After a tough start to their weekend against Texas Lutheran University, women’s basketball came out strong against Southwestern University. The win broke an eight-game rut for the Tigers. The team’s record now stands at 3-18 overall and 2-8 in conference.
“All season long it’s really been one or two mistakes from us being in a positive spot,” said Head Coach Liz Doran. “It’s a big confidence boost to go from almost to turn the corner and get it done.” On Friday, Texas Lutheran gained the lead in the first quarter but the Tigers kept fighting in the second quarter. Junior forward Korbyn Ukasick scored seven points in just 1:16 minutes, putting the Tigers just five points behind Texas Lutheran. Ukasick continued to shine in the first half, sinking a three pointer with just 25 seconds left on the board decreasing the deficit to just three at 23-26. But then a foul by CC sent the Bulldogs to the free throw line to end the half 28-23.
In the third quarter, Texas Lutheran never gave up their lead but the Tigers kept on their tail. In the fourth quarter, three layups from senior forward Danielle Davis and a jumper from Ukasick narrowed the score to 44-47. Unfortunately, in the last minute and a half of the quarter, the Bulldogs snagged some fast points to increase their lead and secure their victory. The game ended 66-54.
When the Tigers faced off against Texas Lutheran last weekend on the Bulldogs home court, they lost 45-75. Though still a loss, this latest game against Texas Lutheran shows that the women’s team still has a lot of fight in them.
That fighting spirit shone against Southwestern on Sunday. In their previous game against Southwestern, the Tigers lost 55-71. Sunday’s game was a very different game.
“When we played [Southwestern] at their place, we didn’t feel as confident,” said Ukasick. “At home, coming off of such a fun, emotional game against TLU, even though we lost, I think it reenergized us. We were just confident in our ability to win, and we knew we were the better team. Believing that helped a lot.”
Tigers had a 14-2 run during that first quarter, ending with a three pointer by senior guard Katie Waters. It rained three pointers in the second quarter, with both CC and Southwestern scoring two each in the first two minutes. Despite Southwestern’s efforts, CC maintained their lead for the rest of the half, even extending it to 18 points with less than four minutes left. The half ended with a fast break layup by Waters, putting the score at 46-29.
Things got dangerously close in the final quarter. Southwestern dominated the shooting, tying the game 62-62 with 2:09 left. Two free throws by sophomore guard Francesca Cendali lifted the Tigers back into the lead. But then, with only half a minute left, the Pirates tied it up again at 65-65. Once again, Cendali was crucial at the free throw line. Adding two more free throws, Cendali gave the Tigers the final lead. A last second free throw by Ukasick ended the game 68-65.
“Especially with the free throws, muscle memory really set in like I’ve done it before so I can do it now and try not to think about it,” said Cendali.
It was an amazing game for the Tigers shooting-wise. They had a 71.4 percent from the floor and 66.7 percent long range. And Cendali wasn’t the only Tiger nailing the free throws. The team had an 85.7 free-throw percentage. The Tigers majorly improved in turnovers, from 30 at Southwestern to 15 at home.
“It was an extra week to prepare. Not much really changed between what Southwestern did at their place and what they did out here,” said Doran. “You knew exactly what was coming and it came down really to that execution piece. We finally got it done.”
It was a great day for a win as Colorado College celebrated the 30th annual National Girls and Women in Sports Day. Though the official date is Feb. 3, the Tigers celebrated early with local grade-schoolers who came to campus for activities throughout the gym and the opportunity to meet the women of CC basketball.
“Getting to meet the girls after the game is great because it’s fun to remember when you were just beginning to play, and you hope maybe you can be a bit of a role model to them,” said Ukasick. “It’s awesome that there is an event that recognizes women in sports because it’s an important thing, and sometimes it gets underrepresented.”
“It’s really neat to see little girls in YMCA jerseys coming around, getting a chance to talk to some of [the team],” agreed Doran. “I think National Girls and Women in Sports Day is a really important day because you get more girls interested in sports.”
This weekend the Tigers have two more home games against conference rivals University of Dallas and Austin College.
“With this win we all felt a lot of confidence and are ready, really ready, to get a win especially against Dallas and Austin and hopefully get a chance to make conference tournament,” said Cendali.