Matt Mitgang | Student Life

Graduate student Jaimie McFarlin scored 14 points and recorded 15 rebounds to help lead Wash. U. to a national title. With the rebounds, McFarlin eclipsed 1,000 for her career. She leaves Wash. U. with 1,012 rebounds and the record for most games played.

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. — After a third appearance in the championship game in four years, Jaimie McFarlin and the veteran Washington University women’s basketball team would not be denied.

“Even when I was shooting those last free throws, I was thinking [that] it’s still not over,” McFarlin said. “I just couldn’t believe it until the confetti started falling, and it was real confetti, not the confetti in my dreams. To get to the goals that you set, it feels so good.”

“It was our want for it that got us here,” senior Stacey Niese said.

The No. 6 Bears rallied behind a tenacious defense to control the entire game against No. 4 Hope College, taking the game and the 2010 NCAA Division III national championship 65-59. The title is the fifth in program history and first since 2001.

“Once you are fortunate enough to experience one and then it’s been about 10 years, you realize how hard, how special, how much you must have a little left, how fortunate you are to have that magical chemistry, and you try so hard…Once you separate yourself, you realize how special this is,” head coach Nancy Fahey said.

Junior Alex Hoover scored a career-high 18 points, including making 10 of 11 free-throw attempts. Whenever Wash. U. needed a basket, Hoover answered. She also iced the game with free throws down the stretch.

“She made a ton of clutch plays,” Fahey said. “I know she led us in scoring, but I think you need to pick up where those points actually came. She’s very confident and runs the team, so when she was on the free-throw line, I’ll take that any day.”

Matt Mitgang | Student Life

Junior Alex Hoover scored a career-high 18 points and made 10-11 free throws in the win against Hope College.

After being shut out 10-0 by Amherst to start the semifinal game, McFarlin made sure Wash. U. scored on its first possession with a quick jumper. In her final game for the Bears, McFarlin scored 15 points and racked up 15 rebounds, leaving her with 1,012 career rebounds at Wash. U. She was also awarded tournament MVP.

“I think we just came out knowing that you have to do four minutes at a time. If you win the first four minutes, then you go to the next four minutes,” McFarlin said. “Those media timeouts actually helped to make the game into smaller pieces, so I think we did that really well.”

No team led by more than six points in the first half, but Wash. U. rallied behind layups by junior Hannah Cusworth and Hoover to take a 24-20 lead into halftime.

Hope took the offensive in the second half, briefly taking the lead on a basket by junior Carrie Snikkers. But baskets by senior Zoë Unruh, junior Kathryn Berger and Hoover staked Wash. U. to a 39-33 lead that would hold for the remainder of the contest. Hope cut the lead to four with less than a minute to go on a three-pointer by senior Jenny Cowen, but Hoover and McFarlin iced the game from the free-throw line, sending the Wash. U. student section into a round of “We Are the Champions” and bringing Wash. U. the national title.

Despite some rocky possessions, the Bears rallied around a tough defense to control the tempo and remain ahead for most of the game. The Red and Green held the Flying Dutch to just 19.4 percent shooting in the first half and only allowed Hope to shoot just 31.3 percent for the entire game.

“With the turnaround that we talked about, there’s not much that you can do in preparation except what we’ve done in the past, and that was our poise defensively, and they did it,” Fahey said. “They just did a lot of things right at the right time, and I’m really proud of them.”

Snikkers led all scorers with 22 points and also recorded 10 rebounds. Senior Philana Greene also scored 18 points for the Flying Dutch.

“I don’t think that we played a poor game,” said Brian Morehouse, head coach of Hope. “I just think that they played a little bit better than we did. They really made big free throws going down the stretch.”

Every single Hope player attended the news conference to show team unity. While the team was upset about losing, a final motivational speech from Greene brought the entire press room to tears and showed the immense pride each player had for finishing second.

