BY JIM PENNA
LORETTO — The thing you have to keep in mind about Cinderella is that if she does not beat out her stepsisters, she was just another girl with a funny pair of shoes.
The Red Flash are ready to write another chapter in their own fairy-tale season, and they found out Monday night they will first need to out-dance their sisters from Ohio State to make it happen.
“They are a good team, a big team. We are going to have to play well, but we are not going there to watch, we are going there to win,” said Red Flash coach Susan Robinson Fruchtl.
St. Francis watched ESPN’s live broadcast of the NCAA women’s tournament pairings with nearly 400 of its closest friends.
Students, faculty, staff and the pep band showed up at DeGol Arena to watch.
The eruption of cheers when the Buckeyes were announced was more about knowing where (Pittsburgh) and when (Sunday at noon) they play than whom they would face.
“This is an exciting moment for our university,” said University President Father Gabriel Zeis, who was on hand to deliver the Northeast Conference championship trophy.
“We want our students to succeed in the classroom, in life and in athletics. We take great pride that what you see in this team are student-athletes who are true leaders in the classroom, on the court, on campus and future leaders in communities.”
As for being Cinderella, well the Dayton region No. 15 seed Red Flash know their 17-15 record and their fifth-seed status heading into the NEC tournament, which they won to qualify for a national title shot, makes them look like overachievers.
Robinson Fruchtl, however, is confident that anyone who thinks her squad has done more than it should have will find that slipper does not quite fit.
“I would say the opposite. We are a very good team that struggled in January because we were inconsistent.
“We got it back and won the NEC, which we think is a pretty good place to play basketball. We feel right now we are a higher seed.”
Ohio State comes in with a 30-4 season record, a Big Ten title and is just plain bigger than the Flash. The Buckeyes will put special pressure on 6-foot-4 St. Francis center Janie Killian.
“We are just going to work hard in practice, show up and play the way we have been playing for weeks now, with no fear,” Killian said.
In preparing for the game the Flash will look to do the steps that landed them a ticket to the ballroom in the first place, and if all goes well maybe snag a little “happily ever after.”
“We will watch some tape and maybe make a few adjustments,” said Robinson Fruchtl, “but you stick with what got you here and the things the girls are comfortable and confident with.
“We can do this if we play our best. Like I said, we are going there with winning on our mind.”
