On Friday afternoon, Union’s women’s basketball season ended after a 71-66 upset loss to Nova Southeastern in the first round of the South Regional Tournament, in a game that Lady Bulldog fans can only assume would have gone differently had Jada Perkins not missed the game due to an injury.
Going into Friday, Union had played 127 games in the last four seasons, and Jada Perkins had played in exactly 127 of them. If there’s one thing Union fans could count on during Perkins’ career, it was that she’d show up with the same grit, speed and passion every single night and Union would be better for it.
Despite Perkins missing the game, Union remained within striking distance throughout and went on a 15-1 run in the fourth to take a seven-point lead with under four minutes to go.
“That run we made, we were just competing,” said Jada Smith, who finished with 20 points and filled in for Perkins at point guard. “We felt like nothing else mattered — like there was nothing to lose.”
Unfortunately for Union, this game was marked by the absence of both Jadas. With 4:02 left in the game, Smith was called for a fourth foul and subbed out of the game, and Nova ceased momentum and scored five straight with Smith on the bench and nine straight overall to take the lead.
With Smith in the game, Union outscored Nova Southeastern by three; in 83 seconds without Smith, Union was outscored by eight and committed four turnovers.
After the Perkins injury on top of a Kennedy Childers injury that ended her season before the conference tournament, only four players for Union scored at all in the game and only Smith, Morgan Martin and Tiffany Rechis scored more than four.
Union’s success all season has been predicated on offensive load distribution and making sure plenty of players score every night. The Lady Bulldogs were 24-0 when at least four players score eight or more points, and they finished 3-4 otherwise including Friday’s contest.
Despite the loss for Union, next season still looks bright. The team will lose Perkins, Rechis and Childers to graduation, but it will retain Smith, who could very well be the best player in the conference next season, and a core of young players who could improve significantly over the offseason.
In the post, Martin has one semester of eligibility left and is expected to return to the team in January for a postseason push. Union will also add Caroline Hugue, a transfer from Nebraska-Omaha who is expected to be one of the top post players in the conference.
In the press conference after the game, head coach Mark Campbell as always pointed to the relationships built within the team as the end goal rather than winning.
“When relationships are the most important thing… it never disappoints,” Campbell said. “Because going through the hard and the good is what it’s all about. There’s only going to be one team that wins the last game over the next two weeks, and if I define success by that then I’m going to be a really disappointed person the rest of my life.”
