W&J sloppy, takes loss in home opener
For the entirety of Washington & Jefferson’s women’s basketball game Friday night, head coach Jina DeRubbo and the Presidents found themselves in the same situation.
While DeRubbo looked up at the scoreboard scratching her head at her team’s inability to take the lead, it was compounded on being stuck in what seemed to be insurmountable deficits.
The Presidents mounted two comebacks after being down 11 points in the second quarter and a 12-point deficit in the second half, but couldn’t make a final push against Case Western, losing 79-74, in Friday night’s Springhill Suites Women’s Basketball Tournament at the Henry Memorial Center.
The Presidents will take on Earlham College in a consolation game at 2 p.m. today.
W&J (0-1) committed 18 turnovers, many leading to the 21 fast-break points scored by Case Western.
“We were just sloppy,” DeRubbo said about her team’s first game this season. “They are a good team and we obviously didn’t take care of the ball.”
Despite self-inflicted mistakes made by W&J, it had an opportunity even after Case Western took an eight-point lead with a little over two minutes left in the game.
Seniors Taylor Cortazzo and Dani Medovich connected on three pointers in back-to-back possessions for the Presidents to cut the lead to two points. But the Presidents couldn’t slow the Spartans on the other end of the court.
“We still gave up 80 points,” DeRubbo said. “It’s pretty disappointing because we’ve spent a lot of time working on the defense side of the ball. We score 74 points which should be enough to win most games and here we are again.”
The balanced offense of Case Western (1-1) was highlighted by Kara Hageman’s 21 points. Hillary Hellman and Jessica McCoy also scored in double figures for the Spartans with 18 and 17 points, respectively.
The first-half hole dug by the Presidents, who only scored 14 points in the first quarter, was a direct result of a majority of their points coming from behind the arc and not maintaining a post presence.
“In the first half, our post players were standing around a lot,” DeRubbo said. “They were able to take us out of our offense with their defense style of play by attacking the ball and trapping ball screens. We didn’t do a good job at turning the corner off those traps. We were playing from side to side rather than getting into the middle of the floor.”
As W&J continued to adjust, its leading returning scorer from last year, Amirah Moore, slashed into the paint for many of her team-leading 22 points.
“It’s disheartening,” DeRubbo said. “You put all that time in to cut down that lead, finally get there, and then you turn it over a couple of times and you’re right back to where you started. That’s very difficult.”
LaRoche 68, Earlham 58: After taking a double-digit lead into the fourth quarter, La Roche College held off a comeback attempt from Earlham College (Ind.) to pick up its first win of the season, 68-58, in the first game of the Springhill Suites Tournament at Henry Memorial Center Friday night.
The offensive effort from La Roche (1-0) was paced by seniors Sabrina McLin and Mackenzie O’Donnell. McLin finished with 25 points, while O’Donnell, a Butler High School graduate, scored 21 points. Both collected six rebounds.
Hannah Franklin provided the only offensive threat for Earlham (0-1) with 27 points and four assists, both game highs.