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The 2003 Paradise Jam Tournament was a men and women's preseason college basketball tournament that took place in Saint Thomas at the Sports and Fitness Center. Boston College won the men's division while Virginia Tech won the women's St. Thomas Division championship game and Southwest Missouri State won the women's St. John Division.
Contents
Men's Tournament
Six teams participated in the men's tournament. The teams were arranged into two divisions of three teams each. The three teams in each division played a round-robin over the first three days, with each team having one day off. The teams were seeded, and all six teams played on the final day, with a Championship Game, a game for third place and a game for fifth place.
Participating Team
St. Thomas Division
St. John Division
St. Thomas Division
In the first round, held November 21, 2003, Monmouth faced Appalachian State. The game was close at halftime, with Monmouth holding a four-point margin. In the second half, each team scored 36, so Monmouth won the game by four points, 69–65.
St. John Division
In the first round, Wichita State faced La Salle. Wichita State held a four-point lead at halftime. La Salle out scored Wichita State in th second half, but only by one point, so Wichita State won by three points 74–71.
St. Thomas Division
In the second round, held November 22, Appalachian State played Boston College. The Eagles out scored Appalachian State by eleven in the first half and extended the lead in the second half, ending up with a 25-point win, 92–67.
St. John Division
In the second round, Hampton faced La Salle. Hampton lead at halftime, and extended the lead to ten points, but the Explorers cut the lead, and it took four free throws by the Pirates in the final 21 seconds to preserve the win.
St. Thomas Division
In the third round, held November 23, Boston College faced Monmouth. Boston College out scored Monmouth by ten in the first half, holding Month to 15 points. Monmouth scored 35 in the second half, but that was matched by Boston College so the final score remained a ten-point margin in favor of Boston College, 60–50.
St. John Division
In the third round, Wichita State faced Hampton. There were several lead changes in the first half, which closed with a five-point lead by Wichita State. The second half remained close, and the Hampton Pirate cut the lead to a single point with 13 seconds left in the game. After Wichita State hit one of two free throws, Hampton attempted to score, but the ball was tied up, and the possession arrow was in favor of Wichita State. Hampton fouled Fridge Holman, who hit one of two free throws to extend the lead to three points. Hampton attempted a three-pointer in the final seconds, but it failed to score, so Wichita State won 68–65.
Championship round
The final games were held Monday, November 24, 2003.
In the game for fifth place, Appalachian State faced La Salle. The game was close at halftime, with Appalachian State holding a two-point lead. They extended the lead in the second, and ended up with an eleven-point victory, 59–48.
Monmouth played Hampton for the third-place position. Monmouth had a 21–0 run in the second half, over a period of twelve minutes. However, the two teams were tied at the end of regulation, and at the end of the first overtime. In the second overtime, Monmouth out scored Hampton by twelve to end up with the win 64–52.
In the Championship game, Boston College squared off against Wichita State. Boston College built up an eleven-point lead in the first half, but Wichita State cut the margin to two by halftime. The second half remained close, but Jermaine Watson hit 11 of 12 free throws, including the final eight points to help Boston College to the Championship win, 84–81. Boston College's Craig Smith was named the Tournament Most Valuable Player.
Women's Tournament
In 2003, eight teams competed in the tournament organized into two divisions. The teams in the St. Thomas division played a traditional playoff option, with a pair of games on the 28th; on the 29th the winners played each other and the losers played each other. The teams in the St. John's division played a round-robin, with one game each on the 27th, 28th and 29 November.
St. Thomas division
Virginia Tech faced Iowa State on Thanksgiving day. Although the Hokies opened up a double-digit lead in the second half, the Iowa State cyclones cut the lead to only three points roughly midway through the second half. Virginia Tech hit nine out of 10 free-throw attempts in the final 2 1/2 minutes to help preserve a 67–57 victory.
Mississippi State played Indiana in the other Thanksgiving day game and came away with the win 70–67.
On the 29th, Iowa State and Indiana met in the game pitting the losers of the first day's games. Iowa State defeated the Hoosiers 75–59.
In the championship game, Virginia Tech took on Mississippi State. The game was tied with less than a minute to go when Erin Gibson tipped in a score to take a small lead for the Hokies. Mississippi State was forced to foul and Virginia Tech converted the free throws to win the game in the championship 63–56.
Carrie Mason of Virginia Tech was awarded the MVP for the St. Thomas division. The other five all-stars were Tiania Burns (Mississippi State), Jenny DeMuth (Indiana), Lisa Kriener (Iowa State), Ieva Kublina (Virginia Tech), and Tan White (Mississippi State).
St. Johns division
On Thanksgiving day, Southwest Missouri State defeated West Virginia 82–64. Although the game was close early with several lead changes. the Lady Bears scored 13 consecutive points to close out the first half and take a 17 point lead at halftime. The Mountaineers were down by as many as 18 points in the second half tried to come back but never cut the margin to less than nine points.
Georgia Tech faced James Madison in the second game. The James Madison Dukes had an eight nothing run in the second half to take a four-point lead, but the Yellowjackets immediately responded with a 15–0 run to take a 10 point lead. Georgia Tech closed the game hitting a consecutive eight free-throw attempts to win the game 60–53.
On Friday, the 28th, West Virginia took on Georgia Tech; the Mountaineers defeated the Yellowjackets 75–61. Kate Bulger, playing for West Virginia, was the leading scorer with 21 points. Southwest Missouri State played James Madison and won with the exact same score of the game on the preceding day 82–64.
On the final day of the tournament West Virginia defeated James Madison 89–63. West Virginia hit 56% of their shots from the floor and out rebounded the Dukes 37–16. Georgia Tech took on Southwest Missouri State and won, 78-71. This left Georgia Tech, Southwest Missouri State, and West Virginia each with 2–1 records. The tiebreaker used scores against all opponents and on that measure, Southwest Missouri State won the championship of the St. John's division, with West Virginia finishing second and Georgia Tech finishing third.
Kari Koch of Southwest Missouri State was named the MVP of the division. The other all-stars included Kate Bulger (West Virginia), Lesley Dickinson (James Madison), Jenni Lingor (SMS), Alex Stewart (Georgia Tech), and Fallon Stokes (Georgia Tech).