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Two tough losses on the road for women's basketball

by Kevin Byrne

The Grinnell College women's basketball team suffered two losses this past week as they took to the road and battled conference rivals Ripon College and Beloit College.

The Pioneers are officially out of playoff contention, but continued to compete, despite the absence of one of their top scorers, Hannah Wolf '08, who remains hampered by a leg injury.

On Friday at Ripon, Katie Schumacher '08 played for 34 minutes and scored a team-high 15 points for Grinnell. All 15 of her points came by way of the three-pointer.

Grinnell as a team shot 13 for 37 from behind the arc. However, the rest of the Pioneers had some difficulty generating offense and despite a solid first-half effort, Grinnell fell 77-60.

"We came out strong against Ripon in the first half, but had trouble keeping things going in the second half," said Schumacher. "We have to work hard and play smart basketball."

Grinnell had another difficult task the very next afternoon, as they drove up to Beloit, Wisc. to take on the Buccaneers.

Katy Bowen '06 led the way for the Pioneers, scoring a game-high 23 points.

Unfortunately, Grinnell once again had difficulty finding offence anywhere else.

Beloit had three women score in double figures and although Grinnell forced 15 turnovers, it was not enough to close on the Buccaneers. After trailing by nine points at halftime, the Pioneers eventually fell to Beloit, 65-45.

"Beloit had a really good match-up zone that didn't allow us to ever really get into a rhythm," said Bowen. "We didn't have enough movement in our offense to be able to counter their zone and it left us kind of standing around on the perimeter rather than attacking the openings."

Grinnell has another challenge in front of them as they head to Illinois College on Saturday. Grinnell sits in front of IC in the Midwest Conference standings and this is certainly a winnable game in the eyes of both the players and the coaches.

"We need to go out there expecting their best effort," said Bowen. "We're still ahead of them in the standings so they'll be gunning for us. We need to be aggressive getting to the basket and get to the foul line and knock down shots."

With only three games left on the schedule, every contest is important in terms of ending the season on a high note and carrying some momentum into the next season.

"At this point in the season, I think our team understands that staying motivated is important," said Head Coach Andy Hamilton. "We have a chance to send [seniors] Lauren Meredith and Katy Bowen out on a positive note by winning in our remaining games. Victories will not come easy though, as we are still trying to find offensive consistency."

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