Jan. 27, 2006

By Susan Irwin Brown

The 1985-86 Lady Bobcats team still ranks as one of the best in Ohio University history. Twenty years after its dramatic Cinderella season, Susan Irwin Brown, BSJ '86 and MSA '88, reprises her role as the team's student sports information director to catch up with players, coaches and fans. "It seemed everyone was a Lady Bobcat fan that year," she says. -- Eds.

If you had any connection to Ohio University in 1985-86, chances are you remember the Lady Bobcats basketball team. And if you remember that season, chances are you remember what happened the afternoon OU played rival Central Michigan University for the Mid-American Conference tournament championship.

Down 14 points with just 4:10 to go, the Lady Bobcats wanted to believe in a comeback. But they'd gone into the game without second-leading scorer Kim Walton, BSH '88, and with an injured hand that kept center-forward Dawn Heideman, BSED '90, from playing full strength. As the clock ticked down, senior co-captain and point guard Marti Heckman, BBA '86, fouled out.

"I remember inside my head thinking, `Oh well, it was a great season,'" says Amy Prichard, MSPE '84, the team's head coach from 1984 to 1986. "If we don't win this game we don't go to the NCAA. But it was a great season."

And it was. Out of nowhere, following a lackluster 1984-85 season, the 26-3 Lady Bobcats won the MAC regular season and ranked 24th in the CNN/USA Today Top 25 list. Sportswriters used "fairy tale" and "Cinderella" to describe the surprising performance.

"We weren't the fastest or the biggest team, but we had skills," says Prichard, now a financial adviser. "We had everything to gain and nothing to lose."

It was a season of firsts. The Lady Bobcats made their radio debut, with all of their games broadcast by Jonathan Flora, BSC '84 and MSA '89, on WXTQ. Prichard, only 25 at the time, was named National Coach of the Year by the Women's Sports Federation. Senior Caroline Mast (now Daugherty), BSED '86, and Heckman set still-standing conference records -- Mast for rebounds (1,223) and Heckman for assists (810).

"It seemed to be our destiny to succeed that year," says Steve Knox, who was 27 at the time and Prichard's only full-time assistant coach. Graduate assistant coaches Mary Myers, MSPE '86, and Robin Rife, MSPE '86, helped them. "There couldn't have been coaching staffs younger than ours. It's a tribute to the team's maturity and acceptance of the coaching staff."

The Lady Bobcats got off to an impressive start by dominating Michigan State 83-66 and reeling off eight more wins, including two tournament championships, before losing to Central Michigan on the road, 90-81. But even the year's first defeat had a silver lining. Mast scored her 2,000th point, becoming the first woman in MAC history to do so and the first player in the conference -- male or female -- ever to reach both 2,000 points and 1,000 rebounds. By game's end, Mast had scored 2,014 points and pulled down 1,068 rebounds.

The team marched on, winning 14 more games before falling near the end of the season to Western Michigan 81-79. Two games earlier, the Bobcats clinched the MAC regular season championship by defeating Miami. Although Walton injured a hamstring, the women won 79-65.

"Our mantra was, if the team is successful, individuals will be successful," says Prichard. "This was a special group of people who were willing to put the team before themselves."

As the Bobcats collected wins, people took notice.

"The crowds definitely grew as the season went on," says fan Ted Thompson, BSC '89, who was among the pack of rowdy, cheering guys who sat in the front. "One of the pleasures of sports is to watch a team that has everything working for it. They had great chemistry, a fiery young coach. It was fun to watch."

Fans followed the team to the MAC Tournament in Rockford, Ill. Aimee Ford Foster, BSJ '86, former sports editor of The Post, recalls the city seemed to be overflowing with Bobcats.

"The thing I remember most about Rockford was how excited everyone was," Foster says. "There were tons of OU people in Rockford, at the hotel, at the games."

The Lady Bobcats did not disappoint, beating Western Michigan in the first round 73-70. The next day they faced Central Michigan for the championship and built an eight-point lead by halftime.

The second half was a different story as CMU turned the tables to build a 14-point lead. Prichard had almost given up, she recalls.

"Then I remember something just turned inside my head," she says. "I thought, why can't we win the game? Let's go for it. This is it. Let's really go for it. And I started just cheering and acting like I really thought we would win it, and the rest of the kids did the same.

"It was a really interesting thing," she adds. "All of a sudden we started making plays."

As center-forward Nancy Shie Yoder, BBA '88, recalls: "All of us on the bench during that game were saying: We can still do this. Don't give up!"

Shot by shot, they closed in on CMU's 14-point advantage without the benefit of a 3-pointer, which had yet to be introduced to women's basketball. With poise and ease -- and one second left in regulation -- the team tied the game, then dominated the overtime period, winning 92-85.

"It was the most fabulous game I've ever been a part of," Prichard told The Post. "Praise the Lord and thank Mom," she added, giving credit to her mother, legendary Ohio high school coach Gretchen Prichard.

The excitement over gaining an automatic berth in the NCAA tournament was contagious, and nothing -- not even having the championship trophy damaged in the airport metal detector -- could subdue it. The Lady Bobcats arrived in Athens, greeted by a faithful band of friends, fans and media, to prepare for their first-ever NCAA appearance at home against Illinois. Basketball took over Athens that week. In addition to the women's game, the men's team hosted Ohio State in a first-round NIT game, and the Convo was booked for regional high school tournament games. Mayor Ed Beckett officially proclaimed Athens "Tournament Town USA."

Despite a large, rabid crowd, OU came up just short of winning in the NCAA first round, dropping a heart-breaking game to Illinois 69-68. In the last seconds, Mast had the ball under the bucket but was uncharacteristically unable to score. She remembers few other shots of her career, she says: "The only one I remember is the last one against Illinois."

Despite the loss, the team continued to celebrate its triumphs. Mast and Heckman made the All-MAC First Team, and Walton was named to the All-MAC Honorable Mention Team. Mast earned MAC Player of the Year honors for the third time.

Though the players' lives have taken various paths since then, all look back fondly not only on the glory of the season, but also the lessons learned.

"It was a wonderful, wonderful experience," says guard Danielle Ghilani Kruczek, BBA '88, then a sophomore, who recalls what hard work it was being a student-athlete. "At the time it doesn't necessarily feel wonderful, because you have so much to juggle, but it was probably the biggest character-building experience of my life."

And a lasting one, says Mast, who adds succinctly: "Once you're a Bobcat, you're always a Bobcat."