 "Photo: Matt Mitgang | Student Life")
With her three-pointer off of the opening tip, Washington University’s senior shooting guard Jill Brandt scored the first basket in intercollegiate women’s basketball history at Chaifetz Arena, albeit in exhibition play. The No. 6 Bears lost to Division I St. Louis University 76-63 in Wash. U.’s only exhibition contest of the year.
“They played extremely hard. We just really wanted to put 40 minutes together, and I was pretty proud of our intensity, and I think we had good depth throughout the game,” Head Coach Nancy Fahey said.
Senior all-American forward Jaimie McFarlin returned to action against the Billikens after missing most of last season due to injury. McFarlin did not score and fouled out with 9:30 remaining in the game.
After Brandt’s three, SLU answered with five straight and would not lose the lead until the end of the half. A three-point play by sophomore forward Kelsey Robb cut the lead to 14-13, and a three by sophomore point guard Alex Hoover kept the deficit at 20-17, but the Bears would not tie the game until 5:49 left in the half after a layup by junior forward Zoë Unruh, who knotted the score at 25.
SLU scored the next five points, but Wash. U. fought back and eventually took the lead on two free throws by sophomore forward Kathryn Berger and a three by senior point guard Shanna-Lei Dacanay, which gave the Bears a 34-32 halftime lead.
The Billikens grabbed the lead with 17:12 left in the game, and SLU would not relinquish the outright lead for the remainder of the contest.
Robb, Berger and Unruh tied for a team high with 10 points while SLU guard Theresa Lisch led all scorers with 18 points.
The Red and Green were outmatched physically, surrendering 30 turnovers and 25 offensive rebounds to a taller, stronger and faster SLU team.
“It was a great experience. SLU has a great facility over there. We had a lot of fun, and we hung with them. It could only have been a positive,” Fahey said.
Fahey views this year’s team as more seasoned, as the team returns all five starters and its main core of reserves. While the freshmen will get playing opportunities, they will not be forced to learn from experience during the key minutes of every game.
“We played a lot of people [against SLU], which shows our depth. We have a lot of girls that can compete at a very high level, and so the competition on our team is definitely high, but we’re using that to our advantage, and it’s not really messing up any team chemistry so far,” Brandt, a co-captain, said.
The Bears will also try to win the powerhouse UAA conference, which currently features three ranked teams. The University of Rochester is ranked fifth in Division III while Wash. U. is sixth and the defending conference champion University of Chicago is ranked 11th. Brandeis University also received votes in the d3hoops.com top 25 poll.
“When you get into the tournament, you want to earn it. You don’t want anything getting handed to you…if you get in, you have a chance to advance,” Fahey said on the team’s tough schedule.
The Lady Bears open the regular season on Saturday at 3 p.m. against Concordia University in the Field House. The team will not play its first away game until Dec. 5 and will face either rival No. 3 DePauw University or No. 10 Illinois Wesleyan University on Nov. 22 at the Lady Bears’ Tip-Off Tournament.
“It’s definitely going to start us off on the right foot for the rest of the season,” Brandt said. She also went on to note that the Red and Green went undefeated at home last season.
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