Losses add up for women's basketball

Author: Brian Sirkia

The Panther women dropped two games on the road this weekend at Bowdoin and Colby. Now with five consecutive losses, the Panthers have fallen to 1-6 in NESCAC play and 7-13 overall.

In the Bowdoin contest, despite starting strong and having two players in double figures, the Panther women were unable to crack Bowdoin's tough perimeter defense and precise shooting in Friday's 76-50 loss.

Lauren Sanchez '11, the Panthers' sophomore guard from Seattle, scored seven points early on to give the Panthers a 13-9 lead after just 5:30 of playing time. Bowdoin responded with two three-point plays to take the lead and showed no signs of slowing down. After leading 41-29 at the half, the Polar Bears came out on a 10-0 run and led by as many as 29 points on their way to a 26-point win. Bowdoin was tough on both ends of the court and was able to score 33 points on 23 Middlebury turnovers.

For Bowdoin, junior Alexa Kaubris had a team-high 15 points, with two more Bowdoin players scoring in double figures. The Polar Bears displayed their strong passing and defense by having assists on 21 of their 29 baskets and forcing 23 turnovers.

For Middlebury, Sanchez finished with a team-high 15 points, while guard Alana Wall '10 had a great game off the bench with 14 points.

"When we are not shooting well from the perimeter, we need to work the ball inside to our post players a lot more," said co-captain Ashley Barron '09 about the loss. "This, in turn, will create space and also opportunities to kick the ball back out to the guards and make the opposing defense move."

Clearly taking pride in Middlebury's defensive play, Barron said that the team plays, "very tenacious defense, and it is hard to keep that up for 40 minutes when you play a team like Bowdoin that shot almost 50 percent from the floor."

On Feb. 7, Middlebury came up against a hot Mules team in Colby's home court. Colby prevailed 62-45, utilizing their defensive strength to beat Midd.

Colby came out strong and took an early lead. With 15:12 to play Middlebury battled back to within two after Sanchez sank two free throws. Colby then continued their tough play and continuously pulled away. Middlebury would come as close as 11 points down en route to a 17-point loss. Colby blocked nine shots and held Middlebury to 14 for 57 from the floor.

High scorers for Colby were senior Julianne Kowalski with game-highs of 18 points and 12 rebounds, junior Alison Cappelloni with 11 points and 10 rebounds, and first-year Rachael Mack kicking in with 12 points, eight rebounds, five blocked shots, two assists and two steals.

Lauren Sanchez was again the high-scorer for the Panthers with 13 points, five rebounds and three steals, with Emily Johnson '09 contributing seven points and three assists and Kaitlyn Fallon '10 rounding out the high-scorers with six points and five rebounds.

After two tough games, Barron and the rest of the Panther women are looking toward the future.

"I'm very confident that we are mentally and physically ready to defend our home court this coming weekend against Amherst and Trinity," said Barron.