Xavier women out for revenge against Gonzaga

Mar 26, 2010 - 11:23 PM By GREG BEACHAM AP Sports Writer

SACRAMENTO, Calif.(AP) -- Gonzaga coach Kelly Graves has written "Elite Eight!!!" on top of his dry-erase board all season long, complete with three underlines and a circle.

"We weren't settling for just the Sweet 16 this year," guard Courtney Vandersloot said Friday.

It's a pretty audacious goal for a school that had never won a game in the women's NCAA tournament before upsetting Xavier in the first round last season. But that 74-59 victory got the Zags (29-4) thinking big - and they've made it all the way back to a rematch with the Musketeers in Saturday's Sacramento Regional semifinals at Arco Arena.

"We wanted to change the paradigm of what we could accomplish," Graves said. "We didn't make a huge deal about it, but they set a goal for themselves, and we went after it."

The seventh-seeded Zags are just one game away, hoping to add another superlative to the most impressive season in school history. Gonzaga overwhelmed the West Coast Conference yet again before tripling the school's NCAA win total with victories over North Carolina and Texas A&M last week in Seattle.

Yet there's an awfully big obstacle in that path - two obstacles, actually, and they're both thinking about revenge.

Led by low-post stars Ta'Shia Phillips and Amber Harris, who are both a few inches taller than anybody from Gonzaga, third-seeded Xavier (29-3) prepared for a long tournament run during a winning streak that has reached 20 games since December.

The Musketeers are still stinging from last season's loss, which scuttled their plans for a breakthrough following years of steady regular-season play and tournament flops. With a resilient roster that has an uncanny knack for escaping trouble, Xavier has set its own goals that don't end with a regional final.

"We feel as if all the pieces are there to the puzzle," guard Special Jennings said before the Musketeers' practice for a game that will end well after midnight back home in Cincinnati. "We have goals of going to the Elite Eight, the Final Four, and we look forward to going wherever this ride takes us."

The Musketeers are in the regional semifinals for the first time since 2001 following four first-round exits that had some questioning their tournament toughness. Xavier stumbled into the NCAAs last year from a lackluster Atlantic 10 tournament effort, and the Zags sent them home.

"I don't remember (what) Gonzaga (did) so much as the feeling of us losing," forward April Phillips said. "That's the worst thing. Obviously, when you're playing the team that knocked us out, you want to win that game."

Xavier coach Kevin McGuff wasn't proud of his team's effort or preparation against Gonzaga last season, though he praised Vandersloot for running the Zags' offense to perfection with 11 assists while setting up high-scoring star Heather Bowman for 23 points.

Most of the key players are back for both teams - but Xavier also added Harris, who missed last season with a left knee injury before returning to win the conference player of the year award.

"Last year we just had to contend with one 6-foot-6 All-American, and now they've doubled their pleasure," said Graves, who has been known to recruit players from the Gonzaga men's team as practice stand-ins for such towering stars at Baylor's Brittney Griner.

"Plus, Coach McGuff has surrounded those two with a great supporting cast," Graves said. "They didn't have a shooter last year like (freshman Katie) Rutan. At the same time, we're a different team. I think both teams are much-improved."