Women thrash Spelman

They haven't exactly bulldozed their way through the conference. It's been more of a jostling through, strong offense, stronger defense, tripping here and there yet getting back up kind of a season. Right now home court advantage for round one of the conference tourney is still up in the air, and the team's road woes continue.

But right now two things should have the Yeowomen feeling pretty darn good.

They've beaten their opponents by a healthy margin of 16.7 points per game. Even when they don't win, they still score more points than any other team in the NCAC leading the conference with 73.3 points per game.

They've beaten 14 opponents in such a way - more than any other women's basketball team in Oberlin history.

Last Saturday's game against Spelman College opened a new chapter in the book of Oberlin sports - if such a thing exists.

"It was pretty exciting," said first-year center Raegan Johnson. "It would have been better if it was a conference game or at home, but it was definitely exciting because it was something that had never been done before." First-year guard Nzinga Broussard said, "It really didn't phase us that we broke the record because we were so far from home. Until we got back it was just another win."

With their 76-69 win, the Yeowomen finished a bumpy first two weeks of February at three wins and two losses. Two of the victories came against conference teams, as did both loses.

"We're trying to get away from the slump we've had when we play road games," said first-year guard Menna Demessie. "Spelman proved we can win when we're not at home."

Broussard led the team with 23 points. Demessie added 13 and Monica Bush came off the bench to score 10. Reserve scoring would prove to be decisive in the contest as the Yeowomen outscored their counterparts 26-21. Fouls would play a significant part in the equation as well. Oberlin converted 10 of 13 free throw attempts in the first half en route to an 11 point halftime lead.

Should the season have ended after the Spelman game, Oberlin would have held fast at fourth place within the NCAC standings. That would have given them the home court for their first-round matchup in the conference tournament which begins next week. Unfortunately the season didn't end and Wednesday's loss to Case Western made the team's tournament picture far from clear.

"We played hard. We just can't seem to get it together when we're not on our home court," said Broussard. "It was disappointing."

"In the Case game we were good all the way until the end, when I feel we just mentally broke down," said Johnson. "And it was that breakdown in the last minute that hurt us." The Yeowomen would lose the game by six points, 71 to 65.

The team refuses to let that letdown be a letdown however. "Right now we're more worried about Saturday because that game will determine if we have home court or not," said Johnson. "We play better on our home court. We go into home games very intense." She added that if they can continue to do what has been working, namely strong defense and a team effort, the shape of things will be good, somewhat round and very and squooshy.

"This team is very good at starting over," said Demessie. "We're really confident [about Saturday]. We know we'll have a lot of good fans. I think we'll probably win; we'll definitely try our hardest."

Saturday's game pits the Yeowomen against the Battling Bishops of Ohio Wesleyan University. OWU is fighting for at least a share of the top spot in the conference ranking and needs a win on Saturday to have a chance. This may be a quantity vs. quality match since Oberlin stands on top of the conference in both scoring and rebounding while OWU owns the field goal and three point field goal percentages.

Neither Johnson nor Broussard wanted to comment on the upcoming NCAC tournament saying they were taking it one game at a time and wanted to focus more on Saturday's pivotal game against Ohio Wesleyan. Demessie, however, was willing to share her feelings about the team's future. "I think we'll do really well with or without home court advantage," she said. "By the end of the season you really feel like a team, and then you have nothing else to worry about."

The Yeowomen will play at home on Saturday. Tip-off is at 2 p.m. in Philips.