“I’m feeling disappointed but very proud. Not one person quit today, even when we knew it was out of reach. Not one of us quit, and I told them earlier in the locker room how proud I was of them not quitting,” Greene said. “As bad as I wanted to win, I wanted it so much more with these 23 people behind me. The national championship would have been great, but to go away with 23 people next to me and behind me that I love and that I bond with is so much more than a trophy, a ring, a banner or any of that stuff.”

The senior class at Wash. U. leaves with an overall record of 99-21, a national title, and two second-place finishes.

“To end your career on such a high note, I can’t ask for more,” senior Janice Evans said.

Unruh said, “It was a perfect way to end. That’s how we built our season.”

With additional reporting by Johann Qua Hiansen

Matt Mitgang | Student Life

Junior Kathryn Berger scored 19 points against Amherst College, including six of the Bears' first 12 points.

BLOOMINGTON, ILLINOIS. The No. 6 Washington University women’s basketball team has some unfinished business after punching its ticket to the national championship game at 2 p.m. on Saturday with an 86-75 overtime victory over No. 1 Amherst College. The Bears face No. 4 Hope College for the national title.

It was a game with three different stories. The first half was dominated by the Lord Jeffs, as they leapt to a 10-0 start and took a 28-18 lead into halftime. Amherst capitalized on a 29-15 rebounding advantage.

For Wash. U. in the first half, junior Kathryn Berger came off the bench and gave the Red and Green the first points of the night 4:33 into the game. Wash. U. struggled offensively shooting 20.7% from the field in the first period.

The second half was a battle between the two titans, as Wash. U. tried numerous times to chip away at the Amherst lead. The Bears would get as close as six points for most of the period before the Lord Jeffs extended the lead to double digits.

With less than seven minutes to go, the shots started falling in for the Red and Green. “At that seven minute mark, it was to the point that it was now or never,” graduate student Jaimie McFarlin said. “If we were going to make a run, we had to do it then because they were too good offensively to make a run later. It was do or die.”

The team responded, and senior Zoë Unruh and sophomore Claire Schaeperkoetter scored two back-to-back three pointers to cut the deficit to one.

The clutch shooting sent fans to their feet and the Shirk Center was filled with Wash. U. cheers. “They were a huge part of our win tonight,” junior Alex Hoover said. Around 200 Washington University fans including students and adults cheered the Bears on. Two fan buses sponsored by Washington University and several carloads of students made the two and a half hour journey.

For several players on the team including Unruh, seniors Janice Evans and Stacey Niese, and McFarlin, this is their last shot at a national title. “We said we were going to celebrate for 15 more minutes then focus on Hope,” Hoover said.

Cedric Huchuan Xia | Student Life

Former women's basketball players and other fans cheer Wash. U. to victory against Amherst College. The Bears won 86-75 in OT.

A back and forth battle ensued, and Unruh tied the game up with 4:37 left on a three pointer. With about three minutes to go, Berger gave the Bears their first lead with a pair of free throws to make the score 62-60. Hoover came up with a big block over a wide-open sophomore Shannon Finucane. Hoover drove down the length of the court, faked out her defender and scored the lay up to give the Bears a two point lead. The Lord Jeffs tied the score back up. On the ensuing Amherst possession, Hoover stopped a breakaway from scoring the easy lay-up with her first foul of the game. Amherst sophomore Caroline Stedman missed both foul shots with under half a minute to go. The Bears nearly won the game in regulation time, but the buzzer beating jumper by graduate student Jaimie McFarlin hit the rim.

Overtime was all Bears, as they controlled the period from the tip-off. Unruh knocked down a three just 14 seconds into the period, and the rout was on. The Red and Green outscored the Lord Jeffs 22-11. Wash. U. went on a 12-0 sprint over the first three minutes of the period before Amherst could respond. “Having the extra five minutes was to our advantage and we also had the momentum coming into the overtime, having just erased a big deficit,” Unruh said.

