Women round out week of losses with win

By Aleta Cox

The women’s basketball team had difficulties this weekend in their conference matches as they were defeated by Allegheny College and Hiram College, 46-71 and 58-64 and now sit at 2-19 overall and 1-11 in conference play.

Although looking forward to playing Allegheny College again, this time it would be the Quakers who would leave the match defeated. Freshman Deborah Adkins commented that the difference in the two games seemed to lie in the effort that was put forth by the Quakers.

“The effort and heart in the first half of the game Friday night was less than desirable,” Adkins said. “Allegheny played like they wanted to win and although we were able to play better in the second half, they still maintained their lead on us.”

The Quakers’ only lead was early on in the game, yet the Gators constantly maintained a lead over the women. The Quakers would come within one point at two moments, with freshman Jessica Wooden’s contributions putting the score at 12-11, but the Gators responded by going on an 11-0 run over the next four minutes of the game to make the score 23-11 with 7:19 remaining before halftime. From that point on, the Quakers started to crumble as the Gators would improve their lead to 41-15 by halftime.

Freshman Natasha Norman topped the Quakers with nine points, while sophomore Kate Franks and Wooden tossed in eight points each. Freshman Charvonne Long also scored six points and finished with a game-high eight rebounds.

Saturday the Quakers continued their weekend road trip at Hiram College (4-17, 3-9).

Earlham started the game with an early lead after freshman Michelle Miranda hit a three-point shot with 18:43 left in the opening half. The game would continue to change leads several times, with the Terriers working their way to a 23-15 advantage over the Quakers with 6:02 remaining in the half.
Unlike the previous night, the Quakers went on an 11-0 run against the Terries to lead 24-23.

Freshman Whitney Sparkman scored to give Earlham the lead. Senior Jayana Sims would cap off the rally with a basket at the 2:43 mark to make it 26-23. At halftime, the Quakers left the court leading 28-26.

In the second half, the Quakers led the majority of the time until Hiram scored two straight baskets to bring the score up to 49-45 with 1:37 left. Wooden would score a three-point shot to bring the Quakers within one with 1:20 left in the game. Hiram missed a final free throw attempt and Wooden hit another three-point shot that would tie the game at 51-51 with five seconds remaining.

In overtime, Earlham worked their way to a 56-55 advantage with Sims scoring with 2:55 remaining. Unfortunately for the Quakers, Hiram would take their final lead with a basket at the 2:42 mark to make it 57-56. The Terriers sealed the victory at 64-58 by making eight of 10 free throws throughout the overtime period.

Sparkman commented on the team’s Saturday match against Hiram.

“We tried to come out ready to play and feeling like we had to redeem ourselves after our performance at Allegheny,” she said. “We really tried to focus Saturday on playing to win, and not just playing for the sake of it. We worked hard and did the best we could, but overall we came up just a little short.”

Sparkman finished the game with 11 points and six rebounds while Wooden added nine rebounds. Sims contributed nine points and five assists and steals. Sophomore Nikki Darrett contributed eight points and a game high ten rebounds.

The Quakers faced Denison University on Wednesday night and won 71-68.

The Quakers will face Kenyon College tomorrow away at 2 p.m. To conclude their season, the Quakers will compete against Wittenberg College and the College of Wooster before the early semester break.