Anthony Jacuzzi
Despite traveling north to the Windy City this past weekend to take on the Maroons of the University of Chicago on Saturday evening at the Harvey Crown Field House, the Washington University women’s basketball team felt right at home. About half the crowd consisted of WU fans, including the pep band, the cheerleaders, fellow teammates on the JV team, parents, other random students, and even Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences Jim McLeod.
“It felt like a home game, we really appreciated all the support from the fans,” said junior forward Jen Rudis. “When the crowd is really into it and on your side, it makes a huge difference.”
The Bears entered the game undefeated, and after 40 minutes of play had comfortably secured a perfect 25-0 record for the regular season, and the third undefeated season in school history.
In fact, the Bears did so in their usual manner: they struggled to find their game in the first half, only to crush their opponent in the second. WU shot a dismal 32 percent for the game and still managed to hand the Maroons a twenty-point defeat, 70-50.
This victory was the 20th consecutive University Athletic Association win and 36th consecutive win overall (both date back to last season’s loss to the Violets of NYU).
WU started the game with some offense, including two three-pointers by junior guard Laura Crowley to take an early 16-11 lead with thirteen and a half minutes to go in the first half. However the WU defense couldn’t shut down the Maroons entirely. Chicago shot well and kept the Bears from running away with the lead. WU was able to gain as much as a nine-point lead with about ten minutes to go, but held a tenuous five-point advantage at the half, 35-30.
According to a few Bears, in the locker room the coaches sounded a bit of a wake-up growl.
“[The coaches] told us to play smart and focus on the little things such as boxing out and moving the ball around,” said Crowley.
“We spent all week in practice working on ways to force them to have to change their offense and we didn’t execute that until the second half,” added Rudis.
Since WU continued to struggle in their shooting in the second half, nasty defense proved to be the key to the Bears’ victory. WU out-rebounded Chicago 44-31, led by freshman forward Hallie Hutchens who grabbed a team-high 11 boards.
At about the ten-minute mark, halfway through the second half, the lead grew to double-digits and steadily grew. Shortly thereafter, scattered WU fans convinced of a Bears victory began to chant, “Un-de-feated” until the clock ran out.
Crowley finished with 15 points by connecting on five trifectas in the game. Her season total of three-pointers made now stands at 71, breaking the previous school record of 67 set by Stacy Leeds in the 1993-94 season. Two other WU players also scored in double digits, Rudis adding 12 points and nine rebounds and Hutchens pouring in 13 off the bench.
Now that the regular season is history, the postseason begins immediately. Wednesday marks the beginning of first-round action. However, the Bears secured a bye in the first round of the playoffs as well as home-court advantage in the second round.
Next Saturday WU will face the winner of the match-up between Lake Forest and the nationally seventh-ranked team University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. Sectional games will take place the following weekend of March 9 and the Final Four will take place on the campus of Ruse-Hulman in nearby Terre Haute, Indiana on March 15 and 16.
Rudis seemed unfazed about the Bears’ second-round opponent and preferred to focus on the task at hand.
“We have been in this position before and have been taught not to look too far ahead,” she said. “Our coaches will have both teams well scouted and we will be ready for either one.”
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