With a winning record and great team camaraderie, the Elizabethtown College women’s basketball team is off to a great start. The team played Messiah College, one of the top teams in the conference according to Head Coach Yvonne Kauffman, on Dec. 3. Despite their optimism, the team suffered a devastating loss to Messiah College with a final score of 49-66

“So far, the season is going very well! We are 4-2,” Marissa Ferris, a first-year guard, wrote in an email interview.

The team began their season with a 61-47 win against the Susquehanna Crusaders on Nov. 16. A close win followed for the lady Blue Jays, as they beat Immaculata 71-70 on Nov. 19. The team was off, according to Kauffman, in the game against York College of Pennsylvania. They lost to the York College Spartans 57-64 on Nov. 20.
The team came back and conquered the Lancaster Bible Chargers on Nov. 28. The Blue Jays defeated the Chargers 55-33. Their latest game, against Arcadia, was the Blue Jay’s latest success. “It went really well! We won by 20 points,” Ferris wrote.

According to Kauffman, the season is going well. She likes the fact that different players are stepping up, and that even though everyone has both good days and bad days, a different person always steps up. “This team knows how to pick each other up,” she said.

“The season is going great. Everyone on the team gets along extremely well on and off the court, and we are always looking out for one another,” first-year guard Rebecca Silver wrote in an email interview.

Ferris emphasized the team’s camaraderie. “Everyone on the team is close off the court, which makes us have so much more chemistry when we are on the court,” she said. “Our team has some great shooters which I think is one of the greatest abilities,” Silver wrote. “But I think the greatest ability is our ability to work together as a team and not individually.”

The team needs to work on consistency, according to Kauffman. “They need to have their “A” game, cut down on turnovers, and make the opposing team turnover the ball more,” she said.

To beat Messiah in the Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC)Championship game, the team has to give its all. Overall, Messiah is currently 3-2; however, Messiah is 1-1 in the MAC conference, according to mascac.org. Etown lost last January to Messiah 40-58, according to etownbluejays.com. In the 2009-2010 season, the Blue Jays lost to Messiah 49-58 and in the 2008-2009 season 42-73.

The women’s team was very optimistic going into the pressure-filled game against Messiah College on Dec. 2. “To beat Messiah, I think we need to work on help-side defense along with communication. We will really need to take care of the ball and not give up any opportunities,” Silver said in a pregame interview.

Ferris was also hoping for the best before the start of the game. “We are going to have to give 100 percent for all 40 minutes of the game. If we play to what we are capable of, I think we can win,” she said.

The team knows competition. The team players are competitors and have been competing most of their lives, explained Kauffman.

“We all rely on one another for emotional support. Everything we do, we do as a team,” Ferris wrote, summing up one of the team’s greatest strength’s, which is their chemistry.