By Fabiola Barral

barralfa@grinnell.edu

The women’s basketball team persevered through their final home game this past Tuesday against Cornell College. Throughout the game, the score was consistently neck-and-neck, with no more than a six-point difference between the two teams. By halftime, the score was a very close 30-36 in favor of Cornell College. The final score was 57-69 to Cornell.

Cornell College has been nationally ranked all season, with only one loss (44-47) to Saint Norbert. Cornell College was previously in the Iowa Conference until this year. They have proved a force to be reckoned with in the Midwest Conference and will be hosting the Conference Tournament this season.

During this game, the Pioneers garnered 15 assists, a feat Head Coach Kate Gluckman states has been a product of the team’s continual effort towards cohesion on the court.

“Fifteen assists is definitely above average for us. All season we were aiming to improve our unity on the court and I think we have come a long way in that regard since October,” Gluckman said.

Gluckman added that the team as a whole reached many of the goals they had targeted for the game, although she admits there could have been more rebounding. However, she is “not sure there was any low point in the game.”

One detail she noted was the strong defense and improved balance of the two halves of the game. Gluckman stated that in their last game against Cornell, the first half was much better than the second half, and that this time around the team had much more even first and second halves.

The game overall, however, was not what many of the players were expecting. Elizabeth Burnett ’13, one of the captains of the team, had several frustrations.

“Cornell’s ability and consistency in hitting shots,” she said. “It seemed that whenever we were making a comeback we couldn’t get the lead because they kept making baskets even when we had a hand in their faces.”

Alissa Hirsh ’16 had similar feelings.

“With 1:30 left in the first half we were down by one, then we let them get a run and ended the half down by six,” she said. “There’s a huge difference between a one point deficit and six, especially against a team like Cornell.”

Cristal Coleman ’15 had high hopes for the season.

“We were expecting to go much further this year than we’ve gotten because we have the most talent than we’ve had in a while,” she said. “I think it took a while for us to accommodate the talent that people had.”

However, Coleman remains very positive about her team.

“I feel like, energy-wise, our team is much closer, even though last year we were on a winning record versus this year’s losing record,” she said. “Class and race truly disappear on our team. I really feel like we’re a group of friends playing basketball together.”

Burnett agreed with Coleman’s comments.

“It was a definite disappointment that we didn’t make the conference tournament, but at the same time, this season was an experience I wouldn’t want to trade for anything,” she said.
“The relationships I made with my teammates and the memories we made on and off the basketball court are something we will have forever.”

The women’s team will be playing their final game of the season this Saturday at Lawrence University, with tip-off against the Vikings slated for 1 p.m.