Margaret BauerSaturday, Jan. 23 proved to be a milestone day for each of the Washington University basketball programs as the men’s team posted its 1000th win in program history and the women broke the 500-win mark. Including the University, only 60 teams in Division III history have ever recorded 1,000 wins or more.
Both victories came against Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) on the heels of winning streaks. Coming into Saturday’s game, the men’s team had won six of nine games while the women’s streak encompassed eight wins in 10 games.
A 93-83 men’s victory came from the stellar three-point shooting of senior Rob Keller, who went 5-for-10 from beyond the arc and scored 26 points in 31 minutes, tying his career high. All in all, the Bears shot 12-of-24 from long range.
The superb passing of a key player, junior Scott Stone, contributed to the memorable day. Stone, who has already amassed a team-leading 84 assists on the season, lent nine assists to the Bears’ offense. Senior Anthony Hollins is second on the team in assists with 36.
The women’s game against CMU was defined by a strong defensive strategy centered around solid turnovers. This plan worked well, and the Lady Bears walked off the court at halftime with a 40-14 edge after forcing the ball away from CMU 18 times. Despite being outscored in the second half 23-29, the Bears’ first half domination was too much for CMU to overcome and the University posted a 63-43 win.
Senior Kelly Manning was the leading scorer in the game with 15 points while senior Hallie Hutchens came away with a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
Today the men’s team (10-6, 2-3 UAA) and women’s team (14-2, 4-1 UAA) square off at Brandeis University in Boston, Mass.