By Sam Gross
Elm Staff Writer
The women’s basketball team has been busy since the 6-3 end to its fall semester and the subsequent short winter break. After returning home from that winter break of all WC students, the team returned to the court Dec. 29 for the Montclair State University Holiday Tournament.
The Shorewomen unfortunately suffered losses at the two day tournament, falling to Montclair 67-49 after a close first half when the team was able to trade leads with the Red Hawks a handful of times.
Their second loss came against first time opponents, the Vassar Brewers, in a consolation game after Vassar fell to Widener. The loss was a bit closer overall, with the final score being 66-53, though Vassar managed to hold a 10 or more point lead for the majority of the game.
While continuing to train back on campus during the winter break, the Shorewomen fell to Gettysburg College 58-40 in their first game of 2013.
Their next win came against Dickinson College on Jan. 8, when they won by a comfortable margin of 61-45. Freshman guard Ashley Espinosa, who had been having some personal bests despite the losses of the previous game, eclipsed her career-high in points, scoring 19 points during the game. Sophomore Emily Hubley had career best stats as well, swiping nine steals and scoring 10 points. Junior forward Latisha Pledger also scored seven points to help the cause.
Of the remaining four games of the winter break, the team lost three of them by a relatively narrow margin. They had a rough game against John Hopkins University, with both sides seeming to suffer a bit from the long training over break. The Blue Jays won 55-42, but both sides had less than desirable shooting rates.
The Franklin and Marshall Diplomats took the second win in a devastatingly close game of 50-49 that had the Shorewomen gaining the lead 49-48 with 1:01 to go. The ended up losing the game on a literally last minute layup by a Diplomat to finish the game with a one point difference, and a heartbreaking loss for the Shorewomen.
The squad came back strong against McDaniel, winning against the Green Terror for the first time since 2000. It was another narrow game, with the Shorewomen winning by two points for a final score of 71-69. They finished their winter break games with the third loss, falling to the Muhlenberg Mules 77-69.
Fortunately, they were able to start off the spring semester with their best score yet against Bryn Mawr, cruising to a 80-30 win over the Owls. It was also the debut of the newest Shorewomen player, sophomore Mayana LeGrande.
The Shorewomen got another win with a 62-48 win over F&M, a comfortable victory that stole the game in the last minute in their last meeting. The redemptive win moved WC to 10-9 on the year and 8-6 in the Centennial Conference.