This past weekend, the Elizabethtown College men’s and women’s basketball teams played the final bout of their respective regular seasons this past weekend on Saturday, Feb. 18. Both teams traveled to Baltimore, Md. to play Goucher College on the road. For the women, it was an opportunity to put their talents on display one last time before postseason play starts up. For the men, while their season was not what they had hoped for, they had the chance to show some improvements.
The women’s team started the day off for Etown basketball at 2 p.m. at Goucher College. It was yet another win for the Blue Jays, improving to 21-3 on the overall season. Sophomore and junior guards Summer McNulty and Cyleigh Wilson lead the way in scoring for the team. McNulty dropped an efficient 26 piece while Wilson poured in 19 of her own points. Both guards also made it rain from downtown, as they both knocked down three shots from behind the arch.
The Jays’ outstanding record is good for a top 20 ranking in the Women’s Basketball Division III Coaches Top 25 Rankings—a fantastic way to cap off a stellar regular season for the women’s team.
While Goucher kept it close early, staying within one point by the end of the first quarter, the second half is when Etown would begin to take off. The Jays took a ten-point lead by the end of the first half, thanks to a quarter in which they outscored their opponent 16-7.
The second half was quite similar. Goucher was able to knot things up at 37 with less than four minutes in the third quarter, but once again the Blue Jays caught lightning in a bottle. They would outscore Goucher 11-1 in the remaining three and a half minutes of that quarter, once again building a substantial lead and not looking back from here on out. The Jays were especially lights out from the field in the remaining five minutes of this one, earning their 21st win of the year.
The women’s team will make an appearance in the postseason and play their semifinal game of the Landmark Conference Women’s Basketball Championship at home against Catholic on Wednesday at 7 p.m.
The men’s team looked to put an end to a three-game losing streak in their final game last weekend on Saturday, Feb 18. They also traveled to Baltimore, Md. for a matchup against Goucher College, right after the women’s game at 4 p.m. Unfortunately, the Blue Jays dropped this game by a score of 77-67. Four members of the team reached double figures, including sophomore guard Rance Russo whose 20-point outing led the team that evening.
Things looked promising for the Blue Jays following a good first half where they would maintain the lead for most of the play. They would surrender the lead with about five minutes to play in the half but would once again build up a multi-possession lead a few minutes later. By the time the buzzer sounded, they would be up four, 39-35.
Coming out of the gates, the second half was another great start for the Jays. The Etown lead would be built up to nine points, before Goucher woke up. After inching back into the game for the next 10 minutes, Goucher finally tied things up with less than ten minutes to go. Then, with less than four minutes to go, Goucher would go on a significant run that saw them score eleven points and hold the Blue Jays to zero points.
This loss drops the team to 10-14 for the overall season.
