Basketball seasons end with Senior day
By Aleta Cox
The women’s basketball team’s suffered a disappointment for their final game on Feb. 20 as they lost a close 69-72 game against Wooster College. The women ended their season at 3-22 overall and 2-14 in the NCAC.
The day also marked the Quakers’ Senior Day, organized by coaches, teammates and fans to honor senior members Katy Buda and Jayana Sims.
“We did a lot of really great things this year and although our record might not reflect it, I feel we have really grown as a team,” Sophomore guard Nikki Darrett said. “There are a lot of girls who will be returning that were big contributors this year, so I know next year will only be better.”
Freshman guard Michelle Miranda led the Quakers with 12 points, while sophomore guard Nikki Darrett added 11 points. Freshman center/forward Whitney Sparkman tossed in 10 points and sophomore guard Princess Darnell finished with nine points in the fight against the Scots.
The Quakers will be returning 12 of their 14 players in the 2011-2012 season. The returning players include high scorers Darrett, Miranda, Sparkman, and Jessica Wooden.
The team had three players in double digits when they beat Denison University on Feb. 10. Miranda led her team with a career high of 19 points and nine rebounds, while Darrett and Wooden each finished with their own 10 points.
By halftime, the Quakers were up 40-24 against the Big Red. Denison would battle back, and with only 1:51 remaining in the game, the score was tied at 66.
After a Denison turnover and a pair of free throws from Miranda, the Quakers led 70-68 with 19 seconds left on the clock. Another free throw from Sims gave the Quakers their final score and when Denison failed to produce anything on their final possession, the Quakers won the game 71-68.
“I was feeling really good going into the game and just tried to focus on doing the best that I could do personally,” Sims said. “We have had some trouble playing a full game in the past, and so I thought that if I could play a full game individually, maybe that would help my team out. It ended up working really well, not just
for me, but most importantly for my team and getting the win.”
Despite their win over the Big Red, the Quakers went on to lose their remaining three games. On Feb. 13, the Quakers faced Kenyon College and were never able to play on the same level as the Kenyon Ladies.
Kenyon led nearly the entire game, and was up 34-24 at halftime. Coming back from intermission, the Quakers were only able to get within 10 points of Kenyon and would eventually lose the game 41-60. Darrett led the Quakers with 13 points and nine rebounds, while Wooden added nine points. Freshman Charvonne Long finished with eight points and Sparkman pulled down seven rebounds.
The Quakers also fell to the number one ranked team in the NCAC conference, Wittenberg University, on Feb. 17. The Quakers were trailing 34-22 by halftime, and as seen in many other games this season, were never able to recover from that deficit.
The Quakers lost 57-71 to the Wittenberg Tigers. Darrett led with 14 points and six rebounds. Sophomore guard Amelia Frazier added nine points while Miranda contributed eight points. Darnell also made a career-high contribution of eight assists to go with her six points and three rebounds.
The Quaker men’s team finished their season 3-22 overall and 1-15 in the conference. Fortunately for the men’s team, they will be returning 10 of their players, including the top scorers, sophomore A.J. Sutherlin and freshman Marty Broderick.
In their final game of the season, the Quakers battled against Wooster College on Feb. 20, during the early semester break.
The day also corresponded with the team’s Senior Day, honoring senior T.J. Ferrick.
Despite four players scoring in the double digits, the Quakers fell to Wooster 72-90. Freshman Matt Marsh led the Quakers with 15 points and four assists, while freshman Dustin Rusk tossed in 11 points. Sutherlin and sophomore Kyle Calder finished with 10 points each.
The Scots are 20-5 in overall play this year and are also the number one team in the NCAC conference, boasting a record of 15-1.
The Earlham College men’s basketball team had two of its players in double digits in the 52-90 point battle against Wittenberg University earlier on Feb. 10. Unfortunately for the Quakers, they were never quite able to battle back against the Tigers, as they entered halftime already down 40-26.
Freshman Marty Broderick led the Quakers with 12 points, while Rusk tossed in ten of his own. Both players grabbed four rebounds each. Also contributing to the score was sophomore Ryan Taylor who contributed nine points while Marsh added eight points and five rebounds.
The men’s team then battled at home on Feb. 13 with Ohio Wesleyan University and fell 71-81. The Quakers showed promise with three of their players recording double digits in the game.
Taylor led the Quakers with 15 points in the contest. Although the Quakers maintained a close score the majority of the game, there were at least two occasions when the Bishops went on 13-0 and 9-0 runs to rack up their score.
Calder reflected on the Quakers’ loss to OWU.
“We really let this game slip away with the two big runs that they had on us, but other than those two spurts of the game I thought we played hard and competed well,” he said. “I feel like we gained a lot of experience this year and played against some tough competition and that next year is going to be a great year for capitalizing on that.”
The Quakers also faced Kenyon College on Feb. 17. Sutherlin led the Quakers with 13 points and seven rebounds while Broderick tossed in 11 points and Marsh added eight points. Calder and sophomore Joe Brown finished with six points each.
The Quakers were able to capitalize on Kenyon’s poor shooting percentage of seven out of 24, and led for most of the first half. The score remained tied at 23 as both teams entered the locker rooms for halftime.
Unfortunately for the Quakers, Kenyon’s luck turned around and they came out in the second half shooting nearly 60 percent, sinking 18 of 30 shots. The Lords held the Quaker’s score down and would eventually win 66-51.
Looking forward to next year’s play, the majority of Earlham’s athletic teams, including men and women’s basketball, will be switching into the Heartland Conference.
Calder said of the switch, “I think it is going to be a good change for us. Obviously the most important factor being that it will be great to play against schools in closer proximity to Earlham, but I also think our style of play is going to fit really well into the Heartland Conference.”
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