By Miles Montgomery
The Colorado College women’s bas- ketball team took a trip down south over block break, traveling to Atlanta, Ga. to take on the University of Lynchburg and Emory University.

After a slow start, the Tigers took a 44-43 third quarter lead against Lynchburg, be- fore eventually falling with a final score of 78-64. McKenzee Gertz ’21 led the way for the Tigers on the offensive end of the floor, contributing 22 points, and draining four 3-pointers. Guards Nia Duplain ’20 and Anna Fanelli ’23 scored 12 points apiece to complement a balanced scoring effort.
The Tigers then squared off against the tournament hosts, Emory, in their second game of the weekend. Emory defeated the Tigers by a score of 77-49.
Gertz and Jordan Meltzer ’20 each contributed 10 points in the game. Although the results over the weekend were not what the team wanted, morale remains high. Going forward, the team is focusing on a successful weekend at home, where they will host Nebraska Wesleyan University and Denison University, and working to build momentum as Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference play approach- es.
“We played two very talented teams, one of which we played a very close game with, which is very encouraging to see especially with our program being so differ- ent from last year in terms of how young our line-up is,” Gertz said. “I think we definitely have a lot to be proud of so early on, but also room to grow and improve as we approach conference which I think every- one’s pretty excited about.”
Meltzer also saw the weekend as a learn- ing experience and spoke about the im- portance of the upcoming home games before the conference slate begins.
“Both games are crucial and will set the tone of how we can bounce back from three losses,” Meltzer said. “Our main goal for the season is to win a SCAC Championship. We know that we will face adversity and struggles along the way, but when moments like that happen, we need to al- ways remember the bigger picture and that we are all in it together.”