Campus Times Archives
After emerging triumphantly from both of their games this week, the women’s basketball team moved within one victory of their seventh consecutive twenty-win season. The Yellowjackets snapped a three-game losing streak by trouncing Brandeis University in a 53-37 victory on Friday. They also proceeded to drop New York University to 10-12 in a second win.
Sophomore guard Laney Ming got UR going against Brandeis, scoring after two point-less minutes at the beginning of the game. The points kept coming after that basket, with the ’Jackets up 31-19 at the end of the first half.
Ming finished with a game-high 11 points, five rebounds and three assists, draining two of her three shots from behind the arc. Sophomore center Loren Wagner pulled down 11 rebounds, allowing UR to dominate the glass. She also made four field goals and a free throw. Senior forward Jodie Luther contributed eight points. These three players combined for 28 of UR’s 53 points. UR out shot Brandeis 34.4 percent to 22 percent.
The Yellowjackets also benefited from the fact that Brandeis shot worse than usual, going 22 percent from the field and not making any of their 13 three-point attempts. Brandeis’ star guard Morgan Kendrew, who shoots 37.1 percent on average, made just three of her 16 field goal attempts. Fellow guard Hannah Cain missed seven of her nine shots and both of her free throws.
With a final score of 64-50, the win over NYU was sealed well before the game was actually over. An early 14-0 run gave UR some breathing room, but with the Yellowjackets plagued by traveling calls and bad passes, NYU hung in the game until the latter part of the second half.
NYU guard Bianca Storts got a steal and a couple of fast break points early in the second half, but her team did not utilize that basket to gain momentum. Storts, who averages 11.4 points per game, was limited to just six points in this match-up. UR sophomore guard Paige Aleski’s three-pointer, the highlight in UR’s 11-0 run late in the second half, was the nail in NYU’s coffin.
Junior forward Jackie Walker amassed eight points, six rebounds, two blocks and a steal. It was a quieter game for Ming, though, as she posted only six points, but did a good job distributing the ball, garnering four assists. Junior guard Kristyn Wright added nine points and sophomore center Danielle McNabb scored seven points, helping to increase the Yellowjackets’ lead to 14 points by the time the last buzzer sounded, ending the onslaught. No player broke double digits in this game, with all of them contributing their part to the team’s win.
With these two victories, the Yellowjackets moved up to 8-3 in the University Athletic Association standings, while knocking NYU down to 2-9 and Brandeis down to 1-10. UR is tied for second with Washington University in St. Louis. Both schools trail behind first place Chicago University, which is currently undefeated
