One and done for women's

Author: Ryan Reese, Sports Editor

This past weekend, the Middlebury women's basketball team tipped off against the Ephs of Williams in quarterfinal action of the NESCAC tournament. Unfortunately, the gym at Williams was the end of the road for the Panthers as they fell by a score of 81-44. Middlebury's record for this year's campaign wound up being a respectable 11-14.

The Panthers never really gained solid momentum during the contest and failed to find a rhythm that had been lacking throughout the season. The Ephs took advantage of a disjointed Panther attack by racing out to a 14-2 lead.

The Panthers came to play - however, a more powerful Williams squad had different postseason ambitions. The Ephs had taken the two previous regular season meetings before last Saturday's match-up. In their first meeting on Dec. 3, the Panthers fell by a score of 79-63 and on Jan. 29 the Ephs won the rematch by a score of 81-65.

In this game, Williams took control from the opening tip-off. By halftime, Middlebury found themselves staring up at a 16-point deficit and the second half would showcase more Willaims domination.

The final half of the Panthers' season kicked off with a 20-4 Williams run and showed little hope for a frustrated Panther squad. The Ephs continued to push the pace the entire game and comfortably moved on to the semifinal against Bowdoin.

Williams held a substantial advantage of the boards while accumulating a total of 52 rebounds on the afternoon. Middlebury played strong and collected 35 of their own. Maryanne Verzosa '06 led the Panther attack with nine points as Alanna Young '08 and Kate Fisher '08 added eight and seven respectively.

Saturday afternoon's loss signified the last time that senior Elyse Carlson would lace up the sneakers and put on the Middlebury uniform. The guard from Braintree, Massachusetts led the Panthers throughout the season both on and off the court. She racked up the most playing time during the year's 25 games. She made good use of her time on the floor as she led the Panther offense by scoring more points than any other member of the squad. By averaging 13.2 points a contest, the senior led the charge this year and over the course of her Middlebury career.

A solid core of seniors will take over the reins during the '05-'06 campaign and a strong contribution from this year's first-years will be expected. The future looks bright for the women's basketball team and they will look to improve upon this season's result in next year's fixtures.