Mar 16, 2003 By Jim Wexell For The 2 min read

CALIFORNIA – Glenville State won last year’s NCAA II East women’s regional and will play for another Monday night after disposing of Longwood, 63-51, last night in the semifinals. Glenville State, the No. 2 seed, came into the tournament with an eight-game winning streak and extended it to 10 games by easily handling the regional’s third seed in a game that was determined in the opening five minutes.

Glenville State (29-3) broke to an 11-3 lead by the 14:30 mark of the first half and went to the locker room at halftime leading by 26-15.

The Glenville State lead reached a high of 13 points right before halftime but was cut to five at 6:24 and 4:00 of the second half. Longwood (27-5) hurt itself at the free throw line, making only 7 of 21 foul shots.

Champion of the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, Glenville State was led in scoring by 5-foot-11 junior forward Carrie Triplett with 21 points. Senior Amanda Mortelette, the team’s leading scorer and rebounder throughout the regular season, scored 14 points and led all players with 11 rebounds. Point guard Tracy Wyatt, the Player of the Year in last year’s regional, scored 17 points despite battling foul trouble throughout the contest.

“We came in here talking about the importance of playing defense,” said Glenville State Coach Steve Harold. “I think we did a pretty good job of it today. Holding that team, that talented team, to 51 points was a monumental effort for us.”

Longwood (27-5) entered the regional with the nation’s seventh-ranked offense, but was held 32 points under its average by Glenwood State. The champion of the Carolinas-Virginia Athletic Conference, Longwood was led in scoring by Angel Johnson with 13 points. The leading scorer and rebounder during the regular season, Marita Meldere, was held to seven points and grabbed only eight rebounds.

“We knew coming in that we had to win the rebounding battle,” Harold said. “This is a team that had a plus-12 rebounding margin and we outrebounded them by one. I thought that was key. I thought also that us taking care of the ball better than them was going to be important and we had fewer turnovers than they did, so again I’m very pleased with our effort. Our kids fought, scrapped and never gave up and I thought they turned in another fine defensive effort.”