Bri Nitsberg | Student Life

With under a minute left in the Midwest Challenge championship game between the Washington University women’s basketball team and that of Illinois Wesleyan University (IWU), tensions were heightened as the back-and-forth contest neared the end. Despite the Bears’ best efforts, the Titans played on par with them throughout the hour. After a layup gave IWU a 76-74 lead with under a minute left, WashU had a chance to inbound the ball from its offensive half of the court with just seconds remaining. As the buzzer rang to indicate the end of the fourth quarter, first-year Sidney Rogers caught the ball, turned, and fired a deep two-point shot that pushed the game into overtime. Though the overtime period resulted in a loss for the Bears, their performance this past weekend showed the strides of progress they have made in the first few weeks of the season.  

After a rocky start to the season, the WashU women’s basketball team greatly improved its performance this past weekend at the Midwest Challenge, an annual early season four-team tournament hosted by the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Indiana. The Bears participated in two games: a semifinal matchup against DePauw University and the championship game against IWU. The Bears won against DePauw, but lost a close game against IWU, shifting their record to 2-3 and ending the weekend as runners up in the Midwest Challenge. 

“I believe we have improved a ton since our first weekend of play. Our players competed in the areas we needed to which put us in [a] position to [do well during] both games. I am super proud of our progress in practices and how it showed up for us this weekend,” Head Coach Randi Henderson said about the team’s performance at the Midwest Challenge. 

WashU vs. DePauw

This past Saturday, the young WashU squad kicked off its first game of the Midwest Challenge with much passion, aiming to build off momentum from its first win of the season against Greenville the week before. Even though only six players scored points, the Bears were able to roll past DePauw. In the first minute, first-year Alyssa Hughes scored a three-pointer, one of six the Bears made throughout the game. First-year Lexy Harris, who achieved her second double-double of the season, scored four of her twenty points in the first quarter. The first quarter ended with the Bears 10 points ahead at 23-13. 

The Bears continued their fantastic plays into the second quarter. Hughes, who secured her career-high of 18 points, managed to score another three-pointer, one of four she made in the game. Harris also continued scoring for the Bears, pushing the lead to 37-26 at the beginning of halftime. 

After back and forth scoring, however, the Tigers pushed back, making a comeback as they scored seven points in a row. Harris ended the Tigers’ scoring run with a layup, giving the Bears a 47-42 lead. Though the Tigers managed to close the scoring gap in the third quarter, the fourth quarter ended in favor of the Bears, with a final score of 72-59. 

Though Harris’ impressive 20 point, 13 rebound performance led the way, she focused on areas of growth for herself and the team in an interview after the game.

“I felt proud of my performance, but I know I still have a lot of work to do. There is still a lot to improve on that we [as a team] can implement in practice this upcoming week. We must be more consistent in communication and boxing out,” the first-year center said.

The game against the Tigers was monumental for the team, giving it a second consecutive win and a spot in the Midwest Challenge championship game. The Bears went into Sunday’s game against IWU hoping to build on their success. 

WashU vs. IWU

The first quarter against IWU started well for the Bears as they scored nine consecutive points. Specifically, three key players, first year Catherin Goodwin, sophomore Nailah McBeth, and junior Brenna Loftus, pushed the Bears ahead of the Titans from the jump. However, the Titans battled hard during the last few minutes of the opening period, going on an impressive fifteen point run to end the first quarter with a 22-17 lead. 

In the second quarter, the Bears attempted to close the gap. Rogers and Harris continued scoring, trimming the deficit to only two points with eight minutes left of the quarter. Harris built on the impressive performance against DePauw, scoring 19 points and grabbing five rebounds against IWU. However, despite the Bears’ efforts, IWU stood strong, and the first half of the game ended 45-38 in favor of the Titans.

After halftime, the Titans continued to dominate the game. With two minutes remaining in the third quarter and the Titans leading 55-46, the Bears went on an impressive run. They scored 11 straight points, including an impressive three-pointer by first-year Syndey Starkes to tie the game. After making two free throws, the Bears led 57-55 entering the fourth quarter.

The Titans and Bears continued to play neck-in-neck in the fourth quarter of the game. However, in the last two minutes, the Bears took a six-point advantage, but the Titans fought back vigorously. The game entered the final minute as both teams were tied at 74. 

With just four seconds left, an IWU layup gave the Titans a 76-74 lead. However, the Rogers buzzer-beater saved the Bears at the end of regulation, sending the game into overtime.

During overtime, however, IWU dominated. After back and forth scoring put the score at 81-80 in favor of the Titans, they pulled away, scoring six straight points to end the game with a 87-80 victory over the Bears. 

Though the game against IWU resulted in another loss for the team, the Midwest Challenge demonstrated the Bears’ improvement. Multiple players, including many of their underclassmen, gained double-doubles, career highs, and other impressive achievements. First-year guard Hughes scored a career-high 18 points against DePauw, while Harris had two more impressive performances. McBeth, a sophomore forward, also played well as she grabbed her first double-double of the season in a career-high 20 point performance against IWU and was named to the Midwest Challenge All-Tournament team. 

“I thought the team played great the past two games. We practiced extremely hard with a lot of effort this past week, and it showed in our games. Although we didn’t have the outcome we wanted in the last game [against IWU], we played well,” Harris said about the team’s performance. 

“This weekend I feel many of our players did their roles well. Overall, [I am] just proud of the progress toward a total team effort. [In the upcoming games, we want to] keep improving in the areas we can control and to control those more consistently [during] each opportunity,” Coach Henderson said, sharing similar sentiments as Harris. 

The team will have its next game against Hanover College this upcoming Friday, Dec. 1 at 7 p.m. at home in the Field House, which will mark the beginning of the McWilliams Classic competition, the annual tournament hosted by WashU. The Bears hope to continue to improve and triumph in the McWilliams Classic, which they have won three seasons in a row. Though it fell in the championship game of this past weekend’s Midwest Challenge, the impressive performances show that the young Bears squad is on the right trajectory going forward in the season.