The Shorewomen lose a highly contested match against the Ursinus Bears during an away conference match.
By Austin Allen
Elm Staff Writer
On Thursday night at Helfferich, in a top Centennial Conference women’s basketball match, host Ursinus competed against Washington College. The Shorewomen coming into the match up were 4-0 and the Bears were 1-2.
The Shorewomen were looking to continue their hot streak in Thursday’s basketball action.
The Bears used a 12-0 run spanning the third and fourth quarters to change a 48-43 deficit into a 55-48 lead to come away with a 67-55 win against the visiting Shorewomen.
To start off, the Shorewomen came out on fire, hitting from all over the field. WC scored the game’s first five points following a three-pointer by sophomore Crystal Jones in the first quarter. Jones, who has been a key contributor and starter for the Shorewomen, has been playing well these past couple of games.
“I know the work I have been putting in and it is great to see it show night in and night out,” Jones said. “We have a great group of players who understand that we can compete with any team in our conference as long as we stay focused.”
Senior starter Cassidy Quattro would go ahead and give the Shorewomen their biggest lead of the first half on a three-point play with a little under three minutes to go. This gave the Shorewomen a 17-10 lead against the Bears.
“We knew this was an important conference game, and we all understood that every possession mattered.” Quattro said. “We have been developing great chemistry between one another over the past weeks and it has really been showing on the court.”
The Bears would then score the last six points of the first quarter to trail 17-16 after one.
Senior Bridget McLaughlin said, “At that point in the game, we knew we were still in a good spot, we just had to remain focus and understand there was a lot of ball game left to be played.”
Late in the second quarter, the Shorewomen were trailing 31-27 with about two minutes remaining. This is when the Shorewomen scored eight straight points to take a 35-31 lead, with 17 ticks left following an Emily Helms three-pointer.
Helms, who is a sophomore, said, “That a was huge momentum swing as we needed that to keep the game close. I was glad I was able to contribute to the team in any way possible.”
Maya Kornfeld would then answer with a jumper herself with two seconds left, trimming the WC lead going into the half to 35-33.
With the Shorewomen down by one, 43-42, late in the third, WC got back-to-back three pointers from senior guard Caitlyn Clark and freshman Emilee Cramer. This gave the Shorewomen the lead, 48-43 and great momentum.
Clark said, “Emilee played really great for us and as the point guard, I just try to be an extension of Coach Mosely on the court.”
Cramer said, “We played a really well fought out game overall and I feel we competed the entire game.”
The Bears would come through late in the third, however, to score the final five points, knotting it up 48-48 with a Lydia Konstanzer jumper from the corner, with six seconds remaining.
Into the fourth, the Bears continued their run as they scored seven straight points to turn a 48-48 score into a 55-48 lead.
The Bears went on a 7-0 streak to ignite the Ursinus crowd with 7:50 to go. The closest WC would get the rest of the way was six points with 3:57 to go, when McLaughlin converted a lay-up to cut the lead to 58-52 as the Bears outscored the Shorewomen in the fourth, 19-7.
The Shorewomen had two players finish in double figures, which were Quattro and Cramer, who each chipped in 12 points each. McLaughlin sophomore Madeline Williams pitched in three assists, and senior Taylor Samuels had a career-best and game-high four blocks on the day.
The Shorewomen shot 37% from the field (19-51) and 39% from the three-point line, going 7-18. They did go 83% from the foul line (10-12) and held a 21-8 advantage in bench points.
Up next, the Shorewomen play at Swarthmore at 8:00 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 26 for another Centennial Conference match up.