Runs by Chatham Result in Waynesburg Defeat
The women’s basketball team played its first game of the new year this past week against Chatham University in a conference matchup.
In the game on Wednesday, Jan. 4, the Yellow Jackets played a dominant first half against the Cougars. Despite leading by six going into the half, the Yellow Jackets would slowly slide in the second half before eventually losing their second conference game of the season 78-69.
To begin with, after going up as many as five points in the first quarter, the Yellow Jackets would go on their best run of the game putting up 23 points to Chatham’s six with under three minutes before half. Surpassing the intensity of Chatham was one of the ways the Yellow Jackets were able to outperform said head coach Sam Jones.
“I was very pleased in the second quarter,” said Jones. “I thought we did a nice job exceeding their intensity and playing with the purpose… of doing a good job.”
From the perspective of junior forward Addy Knetzer, she said they held a greater will to win in the first half of the game.
“We came out with a sense of urgency,” said Knetzer. “We were definitely playing hard in the first half and right from the beginning we wanted to win..”
After a solid performance in the first half of the game, the Yellow Jackets went to half leading 43-37, withstanding a 12-0 run by Chatham that got it closer to tying Waynesburg. However, things would begin to slide in the second half of the game starting with the third quarter where Chatham managed to outscore the Yellow Jackets for the first time in the game 19-15. Mental errors, according to Jones, played a role in the mistakes of the second half of the game.
“We made a couple mental errors,” said Jones. “[Chatham] kind of got some easy hoops out of it, which kind of gave them some life and momentum and then we just played tight, I thought, and missed some shots and the more shots we missed the tighter we got.”
The Yellow Jackets managed to bring a 58-56 lead into the fourth quarter, but midway through the fourth quarter Chatham put the game away going on an 11-1 run. Jones said one of the difficulties of basketball lies in the importance a single possession can hold.
“Basketball, like any other sport, is such a funny thing because one possession can really change the game,” said Jones. “But if you treat every possession like: that one can change the game – it can be a really good thing or a really bad thing at the same time.”
During this particular game, Jones said that negative mindset took place primarily in the second half of the game.
Despite the tough loss the basketball season will continue for the Yellow Jackets with their next game coming on January 7 against Westminster on the road. Jones said he told the team after the difficult loss against Chatham to move on and learn from its mistakes to prepare for continued conference action.
In a roundabout way, Knetzer said the loss against Chatham benefited the team.
“I think that losing against Chatham has helped us realize what we need to do,” said Kneter. “It was kind of a reality check and I think moving forward we need to stay hungry. We want to win games, but I think sometimes we are missing that hunger.”
Tipoff against Westminster, Saturday, Jan. 7, is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. The game in New Wilmington, Pennsylvania, against the Titans in Presidents’ Athletic Conference action.