Free throws proved to be a big help, with the Bears scoring a season high 83.8% (31-37) from the line. Berger was 9-for-9. McFarlin, Unruh and Berger led the Bears with 19 points each. McFarlin led Wash. U. with 14 rebounds.

As for Saturday, the Bears are looking towards the ultimate prize. “Possession by possession, stop after stop…that’s how you win,” McFarlin said. The Bears have been to the championship game three times in the past four seasons and look to break into the win column.

Matt Mitgang | Student Life

Women’s basketball head coach Nancy Fahey talks with the team during a timeout against George Fox. The No. 6 Bears advanced to the national semifinals in Bloomington, Ill., against top-ranked Amherst College with a 59-52 win over the No. 5 Bruins.

The words of senior co-captain Zoë Unruh resonated throughout the Washington University Field House after the No. 6 Washington University women’s basketball team defeated defending-champion George Fox University 59-52.

With the win on Saturday, the Bears earned a trip to the semifinals of the NCAA Division III women’s basketball tournament in Bloomington, Ill.

The No. 5 Bruins defeated the No. 6 Bears in the NCAA championship game last season, but the Red and Green won at home for their ticket to the national semifinals.

Off an inbound pass, junior guard Alex Hoover put the first points on the board with a three-pointer as the shot clock expired. The Bears added several more shots and jumped to a 9-0 lead.

But George Fox fought back. After two consecutive Wash. U. fouls, the Bruins tied the game with 12:41 remaining in the half and then grabbed a two-point lead.

Needing to break the George Fox three-two zone, Wash. U. head coach Nancy Fahey inserted Claire Schaeperkoetter into the game. The sophomore ignited the Bears with three quick three-pointers and kept the team in the game, though the Bruins took a 27-24 lead into halftime.

“We knew we were going against the zone defense, and a lot of times you’ve got to spread out the zone by hitting outside shots,” Schaeperkoetter said. “I know that’s one of my roles when I go in, so I was just trying to be ready and looking for my open shot.”

At the opening of the second half, the Bears began to find seams in their opponent’s zone defense.

“There was a point where I went with all shooters on the outside. I felt like they were cheating off of people,” Fahey said. “I think it just separated them a little bit, made them play a little more extended—that was my intent.”

With 13 minutes left in regulation, on George Fox’s possession, the Bruins committed a turnover, and a layup by senior Janice Evans gave Wash. U. a lead it never relinquished.

“It’s tough against a zone if you’re not hitting your shots…What we wanted to do in the second half was just relax a little bit and hope [our] shots start falling,” Unruh said. “Once they did, we could build momentum, and we were kind of able to take it from there.”

George Fox narrowed the Bears’ lead to two after free throws from freshman Hannah Munger, but the Bears responded with a three-pointer from Unruh and continued to pull away to a game-high lead of 11.

“We were trying not to focus too much on [Munger] because we knew they had some outside threats as well,” Unruh said.”Our idea was that they might get some inside points, but we just wanted to make sure we contained the dribble drive.”

The Bears held the Bruins to 33.9 percent shooting for the game, and capitalized on points off the bench with 22 for the game. Schaeperkoetter finished with a career- and team-high 16 points, while Unruh and Evans added 13 in the win.

Munger led all scorers with 17 points, but the Bruins shot under 30 percent from the floor in the second half and just 1 of 10 from three-point range, allowing Wash. U. to pull away.

Although the games were held during spring break, the Bears drew a crowd of nearly 500.

“Despite it being spring break, I think we had more fans in the stand than we’ve had at our games when there have been students on campus,” Unruh said. “You’ve got to give it to [the fans]; they were a great crowd, very loud, very supportive.”

The Bears advance to face No. 1 Amherst (31-0) at 5 p.m. on Friday. The undefeated Lord Jeff’s average 76 points per game.

