Women's bball outruns the Thoroughbreads

Author: Andrew Donnantuono

Women's basketball split its weekend series against two New York teams, defeating Skidmore 64-48 on Friday night in Pepin Gymnasium before traveling to Schenectady on Saturday where they fell to Union 71-58.

Friday night's festivities began on a rather unusual note, as a rare December thunderstorm greeted fans headed to the game with flashes of lightning occurring not far from the Athletic complex. It was not only Mother Nature that played tricks on the crowd of 225 - the public address system failed to pipe in an audible version of the national anthem.

"it started over multiple times and ultimately never played," said Kaitlyn Fallon '10.

Still, Skidmore had no trouble putting these oddities behind them, as the Thoroughbreds jumped out to a quick 9-2 lead. Sloppy play in the form of turnovers, coupled with poor perimeter-shooting put the Panthers in a deep, but by no means insurmountable, hole.

By bearing down on defense and hustling for loose balls, Middlebury stayed in the game. With 6:50 left in the first half, Coach Noreen Pecsok took the team's second timeout with Middlebury trailing 24-16.

Forward Aylie Baker '09 (7 pts, 18 mins) said, "The area Coach stressed the most was rebounding. At the start of the first half we were being out-rebounded handily. That was the key determinant."

Pecsok's words clearly resonated with her players, as they came out of the timeout energized. Spurred by three quick buckets from Katie Fisher '08 (18 pts, 6 boards) and the insertion of Fallon (6 pts, 3-4 FG) as an option inside, Middlebury went on a fast 10-1 run to take the lead and entered the locker room up 29-27.

The Panthers never looked back after the break, nor did they have to, as the Thoroughbreds made just seven baskets in the second half, shooting a meager 29.2 percent. Skidmore's Stephanie Fox was impressive off the bench with 10 points and four rebounds. A three-quarter court press by Skidmore only succeeded in slowing the Panthers, but failed to keep the hosts within striking distance as they added to their lead. Star point guard Emily Johnson '09 worked hard for her six points, well below her season average of 17.3, but, led by Fisher, the starters put in a solid performance, finishing with 50 of Middlebury's 64 points and seven of its nine steals.

Middlebury jumped out to an early 15-5 lead on Saturday against Union College but was unable to hold the lead. The new defense posed problems for Union, but it was Middlebury's offense that hurt the Panthers. "Our zone press overwhelmed the team, creating turnovers that we were unable to convert on the other end," said Fisher.

Baker attributed the turnaround and eventual loss to the Dutchwomen to the fact that "Number 21 (Maria Tobin) went off on shooting and we weren't able to react."

Not only did Union hold the hot hand, but a fundamental flaw developed in Middlebury's play. "Little lapses in defense and an inability to run our plays also plagued us in the second half. Union executed much more efficiently," said Baker.

Tobin was the high scorer for the Dutchwomen, finishing with 20 points. Rachel Ormsby and Marissa Dwyer also hit double digits in points. In the loss, Johnson led Middlebury in just about every statistical category including points (16), assists (4), three-point field goals (4) and minutes (34). With the victory, Union avenged the 49-45 defeat they suffered at the hands of the Panthers last season.

Despite Saturday's setback, Middlebury beat Plymouth State by 20 points to improve to 5-2 on the season.