Women’s basketball: Ranked opponents no problem for Bears
Posted February 2, 2009 at 4:21 am
The No. 24 Washington University women’s basketball team continued its improved second semester play with a 61-55 come-from-behind victory at No. 19 Brandeis on Friday night followed by a 63-53 victory over No. 10 New York University on Sunday.
“To get these wins was pretty big for the UAA title. With Rochester getting wins this weekend, it was important for us to stay close,” senior co-captain Jaimie McFarlin said.
Trailing for most of the first half, but never by more than eight points, Wash. U. took its first lead with 2:01 remaining in the first half on a three-pointer by senior guard Halsey Ward. Ward’s three made the score 24-23, and from this point, Wash. U. took the advantage with a 7-2 run to end the first half ahead 31-25.
Brandeis fought back in the second half to take the lead 41-40 with 9:48 remaining in the game. Not phased, the Red and Green retook and held the lead for the remainder of the game after a layup by McFarlin made the score 42-41.
McFarlin led the team with 11 points and eight rebounds while Ward also added a team-high 11 points off the bench. Senior Jill Brandt and sophomore Kelsey Robb scored the next-highest point total with eight each while all 11 Bears who saw action scored at least two points.
Neither team shot particularly well in the win, but the 43.8 percent shooting clip attained by Wash. U. was significantly better than the 34.5 percent shooting by Brandeis.
The Bears’ depth, which may have hampered the team earlier in the season since the player rotation had not been finalized, is now proving to be one of the team’s greatest assets. While Brandeis guard Jessica Chapin and forward Lauren Orlando were the game’s top scorers with 18 and 13 points respectively, the Brandeis bench scored only six points compared to 30 from Wash. U. The Red and Green also came back from poor starts in each game.
“Although we don’t like to come from behind and rather come out in the first five minutes on top, our shooters keep shooting, and we have a lot of different weapons we can go to…Although we have our go-to players, at the same time, we have a lot of different weapons,” McFarlin added.
Wash. U. and NYU struggled to score on Sunday as neither team eclipsed the 30-point mark in the first. Wash. U. grabbed its first lead with 12:38 left in the first half after a Kathryn Berger jumper made the score 10-8. NYU bounced back to take a 19-18 lead with 6:03 left in the first half, but a Jill Brandt three-pointer at the 4:26 mark gave Wash. U. a 22-20 lead, which the team then extended to 28-20 heading into the locker room.
Both teams shot better in the second half, and while NYU closed to within two points three times, Wash. U. never surrendered the lead. The Bears narrowly outscored the Violets 35-33 in the second half to take the game by ten.
Berger led the team with 11 points, followed by junior Janice Evans, Brandt and sophomore Kelsey Robb, all of whom scored nine points. Evans also led the team with 11 rebounds.
The Wash. U. defense played one of its best games of the year, only allowing NYU’s senior All-American Jessica McEntee to score in double figures. However, her game-high 16 points is below her conference play average of 19 points per game and is the first time in four games that she failed to score 20 points.
Wash. U. was especially careful with the basketball against NYU, only turning the ball over nine times compared to 19 by the Violets.
Wash. U. returns home on Friday to host NYU at 6 p.m., followed by a rematch with Brandeis Sunday at 2.
“Any team coming off a loss is going to have a fire in their eye…We’re all going to make adjustments. [It’s going to be] the team that adjusts fastest and really plays the best basketball next weekend,” McFarlin said.
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