Pam Buzzetta/Student LifeThe Washington University women’s basketball team played the typical home Friday/Sunday schedule last weekend, facing off against both Brandeis University and New York University.
The games were so different in style, however, that one might not even believe it was the same sport being played.
Friday night yielded a 93-70 victory over the Judges from Brandeis. The game was marked by a fast pace and an abundance of scoring on the Bears’ side. Sunday’s contest was characterized by slower play, stalling on NYU’s part, and fewer total shots, leading to a 53-44 defeat of the Violets, in a game where fans and even the players were almost lulled to sleep.
In Friday’s match up, the Bears had four players score in double figures. Leading the attack was junior guard Lesley Hawley, who dumped in 23 points, and managed to forge a shooting clip of 75 percent (9-12). The other three players in double digits, freshman Kelly Manning, senior Diana Hill and senior Danielle Battle, each shot better than 50 percent, and the team shot 52.3 percent for the game-a big reason that they threatened the 100-point barrier. The team also shot 50 percent from behind the arc, a percentage many teams would take from the field.
Brandeis’ game plan was fundamental to their demise. The team runs quick patterns and throws up shots not suitable for IM hoops. The quick, errant shots allowed the Bears to get back on offense consistently.
Senior guard Laura Crowley said, “We had a few breakdowns on defense, and the way their offense played, it allowed our defense to execute; which allowed us to create more opportunities on offense.”
Crowley’s sentiment is true and even a slight understatement.
The 93 points were a season high against a UAA foe.
During Sunday’s matinee, the Bears still managed to shoot at a 48.9 percent clip despite the Violet’s suffocating defense and an offensive strategy designed to run time off the clock and limit the number of possessions given to the Bears offense. Each time up the court, NYU’s ball handlers dribbled down the shot clock to ten seconds before running their set offense, often having to force up shots as the shot clock expired.
The slower pace of Sunday’s game allowed the scoring to be spread out among many players. No individual scored more than 12 points, and no player attempted more than nine shots from the field.
The most impressive statistic was that WU held NYU’s offense to 44 points at a 32 percent clip. The Bears’ defense was stifling and physical, and it is no coincidence that there is little love lost between the two teams.
NYU had an ulterior game-plan to contain the Bears. The Violets play a physical style of ball, often considered dirty by members of opposing teams.
Senior forward Meg Sullivan said, “Everybody knows NYU plays dirty, flat-out. The girls came into the training room after the game all clawed-up from the NYU players.”
Dirty play aside, NYU made an attempt to stop the Bears’ transition game, and it almost worked, as they lost by just nine points and kept the game competitive along the way.
The Bears, now immersed in the heart of their UAA schedule, know that these games are even more important than the victories that marked early season contests against such opponents as Webster University and Carthage College.
The Bears also know that every team must be taken seriously, a lesson that was learned from the Fontbonne debacle of two years ago that marked the end of their record-setting 81 game winning streak.
“We know that these games are big,” said Sullivan. “If we beat Rochester in Rochester and keeping winning, we get the automatic bid into the tournament.”
The bid is essential to the Bears winning the DIII crown-an achievement that has become an absolute expectation of the WU community.