“It’s never easy in March,” Unruh said. “I think we’ve just got to continue playing our defense…I think our shots will be there. It’s really on the defensive end where we’ll be able to make a statement.”

The game will be a rematch of last season’s NCAA semifinal, which the Bears won 65-49. No. 4 Hope College (31-1) will meet the University of Rochester (23-6) in the other semifinal.

“We just had to play the defending national champion… as I told these kids, possession by possession,” Fahey said. “We know this team, we played them last year. I’m sure they’re feeling the same way we felt against George Fox, because we knocked them out.”

Matt Mitgang | Student Life

Sophomore Claire Schaeperkoetter scored 16 points off of the bench and hit her first three triples of the game to lead the Bears to a 59-52 victory over George Fox University. (Matt Mitgang | Student Life)

“Revenge is sweet.”

The words of senior, co-captain Zoë Unruh resonated throughout the Washington University Field House after the No. 6 Washington University women’s basketball team defeated the defending NCAA Division III champion George Fox University 59-52.

With the win, the Bears earned a trip to the semi-finals of the NCAA Division III Women’s Basketball tournament.

The No. 5 Bruins defeated the No. 6 Bears in the NCAA championship game last year but the Red and Green capitalized on home court advantage to win the sectional and continue on to the national semifinals in Bloomington, Ill.

The Bears started the game with a 9-0 scoring run. Off an inbounds pass, junior guard Alex Hoover put the first points on the board with a triple as the shot clock ticked off its final second.

However, George Fox fought back. After Wash. U. fouls on two consecutive possessions, the Bruins tied the game with 12:41 remaining in the half and then grabbed a two point lead.

Needing to break the George Fox three-two zone, Wash. U. Head Coach Nancy Fahey inserted Claire Schaeperkoetter into the game. The sophomore ignited the Bears with three quick three pointers and kept the team in the game, though the Bruins took a 27-24 lead into halftime.

“We knew we were going against the zone defense, and a lot of times you’ve got to spread out the zone by hitting outside shots,” Schaeperkoetter said. “I know that’s one of my roles when I go in, so I was just trying to be ready and looking for my open shot.”

At the opening of the second half, the Bears began to find seams in their opponent’s zone defense.

“There was a point where I went with all shooters on the outside. I felt like they were cheating off of people,” Fahey said. “I think it just separated them a little bit, made them play a little more extended, that was my intent.”

With 13 minutes left in regulation, the Bears started a run that would punch their tickets to the Division III semifinals in Bloomington, Ill. Unruh tied the game at 33 with a three-pointer. On George Fox’s ensuing possession, the Bruins committed a turnover, and a layup by senior Janice Evans gave Wash. U. a lead it would never relinquish.

“It’s tough against a zone if you’re not hitting your shots…what we wanted to do in the second half was just relax a little bit and hope your shots start falling,” Unruh said. “Once they did, we could build momentum, and we were kind of able to take it from there.”

George Fox narrowed the Bears’ lead to two after free throws from freshman Hannah Munger, but the Bears responded with a three-pointer from Unruh and continued to pull away to a game-high lead of 11.

“We were trying not to focus too much on [Munger] because we knew they had some outside threats as well,” Unruh said. “Our idea was that they might get some inside points but we just wanted to make sure we contained the dribble drive.”

The Bears held the Bruins to 33.9 % shooting for the game, and capitalized on points off the bench with 22 for the game. Schaeperkoetter finished with a career and team-high 16 points while Unruh and Evans added 13 in the win.

Munger led all scorers with 17 points, but the Bruins shot under 30% from the floor in the second half and just 1-10 from three, allowing Wash. U. to pull away.

The Bears advance to face No. 1 Amherst on Friday, March 19. The Lord Jeff’s (31-0) are undefeated for the season and average 76 points per game. The game will be a rematch of last season’s NCAA semi-final, which the Bears won 65-49. No. 4 Hope College (31-1) will meet UAA University of Rochester (23-6) in the other semifinal.

