As the Vanderbilt women's basketball team heads to Raleigh for its regional semi-final date with Maryland, many of the players are taking stock of the season, and their futures. For seniors Jen Risper and Christina Wirth, their next game might be their last, which presents a sense of urgency and desire to continue their season.
In their round of 32 matchup with Kansas State, Risper scored a career high 27 points, while Wirth racked up 24 while playing all 40 minutes of the game.
On her career high, Risper was humble.
"It was fun, but I was more excited that we won than getting a career high. I think my family was more excited than I was," Risper said.
Vanderbilt played the first two rounds of the tournament in Albuquerque, which was just a short trip for Risper and Wirth's families, who live on the west coast and don't frequently get to see Vanderbilt play. Risper is from Moreno Valley, Calif., and Wirth is from Mesa, Ariz.
"It was great because my family got to come and so did Tina's. And they don't get to come to a lot of games. It meant a lot for them to come and see why I came to Vanderbilt and all the people who support us," Risper said.
The Risper and Wirth families didn't get to see the typical Vanderbilt team, however, because they are playing without star post player Hannah Tuomi. The injury to Tuomi has caused Vanderbilt to become much more perimeter-oriented, and caused Risper to change positions in order to make the offense flow. The rebounding has taken a hit, and the Commodores have changed their look since losing Tuomi.
"Losing Hannah was definitely hard because she brings so much. Obviously rebounding and scoring, but also some of the other intangible things that don't show up on the scoreboard," Risper said.
Tuomi's injury, however, has caused a shakeup in most opposing teams' scouting reports. Teams now are not as sure what to expect from the Commodores, and don't have a lot of film to pick up on the new style of play that Vanderbilt is implementing.
"I think people right now see us as a scary team because of the way we play, because of so many guards and we're quick and scrappy. I think people don't know what to think about us right now," Wirth said.
Wirth is right in that this team is very guard-oriented, and in order to both contain and counteract Maryland's Kristi Tolliver and Marissa Coleman. The Terrapins have not lost since January, which is a scary think to think about for these Commodores. However, as seniors, Risper and Wirth are not ready to end their season's quite yet.
"There's definitely some urgency, more than we've ever had before. We just don't want it to end. I think we showed that to our teammates, we've said that to our teammates, and our teammates said that to us in our last game: ‘we're not done right now,'" Wirth said. "I think that's a great thing when you can have your entire team saying that you aren't done playing yet."
