NAIA WOMEN’S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT:

JACKSON, Tenn. — With 16 games in the first two days of the NAIA Division I women’s basketball tournament at Oman Arena, the Poof! — as in that team just disappeared — is in the pudding.

Vanguard University plans to avoid being one of the 16 teams that barely had enough time to empty their suitcases, before dealing with the ultimate emptiness of early elimination.

Vanguard (24-5), ranked No. 4 in the final Division I poll, squares off against Kentucky-based University of the Cumberlands (22-8), ranked No. 24, today at 2 p.m. on Day 2 of the event.

But Lions Coach Russ Davis, guiding his 10th tournament team in 12 seasons as head coach, will count upon a talented senior trio that has somewhat of a past in the matter of optical illusion.

Davis said his senior cast of three-time All-American Jessica Richter, first-team all-conference standout Melissa Cook and Lindsey Rinke have “stepped up,” this season, providing leadership with their skills, experience and team-first attitude.

But when it comes to the national stage, Richter has twice disappeared down the stretch of back-to-back semifinal losses, while Cooke and Rinke, the former due mostly to injuries, have been all but transparent on Oman Arena’s parquet floor.

Richter, a two-time Golden State Athletic Conference Player of the Year who was named NAIA Player of the Year as a junior, has averaged 20.8 points in eight previous tournament contests, including separate outputs of 32 and 30 points.

But she picked up two reach-in fouls within four seconds to foul out with eight minutes, nine seconds left in last season’s surprising 68-64 semifinal loss to Cumberland of Tennessee. She had 12 points in that game.

In 2006, Richter went scoreless the final 19:32 of the Lions’ 69-59 semifinal loss to Lubbock Christian of Texas. She finished with just five points in that game, in which she made just two of 12 field-goal attempts.

Richter, who helped the last two Vanguard teams earn the No. 1 regular-season ranking and helped last year’s squad to a 31-0 record, before the aforementioned semifinal loss, leads the team this year in scoring (19.6 per game), rebounding (7.9 per contest) and steals (2.8 per game). But she scored a season-low six points in the 53-52 loss to Point Loma Nazarene in the GSAC Tournament title game March 10, a game in which she had no field-goal attempts. She scored seven points in the Lions’ conference tournament semifinal win over Cal Baptist on March 7.

Cook missed NAIA Tournament action as a freshman (torn ACL) and last season (torn meniscus). In her only NAIA Tournament appearance in 2006, she scored 16 points in four games.

Cook is averaging 15.4 points and 7.6 rebounds this season, her first as a full-time starter.

Rinke, still primarily a reserve who averages 9.4 points per contest this season, has scored 22 points in eight NAIA Tournament games the last two seasons, when Vanguard relied on veteran standouts such as Kelly Schmidt, Rachel Besse, Tiari Goold and Lacey Burns.

Still, Davis believes this year’s group, which collected four of its five losses by a combined 10 points and, he said, played the second-toughest schedule among NAIA Division I teams, has what it takes to make another extended run.

Vanguard has reached the semifinals in three of its last five NAIA Tournament trips, making the quarterfinals the other two seasons in that stretch. Though it has never been to an NAIA title game, Vanguard is 14-9 in nine previous tournament appearances and has lost in the first round just three times, the last time in 2002.

“I think our schedule has really gotten us ready for this [tournament],” Davis said. “We’ve played [12] games against teams in this tournament [a 13th against No. 1-ranked Union of Tennessee was canceled midway through the first half due to a power outage in November]. And we’ve played all those teams on the road.”

Vanguard lost three times to No. 3-ranked Point Loma Nazarene (28-2), which dethroned the Lions as GSAC regular-season champions for the first time in six seasons, then won the aforementioned conference tournament title game in dramatic fashion.

The Lions’ other losses are to Tennessee-based Freed-Hardeman (26-7), ranked No. 7 in the final poll, and Lee of Tennessee (31-2), ranked No. 2 in the final poll.

Cumberlands, which Davis called “really, really under-ranked,” is led by four scorers averaging double figures, topped by 6-foot sophomore guard Amber Neace (13.9 ppg).

Crystal Taylor, a 6-1 senior, is averaging 12.3 points and 7.9 rebounds.

“We’ve watched [Cumberlands] on tape and we’ve seen how good this team is,” Davis said. “We won’t take them lightly.”

Cumberlands have had eight 20-win seasons under 11th-year coach Melissa Irvin, but the Patriots are just 2-8 in their eight NAIA Tournament appearances and have never gotten past the second round.

BARRY FAULKNER may be reached at (714) 966-4615 or at [email protected].