During a weekend on the road, the WashU women’s basketball team fell to Brandeis University 68-57 and No. 1 New York University 77-58 on Feb. 7 and 9. The Bears are now 4-5 in conference play and 13-7 overall.
In a weekend full of conference play, the WashU women’s basketball team dominated against Brandeis University, defeating the Judges 74-50 on Jan. 31. However, the Bears lost 80-46 to the reigning national champions, No. 1 New York University on Feb. 2.
After starting the season with a record of 1-2 in University Athletic Association (UAA) play, which saw the Bears fall from No. 13 to unranked in Division III standings, the WashU women’s basketball team fought for two straight conference victories this past weekend. On Jan. 24, the Bears defeated the University of Rochester 86-76, and two days later, they traveled down to Atlanta, beating Emory University 67-56. WashU is now 3-2 in UAA play as they reach the halfway point of their two-month stretch of consecutive conference games.
Coming off a five-game winning streak, the No. 13 WashU women’s basketball team fell to Case Western Reserve University and No. 23 Carnegie Mellon University on Jan. 17 and 19. Despite making late surges, the Bears lost to the Spartans 57-64 on Friday and the Tartans 67-86 on Sunday.
The No. 16 WashU women’s basketball team opened conference play with a dominant victory 72-45 over No. 19 The University of Chicago. The win marked the start of WashU’s University Athletic Association (UAA) 14 game campaign.
With the No. 15 women’s team’s 93-35 win, and the No. 2 men’s team’s 107-57 victory later that night, WashU played its final basketball games against its neighbor Fontbonne, which will close after the 2024-25 academic year. Fontbonne’s gym and facilities will soon adorn WashU red and green, when WashU absorbs Fontbonne’s land into its campus over the summer.
WashU now sits at 5-1 on the young season, and is ranked No. 11 in the D3Hoops.com poll for the second straight week. In the game against Illinois Wesleyan, the Bears have shown that they can contend with the best teams in Division III, but still lack a statement victory against a ranked opponent.
With 47 seconds left in the game, first-year guard Ava Blagojevich converted a layup to score the Bears’ 115th point of the game and set a program record for points scored by WashU in a single game. The previous record stood for over 25 years, set in a 114-47 win against Beloit College in 1999.
The No. 18 WashU women’s basketball team got off to a strong start in head coach Lisa Stone’s first games at the helm, winning the four-team Hyatt Place Tournament. The Bears defeated Edgewood College 78-58 on Nov. 15 and dominated Saint Mary’s College (Ind.) 99-40 on Nov. 16 in the tournament hosted by Augustana College in Rock Island, Ill.
When the No. 18 WashU women’s basketball team tips off its season on Nov. 15, it won’t just start a new season for the Bears. It’ll start a new era with coach Lisa Stone at the helm. With two preseason All-Americans — graduate-student guard Jessica Brooks and sophomore center Lexy Harris — leading a deep lineup, Stone’s program, ranked 18th in the country in the preseason d3hoops.com poll, has the potential to run the table in 2024-25.
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