Women’s Basketball Competes, Falls in to Finish Regular Season

Kate Hanick

The women’s basketball team played tenaciously against the No. 4 team in the nation, the DePauw University Tigers. DePauw boasted a 14–0 record in the North Coast Athletic Conference, a 20–1 record on the season and a secure spot in the playoffs when the Yeowomen took them on in a Philips Gym on Saturday. But, unfortunately, the game ended in another lopsided loss for the Yeowomen, 39-71.

The Yeowomen kept the game close for the first 15 minutes, with first-year Christina Marquette scoring the first seven points for Oberlin. Unfortunately, the last nine minutes until halftime were not as successful, as the Tigers pulled away with 20 uncontested points and were up 12–35 at the end of the first session.

“I thought that we started off really well,” junior Kelly Warlich reflected optimistically. “[We] hung with them for the first fifteen minutes of the first half when we couldn’t play with them the first time.”

Two members of the team made it into the double digits that night: Warlich with 17 points and Marquette with 12.

But the team as a whole struggled. Along with scoring just a quarter of their attempted shots, the Yeowomen had only 35 rebounds compared to DePauw’s 47.

“We have a series of two-minute breakdowns that give the other teams leads and make it hard for us to come back,” Warlich reflected.

Sophomore Lillian Jahan, who snagged four rebounds in the game, shared Head Coach Kerry Jenkins’s wisdom after the loss.

“He really stressed to strive for a full game of good basketball, which is what we’re going to aim to do next season.”

Another disappointment struck as Oberlin fell to the Denison University Big Reds on Wednesday, 62–48, in what was the Yeowomen’s final regular season game. The disparity in score was kept to a minimum for the majority of the first half with sophomore Allison Gannon putting up 10 out of her total 16 points that game. Jahan brought the Big Red’s lead to a difference of just three points with her lay-up close to the break. However, Denison soon fired back, leaving Oberlin down 32–18 at the half.

Though the defecit remained fixed in the second-half, the Yeowomen ended with an exciting free throw percentage of 81 percent compared to Denison’s disappointing 70. Impressive double digit scoring efforts came from Gannon with 16 points, Warlich with 12 and Marquette with 10.

Marquette reflected on some modifications that she hopes will come in the next game, noting, “We can change our mindset in thinking that we want it more than the other team and play harder than them. In the Denison game, they weren’t better than us, they just played harder than us and that’s why they won.”

The Yeowomen have much to look forward to in the near future, however, with the postseason play beginning next week. Luckily, these two losses did not affect their qualifications for the NCAC Championships, where they will meet fourth-ranked DePauw yet again.

“The biggest difference between DePauw and us is that they can play with intensity, effort, energy and competitiveness for all 40 minutes whereas we struggle to keep that up for the duration of the game,” Jahan remarked. “We have to work on this in preparation for the playoffs.”