Chloe Burdette
Managing Editor
With less than five games left, The College of Wooster women’s basketball team looks to finish the season with a few solid wins after suffering a devastating 77-74 loss to the Kenyon College Ladies on Wednesday, Feb. 5. The loss brings the Scots’ record to 8-13 overall, and 5-8 in the North Coast Ath- letic Conference (NCAC).
“It all really came down to a last-second shot by Matijasich,” Interim Head Coach Nicole Marshall explained. Paige Matijasich ’20 of the Ladies scored 27 points, including her three-point shot with 0.3 seconds left to give her team the win. “We had a few breakdowns in the key moments of the game that really hurt us, but overall we played hard and as a team,” said Marshall.
The game began strongly for the Scots, as they forced Kenyon with four turnovers. Kenyon tried to respond to the Scots’ impressive defense, but failed as they missed five shots in the first quarter and fell behind Wooster with a score of 15-10.
For the entirety of the second quarter, the Scots held their lead over the Ladies and held them to a four-point deficit at the half.
After the half, the game be- came more interesting. Kenyon fought back for the lead many times, but the Scots refused to go down easily. Their offense gave them 22 points in the third quarter while Kenyon came up shy with 19 points. The Scots went into the fourth quarter with a score of 59-52 over the Ladies.
The fourth quarter became alarming for the Scots as the Ladies seemed to tighten their grip. Even with a Wooster ten- point lead in the first few minutes of the fourth, Kenyon took the lead with 2:33 seconds left in the game by one mere point. As time progressed, Kenyon kept a significant lead until Ma- sani Francis ’22 hit a three to cut the lead to two points, and then made a layup after a Kenyon turnover.
With tensions high and a Kenyon timeout, the Scots’ game plan was to keep cool like any other game. “We wanted to control the tempo and just play our game,” Francis said. Maria Janasko ’21, with 27 points of her own against the Ladies, knew that Matijasich would be lethal in the last seconds. “We knew we needed to be all over Matijasich because she is one of their key players,” she said. Nevertheless, Matijasich became open and shot a three- pointer to win the game 77-74.
Even after a tough loss, Wooster seemed proud of their performance. “In the end, it came down to a tough buzzer- beater and little things like making our free throws and valuing the possession of the ball,” Francis added. “I was pretty happy with how we played otherwise.”
Assistant Coach Cassidy Wertman spoke on the team’s effort. “We just have to continue to work on the little things like cutting our turnovers in half, winning all four quarters and hitting our foul shots,” she said. “The effort is there. They want to win and they work so hard — it all comes down to fine-tuning the little things.”
With two more away games and one home game against De- Pauw University scheduled for February 22, some of the team reminisced on their season. “If I had to describe this season in a few words, I would say it has been a rollercoaster,” said Janasko. Francis added, “It’s been un- like any season I’ve ever been a part of, but challenges are good, and we’ve faced them together coming out stronger each time.”