Senior weekend saw the women’s basketball team return to winning form with victories over Trinity and Amherst. With the sweep, the Cards (13-7, 4-3 NESCAC) moved into a tie with Williams for fourth in the conference standings.
Next weekend’s road contests against Middlebury and Williams will determine if the seniors get one more shot to play on their home court during the playoffs.
A struggling Trinity team (11-10, 2-6 NESCAC) proved to be just what the Cards needed to end a four game skid. After jumping out to a 38-22 halftime lead, the Cards never looked back on their way to a 59-39 drubbing of the Bantams.
Captain Kelly Bowman ’07 ignited the team with 11 points, six rebounds nights and two steals. Fellow senior Sarah Milburn chipped in four points, a block, and two steals. Nikki Maletta ’08 added nine points to go with seven rebounds, while Ali Fourney ’09 continued her consistent production with 11 points and seven boards.
Saturday, the Cards faced a critical match-up with Little Three rival Amherst. The Lord Jeffs entered the contest with a NESCAC mark of 3-4 after dropping a shocker to lowly Connecticut College the night before. Saturday’s game held heavy playoff ramifications for both teams, and the 59th ever meeting between these two squads did not disappoint.
The game turned into a punch, counter-punch battle of scoring runs. After Amherst guard Kerry O’Loughlin opened the scoring with a three, the Cards went on a 13-0 run over the next six minutes. Amherst settled down and worked their way back into the game, but the Cards still held a 25-18 lead at the half.
Wesleyan opened the second half nearly as strongly as the first, this time with a 15-6 run spanning 11 minutes. Amherst responded with their strongest stretch of the game, scoring 16 of the next 18 points to whittle the Cardinal lead to three with 1:37 remaining. A strong drive from Maletta upped the lead to five, but Amherst responded quickly with a lay-up of its own. The Lord Jeffs went cold the rest of the way, however, shooting 0-2 from the field and 1-4 from the free-throw line over the final 15 seconds to allow Wesleyan the 48-43 win.
Fourney and Meredith Lowe ’09 led the Cards with 14 points each. The two turned in a solid defensive effort as well, combining for five steals, two blocks, and six defensive rebounds.
For the Cards, the weekend turned out exactly as planned.
“Our senior night couldn’t have gone any better. We played well and got revenge on Amherst,” said Bowman.
The Cards will head to Middlebury on Friday, before closing out the regular season conference schedule with a trip to Williamstown to take on the Ephs. A victory over Williams on Saturday would guarantee the Cards a home playoff game on February 17th.
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