Finish Her Career in Style in the NCAA Tournament
By: Matthew Florjancic, Correspondent
BEREA—What do Bill Russell, Ben Wallace, Patrick Ewing and Baldwin-Wallace College senior center Jenn Neal have in common? They are all known as great post players. These four players are also recognized as outstanding shot blockers.
During her four years in the Brown & Gold, Neal has sent away a school-record 100 shot attempts. In addition to her stout defense, Neal has tallied 701 points and collected 373 career rebounds. When Neal gets the ball in the low-post, she hits on 51.7 percent of her shots.
Sixteen-year head coach Cheri Harrer loves the production she gets from Neal.
“This year, she has worked harder than ever before and become more of a leader for us,” Harrer said. “Her teammates pay attention when Jenn gets serious. Jenn just loves to play the game and be with her teammates.
“Jenn can be a real force on the offensive end of the floor when she has her game going,” Harrer added. “Any good team has to have an inside presence to be consistently productive. Having a good post game opens up the perimeter game.”
Currently, Neal and the Yellow Jackets are 26-4 overall. In Ohio Athletic Conference regular season action, B-W was 17-1, en route to an outright conference title. It is also the 10th straight campaign that Coach Harrer has led her squad to 20 or more victories in a season.
In postseason play, B-W has made nine of the last 11 NCAA Division III Tournaments. They have an 8-8 record in 16 tournament games. Last weekend, Neal and her teammates won twice to advance to this week’s Sectional/ “Sweet 16” as they defeated Oswego State (N.Y.) University, 73-69, and William Smith (N.Y.) College, 71-67, to win the NCAA Division III East Region Championship.
Neal is happy to make it this far in the tournament. During her career, which spans five years because of a knee injury during her sophomore season, B-W has not been this far in “The Big Dance.”
“I think this tournament trip is going to be another one of my great memories, especially if we go to the Final Four/ National Championship,” said Neal, who credits her high school coach Kevin Snyder and her teammates as being influential in her development as a player. “That would be an ultimate memory.”
Standing in the way of the Yellow Jackets are the Williams (Mass.) College Ephs. The Ephs, who are 23-5 overall in 2005-06, will battle B-W in the “Sweet 16” of the NCAA Division III National Tournament on Friday night at 5:00 p.m.in the John Long Center at the University of Scranton in Scranton, Pennsylvania.
The winner advances to the “Elite Eight” where they will play the winner of the University of Rochester versus Scranton game at 7:00 p.m. on Saturday (March 11) night.
If B-W beats Williams, it will meet a team that it faced earlier this year. In the its second game of the season, B-W beat Rochester, 53-39, in the championship game of the UR Ed Resler Tournament o November 19, 2005. In addition, the Yellow Jackets traveled to Las Vegas, Nevada in December and lost to Scranton, 59-49, despite leading by three points late in the game.
A season ago, B-W was upset in the first round of the NCAA Tournament by the Denison University Big Red. Neal believes that loss set the tone for the 2005-2006 Yellow Jacket campaign.
“I definitely think last year’s loss helped a lot,” Neal said. “We went into the first NCAA Tournament game last year thinking that we were just the better team and we were going to win.
“This year, we just need to play hard and take nothing for granted,” she added. “We need to play the way we know how to play and if we do that, we are going to win. The biggest thing is we just needed to play harder. This year, we are playing to win and doing things right.”
The 23-year old sport and fitness management major not only gets it done on the floor. She has plans for herself after graduation.
“I plan to go to graduate school,” Neal said. “I would also like to be a personal trainer in the summer as a part-time job.”
Chemistry for any championship team is important. She has a unique bond with her starting point guard, fellow senior Nikki Altenweg who went to Perry High School, and Neal donned the Scarlet & Gray of the Mentor Cardinals
“I got to play with Nikki on AAU (Amateur Athletic Union) teams for two or three years in high school,” Neal said. “It is really great that we are playing together now. We have very good chemistry together.
“I came in a year earlier than her (Nikki),” added Neal, who earned her second straight All-OAC team selection in 2005-2006. “I pretty much made her come here. We already ran fast offenses and defenses in high school and AAU.”
Altenweg is glad she gets to play on the same team as Neal. It is much better than having to defend against her.
“Jenn is a great person and teammate,” said senior two-time first-team All-OAC guard and Academic All-District IV athlete Nikki Altenweg. “She is very intense, demands the ball and leads by example.
“As a person, she has a beaming personality,” Altenweg added. “She is so funny and always happy. She is loyal, smart and a good person to be around.”
This tournament run is a little sweeter for both Neal and Altenweg because of their friendship.
“In high school, we played AAU together,” Altenweg stated. “Having a history before B-W makes it [this tournament run] even that more special.”
Not only is Neal close to Altenweg, she enjoys spending time with all of her teammates.
“These [women] are my friends for life,” Neal stated prior to practice on Monday. “I have a lot of favorite memories, but traveling on the buses and staying in hotels are awesome.”
Even though the twilight of her Yellow Jacket career has been fun, Neal has had to deal with her share of bumps in the road. As a sophomore, Neal used a medical red-shirt after having knee surgery. Since that time, Neal has worked hard to reach her potential as a player.
“I thought the knee injury was one of the toughest things,” she said. “Going from playing all year long [to] having a knee injury and having to sit six to eight months was pretty tough.
“The big thing was having to come back strong and being confident after the knee injury,” she added.
In the OAC, there are no soft opponents. The same could be said for the NCAA Tournament.
“In the “Sweet 16,” anyone can pull off an upset and get their team to the “Final Four,” said Neal. We want that team to be B-W.”
For Neal and the rest of the Yellow Jackets, the road to Springfield, Massachusetts and the National Championship goes through eastern Pennsylvania.
A second chance in anything, especially the world of sports, is rare. With the improvements the Yellow Jackets have made since last year’s loss in the NCAA tourney and the loss to Scranton in Las Vegas, it is safe to say Neal and her B-W teammates will make the most of their opportunities this time around!
275 Eastland Rd.