The Cardinals came out on fire Friday night against 12th-ranked Tufts, a team none of the women’s baskeball players has ever beaten. Wesleyan started strong and played a competitive first half, never trailing at any point of the period. At the 6:15 mark of the first half the Cards jumped out to their biggest lead, 29-22, on a jumper by Erin Gold ’11. Tufts, however, would not allow the lead to get any bigger than that and finished the first half on a 9-4 run.
Wes continued to play hard at the beginning of the second half, not letting down its intensity on defense. The guards continued to pound it inside to Sam LaCroce ’12 and Eileen Gaffney ’12, who both ended the game in double figures. The Jumbos, however, took their first lead of the game 5:03 into the second half and did not let up. With a 57-50 score in favor of the Jumbos with only 1:57 remaining, McKinley Tennant ’10 hit a huge three to put the Cards back in the game. However, a crucial turnover gave the ball back to the Jumbos and Wesleyan chose not to continue fouling, since the Jumbos rank second in the NESCAC with an overall free-throw percentage of 74 percent. While the Cards did win the rebound battle 31-25, they committed nine more turnovers than their opponent, three of them coming in the last three minutes of the game. The Redbirds went into the locker room clearly feeling that they had let an opportunity for a key win slip away from them in the final minutes of the game.
The Cards returned to NESCAC play against Bates on Saturday afternoon determined not to let another game slip into the loss column. Wes again started strong, leading by as many as nine (20-11) in the first half. The team shot 42 percent from beyond the arc in the first half, while Bates shot a slim 14 percent from downtown. Bates, however, was able cut into the Cardinals’ lead, as the Bobcats forced the Wesleyan guards to dribble into traps and turn the ball over. Bates went into the half down by only four.
The Cards returned to the floor with the game plan of staying away from the Bates traps and understood that they needed to get the ball into their posts. However, Bates came out with its own game plan and was able to take the lead at the 14:01 mark on a three-pointer. Similar to the game the previous day, Wes committed a key turnover on a crucial possession, but was unable to stop easy lay-ups, and consequently saw Bates go on an 18-8 run. Wes got as close as four with 1:56 to go, but Bates’ exceptional free-throw percentage (85.7 percent for the game) made it impossible for the Cards to get any closer. The game finished with a 61-51 win for the Bobcats.
Wes now slips into ninth place in the conference (1-5) with an overall record of 7-11. The Cards will face non-conference opponent Emmanuel College on Wednesday. Then they will take on the last-place team in the NESCAC, Connecticut College, on Saturday.
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