“We just had to play the defending national champion… as I told these kids: possession by possession,” Fahey said. “We know this team, we played them last year, I’m sure they’re feeling the same way we felt against George Fox because we knocked them out.”

A jumper from senior Janice Evans put the Bears ahead of the Saints 8-6 with 15:01 remaining in the first half, and the Bears held the lead for the remainder of the contest.

Junior Kathryn Berger led Wash. U. with a career night off the bench, scoring 25 points on 9-for-13 shooting and grabbing 11 rebounds. Classmate Alex Hoover fell one assist short of a double-double and ended the game with 16 points and nine assists, while graduate student Jaimie McFarlin finished with nine points and 10 rebounds.

The Bears displayed their prowess on both sides of the ball, shooting 45 percent from the field and 47 percent from behind the three-point line while holding Thomas More to 37 percent shooting and just 15 percent from three-point range. No Saint scored more than 12 points.

To make the second-round game against the Saints, Wash. U. needed a strong second half to defeat Maryville College (Tenn.) in the opening round of the NCAA tournament. Maryville shot 40 percent from the field in the first half and took a 43-41 lead into halftime. But the Bears tightened up the defense in the second half, holding the Scots to 24 points on just 19 percent shooting.

The Red and Green then sealed the game on the offensive side, scoring 40 second-half points on 40 percent shooting. The team also converted 18 of 21 free throw attempts.

Senior Zoë Unruh led the Bears with a career-high 31 points, while Evans added 17 points. Both players also had nine rebounds.

Wash. U. (25-2) will face Mount Union College (26-4) in the third round of the NCAA tournament on Friday. The winner of that game will then face either No. 14 Carthage College (24-4) or No. 5 George Fox University (27-2) on March 13. George Fox beat Wash. U. in the NCAA final game last year to win the championship. The location of the next two rounds has yet to be announced.

Senior Zoë Unruh looks to pass against the University of Rochester on Friday in a 68-40 win. Unruh scored 14 points in the game. (Cedric Xia | Student Life)

Senior Zoë Unruh faced a dilemma in the game against Emory University on Jan. 31. Down 13 points in the first half, the Bears faced their second loss in just as many University Athletic Association conference games. That’s when Unruh, a co-captain, caught fire, scoring 11 of a career-high 25 points in the 70-60 victory. Her actions have earned her Student Life’s Athlete of the Week award.

Student Life: What was going on when you had a career-high of 25 points?

Zoë Unruh: I can’t say if there’s a difference in mentality between one game and the next. There’s definitely a gain in confidence felt when making shots. Nothing felt different in my shot. Part of it was coming off a loss on Friday. Once we got down 13, I thought this could go one of two ways. This could be a repeat of Friday or we could do something about it.

SL: How has it changed your perspective now that you are a captain?

ZU: It definitely changes the mentality of just about everything. You have to be on top of yourself at all times. You almost always have to be an example in terms of just being present in practice, really being involved in everything, talking a lot. There’s not much room for error.

Games also, you definitely feel more responsible with a loss. You feel, if only I could have led my team through the difficulties in the game, things could be different. Part of that is being a senior. Knowing that it’s probably your last game at that certain arena. It’s a little sentimental.

SL: How do you feel leading the team in points?

ZU: The beauty of the team we have, and this is the same last year too, there’s such a balance in scoring. You can call me the leading scorer last year, but that was by 0.1 points. It wasn’t even worth the title. That’s what makes our team so dangerous. I’m really happy to be part of that balanced attack. What that also does is it takes away pressure. We’re not relying on one person to do it all for you. As great as it is for me to score 25 points in a game, not everyone’s relying on me. When I shoot a shot, I don’t feel that intense amount of pressure.

During a game, we know who’s on fire. Part of why I scored so much was because I got a lot of shots and that was all created by my teammates. I do the same thing if [Jaimie McFarlin]’s on fire. Same with Janice [Evans], Alex [Hoover], anyone…it really is having so many different points of attack. It really helps us know where to go and also frees up other things as well.

