The women’s basketball squad is off to an incredible start, already 4–0 in its 2003-2004 season. Going into their first home game undefeated, the women also won the Midway Classic at the University of Chicago a few weekends ago.
The Midway Classic is a good projection of the season to come for the consistently strong women’s basketball program. In their first game of the tournament, against Rhodes, the Cardinals outscored their opponents 42–19 in the second half, making the final score of that game 56–34. Wesleyan then went on to beat the host, Chicago, 51-46. Hannah Stubbs ’06 led the team in steals and rebounds in both games and was named to the all-tournament team while point guard Nora Bowman ’05 was named tournament MVP, both great honors for the Cardinals.
“[Midway] was an important tournament because U of Chicago is a good team from one of the toughest Division III conferences,” said Virginia Hermann ’07. “We showed that we are a team to beat this year, and we really represented the NESCAC well.”
Their showing in Chicago got the girls pumped for the start of their regular season and their first opponent, rivals Springfield College Pride. The Cardinals came out strong, destroying Springfield 21–12 in the first half.
But the Pride, who has defeated the Cardinals the past two years in a row, was not about to give up. They topped the Cardinals 26-25 points in the second half, but their efforts would not prove to be enough.
The final score was 46-38, in favor of the Cardinals.
Wesleyan’s defense was impeccable and the team attributes much of the win to its defensive play. Winning its first game of the season against a tough team that has always done well in the NCAA tourney was a definite morale-booster for the Cards and will serve as a building block for more good things to come.
The Cardinals traveled to St. Joseph’s College Tuesday and posted an easy 55-32 victory. Great offensive play early on by Amy Posocco ’04 and Sue Frost ’05 gave Wesleyan an early lead, and the invariably tough defense again contributed to much of the team’s success, caused St. Joseph’s to 30 turnovers.
The women will look to continue their winning streak Saturday in an away game against St. Joseph’s.
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