As the women’s basketball Cardinals have proved throughout this year, they are going to be a serious contender for the NESCAC crown. They made their case even stronger with their fourth win in a row, improving their record to 5-1 against a clearly inferior Western New England University squad. The Cardinals notched another blowout with a 69-39 win that continued their string of three straight games won by 29 points or more.

In what is becoming characteristic of their season, the Cardinals played extremely well from the start, rushed to an early lead and never relinquished it. By four minutes in, they were already up 11-2 and by halftime the nine-point lead had been pushed to 19, as Wesleyan was up 38-19. Holding huge leads from halftime until the end of games has become standard fare for the Cardinals, and this contest was no different.

Once again, the squad benefited from strong senior leadership. The  trio of Eileen Gaffney ’12, Emily Lippe ’12, and Sam LaCroce ’12 were the three highest scorers with 17, 13, and 10 points, respectively. Together, these veterans accounted for 40 points in the game, enough to beat WNEU by one point. Lippe had six assists and Gaffney had four to help accentuate their total domination of the game. Gaffney also tied with Jess Cherenza ’15 for the team lead in rebounds, with seven. Wes shot 45.8  percent from the floor for the game, easily topping WNEU’s 24.6 percent, which was a direct result of the Cardinals’ tight defense.

Strong starts are nothing new for the Cardinals, as they began last season with a solid 4-2 record. Hopefully, they will be able to translate the momentum to future wins better than they did last year, when they stumbled after early-season success to a 7-16 record and a 0-9 conference record.

If the Lady Cards want people to believe that this winning streak is more than just an early-season aberration, they will have to continue to prove themselves throughout the rest of the year.  The squad’s next opportunity to do so comes Saturday, Dec. 10, when they travel to Williamstown, MA to face NESCAC and Little Three rival Williams College.

About Drew Hudson

Drew Hudson grew up in the heart of basketball country, Charlotte, North Carolina. He is a huge basketball and football fan, but also loves golf, tennis, and the occasional baseball or hockey game. Drew also loves poetry, Cocoa Puffs, walks on the beach, rap music, and reading a good book in his Snuggie. His sports idols are Tyler Hansbrough, Steve Smith, Sean May, Baron Davis, and Julius Peppers. Drew one day hopes to write for the sports section of a major newspaper or sports network.