SL: How did you start playing basketball?

ZU: I was always a huge soccer player actually. I started playing soccer in kindergarten and wanted to be a professional soccer player. That’s what I was going to do. I knew it. I picked up basketball because of my height in sixth grade. I went to two summer camps one year: One was soccer, and one was basketball. I wound up getting an award in the basketball camp and not at the soccer camp. That kind of made me think maybe I should look at basketball.

My high school had soccer and basketball in the same season…The basketball coach talked to me before the season. It was a coach I never had contact with. That kind of also led me on that path as well. I just always wanted to play some sport at a higher level. I also ran cross country, and I pretty much hit a wall sophomore/junior year.

SL: Who were your basketball idols growing up?

ZU: I didn’t have any pro athlete I idolized. When I was into soccer, Mia Hamm was my idol. In terms of basketball, I shot a lot with my dad. He had this great sky hook. He couldn’t shoot normally. He could only shoot a hook shot. He would shoot a hook shot from the free-throw line and beyond. Part of the reason I continued to play was he could relate to the game. He could give me good teaching pointers and helped me solidify my game.

SL: What advice have you given to underclassmen?

ZU: As cheesy as it is, just enjoy the ride. That was on the back of my shooting shirt my freshman year. You don’t really think about that freshman year. One thing I wish I had known and I really hadn’t said this to anyone: The intensity of the games senior year, it should be like that every year. I don’t know how you would do this, but approach every game like it’s the championship game or it could be your last game. That’s how you should approach every game. I wish I had captured that intensity and feeling every game.

Junior Hannah Cusworth scored a career-high 12 points in a loss to No. 24 University of Rochester on Friday night. (Matt Mitgang | Student Life)

In the latter half of their four-game UAA road trip, the Bears suffered their second loss of the season, falling to the University of Rochester 63-51 on Friday in Rochester, N.Y. The loss was both the first for the Bears in conference play and the first loss since November.

The team did manage to split the weekend with a 70-60 win on Sunday at Emory University in Atlanta.

The results moved Wash. U. to 16-2 overall and 6-1 in UAA play. This marks the second straight year that a road game at Rochester (15-3, 5-2) has been the team’s first conference loss.

“They’re a well disciplined team, and they did a great job defensively,” head coach Nancy Fahey said. “Their defense forced the shots that we missed.”

Despite out-rebounding Rochester at the break 27-23, the Bears shot a paltry 6 of 32 from the field, were held scoreless for the first seven minutes of the game and had their lowest-scoring half of the season, as they found themselves in a 30-16 hole at the break.

“It doesn’t matter as much if we miss a shot usually because there are four other people crashing the boards,” senior Zoë Unruh said. “But that’s one thing they really took away from us.”

Despite posting significantly better numbers in the second half, scoring 35 points on 40 percent shooting, the Bears never got within 12 points of the Yellowjackets. Time ran out, and the Bears had suffered their first loss in the conference since over a year ago on the same court.

Despite the loss, the Red and Green received solid performances from the bench. Junior Hannah Cusworth set a career high with 12 points, and sophomore Claire Schaeperkoetter tied hers with 11 while shooting 3 of 4 from three-point range. Graduate student Jaimie McFarlin led the team with 10 rebounds.

The team bounced back in a close contest against Emory on Sunday. Though the contest opened up the same way as the previous Friday’s, with the Bears trailing by as much as 13 points in the first half, the team fought back and had the contest tied at the break. Unruh came alive just in time, with 15 of her career-high 25 points coming in the first half. She also grabbed 10 rebounds.

“Zoë’s such a capable shooter,” Fahey said. “I just think as a senior that day you could see in her eyes that she would keep her own confidence going.”

