Just one point separated UT women’s basketball from its first ever trip to the NCAA regional finals.
The Spartans lost 69-68 to No. 4 Arkansas Tech on March 14, making this their second straight year to end in the second round of NCAA tournament play.
The game was a back-and-forth battle that saw several momentum swings.
Catriana Messina made two free throws to put Tampa up by one point with 43 seconds left. One more free throw widened the lead to two.
Arkansas Tech quickly drove down their home floor and closed the door on the Spartans’ season.
Jenny Vining hit the game-winning three-pointer with 12 seconds left. Tampa never got off a game-winning attempt of its own.
Taja Green led UT with 24 points as the team came up just short of advancing farther than it had before.
The 2009-10 women’s basketball season was not short on its bright spots.
The Spartans tied last year’s mark of 26 wins for the most in program history. They finished 26-5 (14-2 SSC) and captured the regular season Sunshine State Conference championship.
The SSC named UT coach Tom Jessee Coach of the Year. Forward Tiara Cook and guard Gianna Messina both made the all-SSC first team. The duo also reached the Daktronics All-South Region second team.
Senior Caitlyn Mitryk took home SSC Defensive Player of the Year honors. The honorable mention all-SSC guard/forward led the Spartans with 57 blocks and tallied 39 steals.
Kamari Smith made the SSC all-freshman team. She was the only UT freshman to start a game, earning two starts while averaging 3.8 points and 2.6 rebounds per game.
Tampa finished the season holding opponents to a .327 shooting percentage, which is likely to hold up as the best field goal percentage defense in the nation. No opponent reached 50 percent success against them.
Cook goes down in the Spartan record books as the fourth player to amass 1,000 points, 500 rebounds and 100 blocks in her career. She is the first to accomplish this since former teammate and All-American Sheena Walton did so in 2008.
The senior class – Mitryk, Cook and guard Angela Guiu – leaves the program with more wins than any other class at UT, finishing their careers with 99 victories.