Jimmies hope to stick

Last season, the Jimmie women truly drew the sunshine bracket at the national tournament.

Jamestown College played the tournament opener in Sioux City, Iowa at 8:30 a.m. The draw was totally different this time for the 12th-ranked and 26-5 Jimmies. Coach Greg Ulland’s team arrived late Monday night. They did a Special Olympics event Tuesday followed by an appearance at US Bank, their primary sponsor.

Yesterday they practiced before settling in to watch a few games. In other words, they had some time to kill before today’s 1:45 p.m. opener against Menlo College of California.

“It’s a little more relaxed this year. A little more spread out in terms of our schedule,” Ulland said. “I had no problem playing the first game last year. This way is fine, too.

“Obviously, the main thing for us is we want to stick around here for a while.”

Ulland and assistant coach Andrew Crummy put a crash course in on the Oaks. They watched a handful of Menlo’s games on tape and feel prepared, but also realize they’re facing a quality team.

“They’re good, very solid program,” Ulland said. “But when you get to this point everybody is good and that’s the way it should be. You can’t have a bad game here, if you do, it’s back on the bus.”

The Oaks are led by California Pacific Conference Player of the Year Jolise Limcaco, who will match up with JC point guard Hannah Steele in a match-up of All-American candidates. Limcaco averages 17 points, 4.9 assists and 3.2 rebounds per game.

Post players Lauren Adamek and Laurel Donnenwirth average 12 points each, meaning Menlo gets about half its points from three players.

That’s not the case for the Jimmies. All 12 players dressed are capable of filling it up.

“It’s always interesting to play somebody new. We’re both in the same boat in that we’ve never seen each other,” Ulland said.

Peaking late in the season has been the mantra for Ulland and the Jimmies and they appear to be doing just that. They’ve won eight of their last nine games with a scoring margin of plus-116.

“This is when you have to bring it and we’ve talked a lot about that the last week,” Ulland said. “There’s only seven days left in the season. … We’ve got an opportunity and hopefully we run with it.”

Jamestown College statistics

Offense: 77 ppg

Defense: 58.9 ppg

Turnover margin: 478-616 (plus-138).

Scoring leaders: Sr., Bridget Schuneman (11.8 ppg); Jr., Carly Jensen (10.7 ppg); Jr., Hannah Steele (10.1 ppg); Sr., Amber Ramlo (8 ppg); Soph., Morgan Mathison (7.1 ppg); Sr., Kayla Roemmich (7.1 ppg); Soph. Megan Pold (5.6 ppg); Maggie Seter (5.0 ppg).

Sun sports editor Dave Selvig can be reached at (701) 952-8460 or by e-mail at dselvig@jamestownsun.com

Tags: sports, jimmies, basketball