Unruh continued her surge with 10 more in the second half, while McFarlin chipped in 10 of her 12 points. They led the Bears on a 24-3 run that spanned nearly 10 minutes of the half and put the game away.

“One thing I felt was that we can’t lose twice in one weekend. That’s just not acceptable,” Unruh said. “Down 13, we decided this was not happening again. That loss from Rochester really gave us the fire we needed to win Sunday.”

Despite their first loss in over two months, the Bears aren’t too worried about their abilities, and they’ve got a chance at some much-desired payback this upcoming weekend.

“I think that this loss is really going to provide us with some momentum,” Unruh said. “The loss is still fresh in our minds and we’ll remember how we felt.”

The Red and Green get another shot at these same two teams, as they take on Rochester at 6 p.m. Friday at the Wash. U. Field House, followed by Emory at 1 p.m. Sunday.

Junior Kelsey Robb goes for a layup against Rhodes College. Robb scored in double figures in both contests this weekend. (Matt Mitgang | Student Life)

The No. 5 Washington University women’s basketball team continued its strong start to the 2009-10 campaign with a 77-60 victory over the Elmhurst College Blue Jays on Saturday in Chicago.

Coming off the bench, junior Kathryn Berger led the Bears with 15 points in 17 minutes. Junior Kelsey Robb recorded a team-high seven rebounds to go along with 14 points.

Three of the Bears’ starters—seniors Zoë Unruh and Janice Evans and graduate student Jaimie McFarlin—added 11 points each. Unruh and Evans both shot 4 for 6 from the field, while Evans matched Robb with seven rebounds.

“We tried to pound the ball inside more, and that was working with us,” junior guard Alex Hoover said.

With 77 points, the team put on its second-best offensive performance of the young season, and its 58.8 percent shooting was its best of the season to date.

“We executed really well,” Berger said. “They were shading out to the shooters, so we drove the ball inside, which worked out.”

After falling behind 2-0 on the first basket, the Red and Green scored nine straight points to jump out to an early lead. Elmhurst fought back and tied the game at 14, but six straight points, including two free throws each from McFarlin and Evans, put the Bears ahead with a lead that they would never relinquish.

Elmhurst, however, kept fighting. Thanks to a strong performance from senior forward Lyndsie Long, who scored the most of any opposing player yet this season with 24 points, the Blue Jays kept the game close through the entire first half. The Bears brought a 36-29 lead to the locker room but came out firing after the break, shooting 16 for 23 (69.6 percent). A 12-6 run to start the half, fueled by eight points from Unruh that included a pair of threes, forced Elmhurst to take a timeout. Four more points for the Bears out of the timeout created a 52-35 advantage and put them well on their way to the victory.

“It was an interesting game. It felt like a close game the whole time,” Hoover said. “They were a tough team. It wasn’t an easy win.”

Despite allowing the most points and highest field goal percentage (40 percent) that they have yet to an opposing team this season, the Bears were happy with their level of defensive play. “Overall I think we did well in doubling down because they have some really good players on their team,” Berger said. “We did the little things that make the game a lot better. It was all about gametime adjustments.”

The Bears’ win put them at a 6-1 mark for the year. The Red and Green face Fontbonne University on Wednesday, Dec. 9, with tip-off at 7 p.m. in Fontbonne’s gym.

Zoë Unruh, women’s basketball: The junior scored in double figures twice in five games during winter break, including a 12-point performance in a four-point victory at Capital University. She is averaging nine points per game this season as both a starter and reserve.

Karina Stridh, swimming and diving: The freshman submitted a NCAA provisional time in the 100-freestyle against Lindenwood University after she had already qualified for nationals in the same event at the Wheaton Invitational in December.

Alex Beyer, swimming and diving: The junior won two individual events and shared in a relay title in a dual meet against Wabash College Wednesday. He won the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:43.99 and the 200-yard butterfly in 1:57.60. He was also a member of the winning 400-yard medley team.

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