Coming down the stretch

Ladies look to end the season strong

by Ian VanAnden
Asst. Sports Editor

After a slow start to their season, the Fighting Scots women's basketball team has started to rebound leaving them a shot to snatch a spot in the Midwest Conference Tournament at the end of the year.

With eight games left, the ladies need to win six for a possibility to clinch a berth into the tourney. The young Scots' team will look to grab some momentum heading into the back stretch. The team is laden young talent, with only four upper classmen (two seniors, two juniors) the rest of the squad is made up of sophomores and freshmen.

This theme fits with the team’s first year head coach Melissa Jones, who was an assistant coach after graduating from Monmouth in 2003.

Jones who led the Scots on the hardwood as a player during her college career is one of the most notable female athletes to ever attend and compete at MC.

Over winter break, the ladies had a roller coaster of a season. Starting in the beginning of December, the women lost seven out of their ten games including four straight.But have since put together two straight victories against Midwest Conference opponents.

The Scots suffered their two hardest losses at the Crannell Holiday Classic. In the first game, they lost 80-41 against Milliken University, the defending National Champions. The women onlt scored 41 points, which is the fewest amount of points the Scots have scored since last year against St. Norbert College. The post play of Milikin and their stifiling defense was too much to handle for the women, but saw freshman Melissa Gorski finish with 17 points.

In the second game of the weekend, the Scots got blown out again loosing 81-56 to Luther College. The women were close, but ended up running out of gas by the middle of the second half. Gorski again had a strong performance and finished with 16 points. Junior Mallory Mulvihill put in her first double digit effort of the year, scoring 11. The performance of Gorski earned her All Tournament honors.

After a short winter break and a much needed rest, the Scots were able to rebound off of these two tough losses by winning their next two games.

First, the Fighting Scots travled seven hours to Minnesota and demolished Macalester College 81-58. Macalster, also the Scots, couldn’t keep up the women’s transition game and were out matched height wise. Gorski led the way again for the third straight game, with 26 points. Sophomore center Ashley Yeast owned the paint as she swiped 10 rebounds for the fighting Scots.

The Scots rode the momentum out of the Macalester game straight into the heart of Eureka College. Eureka was coming into the game only losing twice, but watched as the Scots crushed them 81-36. The women were up 40-15 at the half. Again, the Scots had a size and speed advanted that Eureka couldn’t keep up with. Yeast put in yet another double double with 20 points and 11 rebounds. This was the most dominate performance by the Fighting Scots all year. Senior guard Courtney Scherrer led the Scots with six assists and with 29 minutes and Gorski scored 17 points in 23 minutes.

Over the next week, the Scots went 1-1 against conference foes Grinnell and Lake Forest before diving into a two game losing streak scoring only 100 points in two games on their Wisconsin road trip. The Scots scored 50 points at St. Norbert in a 10 point loss.

In the second game of the weekend road trip, the ladies fell 64-50 against Carroll College. The Scots left Wisconsin heading home hoping for a home court boost as their faithful fans returned from their winter break.

Wednesday, Jan. 18, brought arch rival Knox College to Glennie Gym. The Fighting Scots looked to end their two game slide and beat down the Prairie Fire.

The Scots' home fans watched as the ladies dominated much of the game to come away with 73-65 victory. The Prairie Fire cut down most of the Scots' lead with a late fourth quarter comeback, but the lead was too great for Knox to overcome.

In their last game, the Scots started their stretch against Midwest Conference opponents strong. The Scots beat Illinois College in a nail biter 58-54. The women were up by as much as 24 points before IC made a strong comeback by the end of the first half. The women watched their 24 point lead turn to just nine at halftime. The women on both teams came out of the break fired up as it was a sea saw battle throughout the rest of the game. The Lady Blues actually took the lead late in the second half 43-39. The women didn’t give up as Mulvihill, suffering with the flu, sparked the team with a steal and a bucket to put the team ahead by 2. After a steal and a score by IC, the Scots were tied at 52-52 with 1:30 left to play. Mulvihill then came through huge again with a minute keft on the clock, hitting a three to make the score 55-52. The Lady Blues never recovered as Jahn came in and hit two free throws, Yeast stole the ball and made a free throw of her own to make the final score 58-54.

Yeast had yet another big game making double digits in both points and rebounds. She tallied 15 rebounds and 13 points.

Gorski has impressed many in her first year on the squad as she is leading the team in points for the season with 175 points going into this weekend. She is also tied for second on the team for assists with 45.

Scherrer has been solid as always, as she manages the point for the Fighting Scots. She leads the team in assists and minutes. Scherrer averages just over 35 minutes again and she has 80 helpers on the year and is ranked 24th in the nation in assists.

Mulvihill has been a stout defender for the Scots as she has racked up 34 steals on the year which is good enough to be tied with Yeast for first on the team. Mulvihill has shut down some of the leagues’ top scorers as Jones looks to her to take on the tough defensive challenges.

This weekend the Scots have games on Friday and Saturday. On Friday Jan. 27 the Scots will take on Lawrence University at 5:30 in Glennie Gymnasium. Then on Saturday Jan. 28 the ladies will compete against St. Norbert College. These will be two key games that will telling of how the ladies season will end.