AMES, Iowa — About an hour after suffering a 68-57 loss in the Midwest Region semifinals to Tennessee, BYU women's basketball players Melanie Pearson and Erin Thorn sat outside the locker room at Hilton Coliseum, slowly chewing sandwiches and contemplating the past couple of weeks of their lives.
They had helped lead the Cougars to a place this program had never been before — the NCAA Tournament's Sweet 16. But at that moment, neither player could find much solace in that. The defeat was tough to swallow.
"It's been fun to get this far, but we know we could have gone farther," Pearson said. "We could have shocked Tennessee."
"We're happy we got here but disappointed it wasn't our best game today," Thorn said. "It makes this loss harder to take."
And thus began an off-season of what-might-have-been for BYU. What if its star, Thorn, hadn't experienced her worst shooting night of the season (3-for-22 overall and 2-for-18 from 3-point range)? What if forward Jennifer Leitner hadn't gotten into foul trouble in the first half?
Cougar coach Jeff Judkins knows the answers to those questions. More than likely, No. 11 seeded BYU would have knocked off No. 2 seeded Tennessee and would be preparing for Monday's regional final for a chance at the Final Four.
Instead, the Cougars (24-9) are going home. The Lady Vols (28-4) keep playing.
BYU shot its way into the Sweet 16, and on Saturday it shot itself out of the Elite Eight. BYU hit just 18 percent of its 3-pointers (5-for-27) against Tennessee.
"We got open shots," Judkins said. "The bottom line is, we lost because Erin went 3-for-22. If she hits a few more, it's a different game."
Thorn could not explain her shooting woes. "I have no excuse. It never felt right, even during warmups," she said. "For the most part I had open shots. They just weren't falling for me."
BYU's upset bid began to fade late in the first half, right after Thorn nailed a three at the 5:21 mark. At that point, the Cougars seized a surprising 29-20 lead.
Tennessee coach Pat Summitt, who has led her program to six national championships, turned to her deep bench for help. She inserted freshman forward Shyra Ely into the game while Leitner sat on the bench with two fouls. Ely scored 12 straight points as part of a 15-zip Lady Vols run. Ely finished the game with a team-high 21 points and seven rebounds. "That's why Ely went off, because Leitner wasn't guarding her," Judkins said.
"She is the one player on the team we can't afford to get into foul trouble."
A free throw by BYU's Lisa Osguthorpe gave the Cougars their only point in the final five minutes of the half. At the break, Tennessee had a 35-30 advantage and BYU spent the rest of the game playing catch-up.
In the second half, the Lady Vols extended their lead to 13 (47-34) with 12 minutes left. That's when Pearson scored 11 consecutive points for BYU and the Cougars cut the deficit to five (50-45) with a little under nine minutes remaining. In her final game as a Cougar, Pearson scored 23 points before fouling out.
The rally was reminiscent of Monday's game against Iowa State. BYU trailed by 13 with 12 minutes left and managed to defeat the Cyclones. But the Cougars couldn't repeat the feat. Tennessee wasn't going to let that happen.
A layup by sophomore Courtney McDaniel was followed by a 3-pointer by freshman Michelle Munoz. Both are reserve players who sparked the Lady Vols.
Tennessee needed that spark, since its star guard, All-America Kara Lawson, struggled about as much as Thorn did. Lawson, a junior, went 1-for-12 from the floor. Summitt credited her younger players for the victory.
"Our freshmen played like they've been here before while our juniors and seniors were tight," she said. "Hopefully we can relax now."
Thorn won't be relaxing, though. "Monday I will be in the gym, shooting, and in the weight room, lifting," she said, "doing what I can to get better."
While the Cougars probably won't forget this setback anytime soon, the 2001-02 campaign will be remembered as the best in the program's history — so far.
"We had a great run here and it is sad we did not play one of our better games tonight," Judkins said. "This is a stepping stone for our program. To play a team like Tennessee and to hang with them like we did says something for our program. We feel like we're heading in the right direction."
NOTES: Announced attendance was 8,407 . . . BYU outshot (32 percent to 31 percent) and outrebounded (45-43) Tennessee . . . It was the Cougars' worst shooting game of the season . . . Thorn's 18 3-point attempts was both a regional record and school record . . . Vanderbilt defeated North Carolina, 70-61, in the other region semifinal.
E-mail: jeffc@desnews.com