After a hot 3-0 start to the season that featured a beatdown over Oneonta St. and two nail-biting victories against Hartwick and at in-state opponent Johnson St., the Middlebury women’s basketball team suffered its first loss this season at Skidmore, 63-60. After beating the Thoroughbreds last year by just three points, the Panthers had hoped they could repeat the same feat, but excessive turnovers proved to be Middlebury’s downfall.
The Panthers trailed for all but 29 seconds of the first half, eventually entering halftime down 32-26 after a 9-6 Skidmore run right before the half.
The Thoroughbreds stretched the lead to 10 multiple times in the third quarter, but Middlebury refused to die.
A 15-3 run early in the fourth quarter gave Middlebury a late one-point lead, 56-55, with 4:09 to play. With both teams locking down on the defensive end, points were hard to come by down the stretch. Skidmore’s Veronica Moceri hit a three-pointer to give the Thoroughbreds the lead once more, but Rachel Collins ’18 nailed a jump shot to tie the game at 58.
Moceri came up huge for Skidmore once again, hitting a three-pointer to go up three with 51 seconds left in the fourth. Catherine Harrison ’19 then hit two quick free throws to bring the Panthers within one before fouling to extend the game. Skidmore made what could have been a deadly mistake, turning the ball over with 13 seconds to play. Middlebury got a look at a go-ahead layup with eight seconds remaining but could not capitalize. Skidmore’s Kelly Donnelly hit two free throws to make it a three-point game once again. Panther point guard Sarah Kaufman ’18 had a chance to tie the game and send it to overtime, but her desperation three point attempt missed the mark.
The Middlebury team that got off the bus in Saratoga seemed to have been a different team than the one that went undefeated in the month of November. The Panthers turned the ball over an insane 28 times and Skidmore was able to convert those miscues into 32 points. Middlebury far surpassed its average of 19.0 turnovers per game with that mark. Additionally, Skidmore’s bench outscored Midd 28-6.
Kaufman led all scorers with 20, while Harrison added 12, and both Eileen Daley ’18 and Collins had nine for the Panthers.
First-year phenom Harrison continued her unbelievable collegiate start grabbing a career-high 14 rebounds. Harrison is now averaging 14.0 points a game and 11.3 rebounds a game. She also is shooting an impressive 61.5 percent from the field. Harrison and Kaufman form a formidable 1-2 punch. The latter is averaging 17.8 points per game and is automatic from the line, shooting 83.3 percent.
The Panthers look to get back on the winning track Saturday, Dec. 11 in their home opener against Plattsburgh State at 2 p.m, and will play seven games between today and the first day of the Winter Term, including some holiday season action at the NYU Holiday Classic January 2 and 3. Everything leads up to the first weekend of conference play which will be at home for the Panthers as they square off against Wesleyan and Conn. College on Friday, Jan. 8 and Saturday, Jan. 9.
