Women’s basketball runs through competition

With a 75-40 victory over Johnson & Wales on Saturday, the Middlebury women’s basketball team improved their record to 4-0, their best start since 2007, and continued to build momentum towards conference play in January. Included in the wins were triumphs over Nazareth and Brockport, which made the Panthers the winners of the Brockport Invitational Tournament held in New York.

“Winning the Brockport Tournament meant a lot to the team,” said co-captain Lauren Sanchez ’11, who was named MVP of the tournament after scoring 47 points in the two games, including 30 in the Panthers’ opening round win over Nazareth. “Taking home that trophy really set the tone for the entire season.”

Brittany Perfetti ’12 was also named to the All-tournament team for her performance in Brockport.

Following their success in New York, the Panthers opened the home part of their schedule with a 92-58 win over in-state rival Norwich at Pepin Gymnasium over Thanksgiving break. The 92 points scored by Middlebury were the most scored by the team since 1998, and a strong defensive performance punctuated a Panther victory in which the victorious ladies never trailed. Maddie Moreau ’12 led the team with 17 points in the game, followed by Sanchez and Perfetti, who added 16 each, and Stephany Surrette ’12, who had 10 points to go along with her eight rebounds.

“We expect to win every game this season,” said Surrette. “We set the bar incredibly high in the off-season, and we can now see it paying off immensely.”

Middlebury followed the victory over Norwich with a 75-40 defeat over Johnson and Wales at home on Saturday night. After a slow start, Middlebury exploded on a 10-0 run halfway through the first period, sparked by five points from guard Katie Logan ’13 and four points from Perfetti, and led 24-12 with seven and a half minutes to play. The Panthers turned that advantage into a 33-23 halftime lead and never looked back, outscoring Johnson & Wales 26-5 over the last 10 minutes of play to complete the blowout victory. Sarah Marcus ’14 led the Panthers with 14 points against the Wildcats, highlighting four Middlebury players who finished in double-figures. Through the first four games of the season Sanchez leads all Panther scorers with 18.8 points per game, and also leads the team in assists. Sanchez is followed by Perfetti, who is averaging 11.3 points per game, and Surrette, who contributes 9.5 points per game and nine rebounds per game.

The Panthers’ hot start this year is in marked contrast to their 1-3 start from last year’s campaign. Additionally, Middlebury is scoring at a much higher clip to start this season than they were at any point last season, averaging nearly 78 points per game as a team, and are blowing out their opposition in a way that they rarely displayed last season.

“We’re not surprised by the 4-0 start, but I don’t think any of us expected to be scoring nearly 80 points a game and beating our opponents by upwards of 30 points sometimes,” said Sanchez, who cites the team’s work ethic and preseason training as the key contributor to the early-season success. “We trained and practiced harder than ever before –– we had 6:45 am team runs and drills that made us both physically and mentally better as a team. It’s great to see so much work and dedication starting to pay off.”

The Panthers will look to continue their hot start on Saturday, when they play at Union College.