Women's b-ball wins again

We must soon bid adieu to another semester of fun - and occasional learning - at Oberlin. But even as the term winds down and the cold sets in, things are just beginning to heat up on the basketball court.

With a sparkling 5-2 record overall, Oberlin's Lady Crimson are taking the opposition by storm. This past week the Crimson played only a single game, but they made it count. Last Saturday afternoon, the Yeowomen bested the visiting Beavers of Bluffton College in a rousing 89-79 victory that featured stellar performances from the starters and strong support off the bench.

Bluffton launched a powerful offensive attack consisting largely of three-point shots; the Beavers netted six treys in the first half alone. Oberlin responded with tight defense, outrebounding the opposition with few fouls to show for it. But Bluffton's distance shooting kept the Yeowomen on their toes for most of the first half.

In their seven games thus far, the Lady Crimson have made their defensive game less foul-prone by easing up on the hand-to-hand contact. Still, the players have retained the aggressive spirit that keeps their defense competitive. According to Head Coach Ann Gilbert, the transition to a defensive strategy centered around positioning - focusing on using the feet, not the hands - has been "the crux of our practice."

The stats tell the tale as well: Oberlin leads the conference in defensive field goal percentage. Oberlin's opponents, in total, have made only a paltry 33.4 percent of their shots.

Against Bluffton, however, Oberlin struggled to maintain a first-half lead and often fell behind, once by as many as seven points. "We have a tendency - instead of going out to jump on teams, we want to feel the other team out," said Gilbert. The optimal scenario, a game in which Oberlin dominates completely, is one that the Lady Crimson were unable to realize against Bluffton. "We have to take a game like that and put the [opposing] team away," Gilbert said.

Sophomore Nzinga Broussard opened the first-half scoring with more give-and-take than a two-person juggling act. Broussard currently leads the conference in scoring (15.9 points per game) and steals (3.7). She would score 20 points against Bluffton in a game where every point mattered - at least for a while.

OC turned its game up several notches in the second half, coming on strong to take their opponents out of the game for good. The Crimson secured a double-digit lead on first-year Malisha Richardson's spectacular 20-foot trey midway through the second half. The crucial shot caused the crowd to celebrate and Bluffton to call a timeout.

After that there was no turning back. Oberlin's lead never dropped under 10 points for the remainder of the game, and the momentum clearly belonged to the home team. Broussard sank mid-range jumpers as easily as layups, while sophomores Rachael Barbee and Raegan Johnson grabbed rebound after rebound for a combined total of 25. The final minutes of the game saw beautiful passing by the Crimson - two inside conversions by Barbee around the four-minute mark, assisted respectively by seniors Chamia Peterson and Shakila Williams, were absolute stunners.

With her team up by 10 points and 12 seconds left on the clock, Oberlin's coach made an unusual choice and called a timeout. As her players gathered around her, Gilbert reminded them that even with very little time remaining the opposing team has options. Through a combination of fouls and timeouts, she explained, an opponent can stretch out those last seconds - or minutes - and stage a comeback faster than you can say "upset." The last seconds against Bluffton went off without a hitch, of course, leaving the Lady Crimson 5-2 and the Beavers 1-4 on the season.

In the NCAC, Oberlin is currently second in wins behind only undefeated Wittenberg University. The Tigers bring their 7-0 record to Philips Saturday in an important early season showdown. Oberlin anticipates a fight to the finish. "They're a team that plays with a lot of basketball savvy," Gilbert said. "They're calm under pressure."

Gilbert cited Wittenberg's half-court style of play as a particular challenge to watch for in Saturday's game. "The key is for us to be poised and not panic," she said. "We've got to play our game," that is, a fast-paced game that emphasizes full-court strategies and positioning with an offense that produces from both the perimeter and the paint.

With any luck (and lots of skill), Oberlin can hand the Tigers their first loss and continue their own climb to the top of the conference ladder.

Fight for your right...to rebound: The Lady Crimson's long hours of practice have been paying off in big ways this season, including a 5-2 record. (photo by Rachael Pillsbury)