAA Tournament was held three times and the same the court where the Harlem Globetrotters performed for the fans.

Wait...what I am talking about? I'm here to talk about the Hornets not the history who performs "The Joel."

The Hornet men have a short time to prepared because 10th DSU will played 7th seed Hampton in the first round of the tournament. The winner of that game will play number two seed South Carolina State on Wednesday in the quarterfinals.

As for the lady hornets they are the number three seed but they have a lot of time to prepared as they await the winner of 6th seed Hampton and and 9th seed Norfolk State in quarterfinals on Thursday.

I understand that Raleigh has given the Hornets nightmares when the Hornet men lose three straight heartbreak games:

• Championship game 2006 Hampton,


• Championship game 2007 Florida A&M,


• Semi-finals 2008 Morgan State
  

It also gave lady hornets some good memories like 2007 when they won the MEAC Tournament against Morgan State and dance their way into the NCAA Tournament as a 15th seed.

However there are nightmares that the lady hornets will never forget:

• 2006 Losing to Coppin State in the championship game

• 2008 Losing to the same team in the semi-final
  

Maybe Winston-Salem will be a fresh start to both the men and lady hornets basketball and who know they can pull a Coppin State mircale from last year.

Like I always anything can happen in the MEAC because the MEAC Tournament is open season.

Cathell Earning a Birth to the National Championship

Congratulations to Matt Cathell for capturing his second straight NCAA East Regional wrestling title in the 149 pound division. He is also placed a birth at the national championship in St. Louis (March 19-21).

During the East regional, in the which the Hornets finished 4th in the team standings, Cathell made record times in three of his competitions in under two minutes.

In the the first match, Matt need just 50 seconds to defeat Jacob Villaret of Wagner University to advance to the semi-finals. During the semis, he pinned Campbell University's Matt King with a time of 109 seconds. In the championship round Matt made hornet wrestling history by defeating Frank Gayeski of Liberty University with a time of 95 seconds.

Matt is still undefeated at 16-0 where he will become the first ever hornet wrestler to compete in back-to-back national championships since Francky Francois accomplishments in 1997 and 1998.

Last year in the 2008 NCAA Nationals, Cathell, who was a freshman, has a 1-2 record including a loss to Indiana University's Kurt Kinser.

Good luck Matt in the NCAA Nationals and represent Delaware State proud with hornet pride.

Lady Hornets Picking Up Where They Left Off

Through March 8th, the Lady Hornets Softball team have continue their winning ways ever since they won the MEAC Tournament last spring. Even though last year was all a distant memory, this year there are some different changes in the lady hornets softball team:

• Shai Tabor has not played during the first eight games of the season
• The Lady Hornets has not hit a home run yet
• Lady Hornets are 5-0 when scoring five runs or more and 0-3 when scoring four runs or less

Softball coach Jeff Savage knows how to find ways to win. Compare to last year their pitching this year has improve successfully with a team ERA of 2.80 with their starting pitching ERA of 2.51

What's even more impressive is that Delaware State is doing what they do every season and that is getting runners on base and scoring runs what ever they can with walks, hits, stolen bases. If the lady hornets continue their Lady Hornet Recipe, you might be looking at the Lady Hornets as being the MEAC Tournament Champions for the second straight year. Remember the lady hornets are predicted to finished first in the MEAC.

Good Start for Hornets Baseball

Well hornet fans the Hornets baseball team, who was predicted to finished fourth in the MEAC, is getting off to a terrific start with a 4-1-1 through the first six games of the season.

The Hornets are batting .331 with 46 RBIs, and 61 runs scored.

What's even better is that four hornets are hitting .300 or better:

• Wynton Weather .375
• Jose Sanchez .444
• Justin Bittner .563
• Ross Babineaux .600

You have to give the pitching a lot of credit so far because the hornets have a ERA of 3.56 while striking out 52 batters and allowing their opponents to bat .220.

Big props to Justin Schmidt because he lead their pitching staff to a 2-0 record with a ERA of 3.29 with a shutout, a save, striking out 16 while only walking two.

Even though Delaware State don't hit a lot of home runs (2), they will finds a way to scored runs by good base running, solid pitching, good defense (.966 fielding percentage and six errors) and being patience at the plate.

If the Hornets can follow the baseball science formula, they can be a dangerous threat in the MEAC Conference and a challenge to defending MEAC champion Bethune-Cookman.

Finally a DSU vs UD Matchup in Football

For those who did or did not hear the news, last Tuesday both Delaware State and University of Delaware will play each other in football for the first time ever.

According to the News Journal, both the Hornets and the Blue Hens will begin their first ever regular season in state rivalry game this season on Saturday September 19. After that game they will meet again for three straight years September 8, 2012, September 7, 2013, and September 6, 2014. All games will be played at Tubby Raymond Field on the campus of University of Delaware.

Now everybody remembers what happen when these two teams met. It was November 2007 (the day after Thanksgiving) when Joe Flacco and Omar Cuff dominated against the Hornets best defense and the offense had no answer as University of Delaware defeat the Hornets 44-7 in the first round of the Football Championship Sub-Division playoffs.

I guess Jack Markell wanted to have in-state rivalry football so Delaware can have a great time. This is something that Former Gov. Ruth Ann Miner failed to accomplish.

I'm glad that both presidents, both coaches and the Governor of Delaware had a chance to sit down and talk about the game that Delaware had been waiting for many decades.

There was no heated discussion nor ducking out of way of a million excuses but just a good conversations and nice press conference just to make a agreement. Both coaches K.C. Keeler and Al Lavan are looking forward to these meetings on a regular basics and who know they might spend Thanksgiving together every year starting November 2009.