Women's Basketball Unable To Find Rhythm

Yeowomen Can't Put Bluffton's Women Away

The Oberlin women's basketball team has already had a few tough breaks this season, and after starting with only one win in six games, they looked to perhaps up their record at Bluffton College this past Saturday. Their misfortunes so far held true again, though, as they lost to Bluffton 74-57.

Coming into the game at 1-2, Bluffton had only won one game as well, but too many missed Oberlin shots and turnovers, combined with a hot-shooting Bluffton team, proved to be too much for the Yeowomen to handle.

Assistant Coach Don Hunsinger said, "We shot poorly, and officiating was not very efficient."

Despite alleged bad officiating, at the end of the first half Oberlin only trailed by two points, 32-30, despite making only 11 of 38 shots from the floor. It was Oberlin's hot shooting from the three-point line that saved them in the first half, as junior Nzinga Broussard made two from behind the arc and first-years Malisha Richardson and Alisha Thomas added one three-point goal a piece.

The second half, however, was a completely different story. Oberlin only managed to put 27 points on the board, compared to Bluffton, who came out of the locker room hot and racked up a total of 42 points in the half.

Broussard continued her scoring tear from the team's previous game against Allegheny, in which she knocked down 24 points against a tough conference opponent. Against Bluffton she made 11 of 17 from the floor, as well as two of three from the three-point line, for a total of 26 points. The junior guard also proved that she could do her share on the boards as she pulled down 10 rebounds for the game, eight of which were on the defensive side. Broussard also picked up five steals, but her efforts were not enough, as no other Yeowoman managed to score in double figures.

Richardson was the next leading Oberlin scorer with nine points for the game, followed by unior center Rachael Barbee, who scored eight points and pulled down five rebounds. Junior Heather Barbee also contributed in rebounding as she grabbed seven boards, four of which were on the offensive side.

For the game, the Yeowomen made only 23 of 71 shots from the floor, for a cold 32 percent. Bluffton shot 44 percent from the floor, making 27 of 62 shots, and also made five of their 13 three-point attempts. Bluffton was paced by a steady diet of balanced shooting, with four players scoring over 10 points.

Their three senior players in the post controlled the paint and the glass, with a total of 37 points and 24 rebounds among them, and four of senior guard Kristy Crall's five field-goals were three-pointers, as she had a total of 16 points and five assists.

Although Oberlin didn't have their best shooting game of the season, their offense hasn't been their biggest opponent. The problems have come on the opposite side of the ball. Bluffton's guards had little trouble feeding their posts the ball on the inside, as their good three-point opportunities and points under the basket were indicative of their strong inside-outside game.

Sophomore guard Sonja Spencer said, "We rebounded better [Oberlin out-rebounded Bluffton 46-42], but we still need to put more pressure on the guards. Our offense hasn't really been the problem. We need to make it harder for the guards to make entry passes into the posts."

Tomorrow, Oberlin will face NCAC opponent Wittenberg in their first home game of the season. The Yeowomen will look to increase their defensive intensity and ball pressure so the Tigers will have a more difficult time running a smooth offense. Wittenberg is off to a good start this year, though, having won five games and only lost one, so it will be a good opportunity for Oberlin to see where they stand in the conference. Tip-off is at 2:00 p.m. in Philips Gym.