January 23, 2014
For much of the season, Samantha Graber ’16 has carried the women’s basketball team with her prolific scoring and rebounding. Honored as the NESCAC’s “Player of the Week” on Jan. 6, she is averaging a team-leading 18.3 points, and her 7.8 rebounds are second on the team. With a vast arsenal of scoring moves, she has assumed much of the Continentals’ scoring load, enhancing the offense from last year. Coach Michelle Collins highlighted this change, stating, “Our offense has improved from the low 50s last season to 60 points this year.” Only one team this season has managed to counter Graber’s scoring prowess and limited her to single digits. This dependence has, at times, proven to be the team’s downfall as teams focus their defensive effort on Graber and force her to work much harder for her points.
While much of the student body rests at home or travels, the women’s basketball returned almost immediately after New Year’s and restarted their season with a home game against the Rochester Institute of Technology on Jan. 4. During six winter break games, the Continentals addressed their overreliance on Graber, and her teammates asserted themselves as scoring threats.
In their game against RIT, the team stretched their winning streak to three with an impressive defensive display that limited the Tigers to 30.3 percent shooting. Behind 29 points from Graber and impressive shooting from the rest of the team, the Continentals led 50-26 at the half and never looked back, cruising to a 77-52 victory.
The next three away games to Buffalo State, third-ranked Amherst and Trinity, brought the Continentals back to earth and exposed their offensive limitations. Nevertheless, senior Dani Feigin contributed 13 points and 4 assists against Trinity, lightening the load on Graber and initiating a more balanced distribution of scoring in future games.
At home in the Margaret Bundy Scott Field House on Jan. 17, the Continentals were determined to sustain this change in offensive strategy against a struggling Colby team. The Continentals’ defense, impressive all season, suppressed the Mules’ offense and enabled them to rattle off a 24-3 run in the second half that left their opponents with little hope of winning the game.
On the other side of the ball, the Continentals employed a balanced and pragmatic offense, suffering from only nine turnovers and bolstered by three scorers in double-digits. Feigin finished with a career-high 21 points and sophomores Carly Gruenberg and Graber both chipped in 16. Explaining this improvement, Coach Michelle Collins said, “We emphasized the fundamentals to continue to enhance our plays and offensive output.”
Encouraged by their first NESCAC victory and improved offensive strategy, the team pushed 18th-ranked Bowdoin to the brink. With an impressive 28 points and 12 rebounds from Graber, the Conts were on their way to victory, but squandered their lead in the second half and faded in overtime, losing 65-71.
Coach Collins, despite the close defeat to Bowdoin, believed the more balanced scoring distribution could prove to be a pivotal development in their season, noting that “we had many different players step up in different roles.”
The Continentals continue their season with away games against 15th-ranked Williams on the 25th, and SUNY IT on the 28th, where they hope to return to winning ways.
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