After a successful winter break, the Wesleyan women’s basketball team hoped to continue its recent successes against NESCAC opponents in a grudge match against conference-leading Amherst. Unfortunately, the Cardinals’ Little Three rival from the north managed to hold off a hungry Wesleyan team to remain undefeated.
Amherst was clearly favored in the game from the start, as the team had yet to lose this year and had a 19-0 record (5-0 in conference) coming into the game. What ensued was exactly what was expected. After playing tight for the first 17 minutes of the first half, Wes relinquished the lead to Amherst, and the Lord Jeffs never gave it back.
Even though the Cards led for nearly the entire first half, the game finished with a significant margin of victory in Amherst’s favor. Although the final score was 69-48, the level of play was closer than the score indicates.
Wesleyan was lead in scoring by Jenna Klaes ’14, Sam LaCroce ’12, and Eileen Gaffney ’12; the senior pair combined for 23, while Klaes pitched in 13 of her own. LaCroce was one rebound shy of a double-double, and Gaffney provided strong defensive support by blocking four Amherst shots.
The Cards gave the game their all and certainly made it a compelling one throughout the first half, but in the end they were overpowered by a more experienced Amherst squad. If the Wes team manages to play a whole game like it did in the first half of this one, it will be able to challenge the conference’s best teams and poise themselves for a run in the NESCAC tournament. Next up for the Cardinals is a game against Hamilton at home on Sunday at noon.
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