<Back
Change of scenery might turn the tide for women's basketball
by Kevin Byrne
The Grinnell women's basketball team had a difficult weekend, falling to two of the top teams in the Midwest Conference on back-to-back days. The Pioneers went into the weekend with a record of 7-8 (3-5) MWC, confident that their best basketball could defeat the competition.
With one of their top scorers, Hannah Wolf '08, out with a leg injury, the Grinnell offense struggled against Carroll College on Friday, as they fell 64-48.
|
| Nick Hecker
/ The Scarlet & Black (web.grinnell.edu/sandb)
|
|
Maddy Raimondo '08 takes a shot against Carroll during a home game on Jan. 27
|
|
The two seniors on the team led the way on the scoreboard. Katy Bowen had 18 points, including two three-pointers and Lauren Meredith tallied nine points, going four-for-four from the field and converting her only free throw attempt. However, a late first-half surge from Carroll was enough to take the Pioneers out of the game.
"We had a bad 10 minutes at the end of the first half against Carroll which ultimately gave them the margin for victory," said Head Coach Andy Hamilton.
The Pioneers gave Lawrence a much tougher game on Saturday, outscoring the visiting Vikings in the second half, thanks to strong performances from Bowen and Emily Kolbe '08.
Bowen led the way with 19 points and Kolbe had seven points and seven rebounds. However, Grinnell could not manage to break through in the end, falling 61-54.
"I think we were all disappointed with our performance versus Carroll," said Kolbe. "However, we came out ready to play versus Lawrence and put up a good fight. We played well, but our shots just weren't falling when we needed them to. We put ourselves in a position to win that game, but we just couldn't make it happen."
Grinnell did make it happen three nights later, when they took on Monmouth College at home in Darby Gym.
Bowen led the way for the Grinnell offense once again with a total of 21 points. Jodi Watkins '09 went six-for-seven from downtown for 19 points, Kolbe had 12 points and Meredith had six points and a team-high seven rebounds.
The Grinnell defense held Monmouth to just 39 percent shooting and came out victorious, 73-63.
"The win against Monmouth was extremely important," said Watkins, "because I think it will be the spark that leads us to have a great final stretch of games. Having just come off a very tough weekend of two really competitive games and coming up short despite our efforts, the Monmouth game was a well-deserved reward for our hard work and desire."
Grinnell will have to continue to train hard because they have a difficult stretch on the road ahead of them. The Pioneers will face conference rival Ripon College today in Wisconsin and they will play against Beloit College, another conference opponent, tomorrow.
"Success in the next few road games will be contingent upon us making some shots," said Hamilton. "We're doing as well as we can on defense right now but our shooting percentage could use a boost."
<Back | 
