Women’s Basketball comes up short in NCAA first round
Photo courtesy of Geneseoknights.com
On Friday, Mar. 6, the women’s basketball team lost to the Washington University Bears in the first round of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) tournament with a score of 65-53. The Knights finished their season with a record of 20-9 and it was their 13th appearance in the NCAA. Not only that, but it was their second straight Empire 8 title and the program's eighth conference title.
In the first quarter, the Knights and the Bears stayed competitive and kept the score close. The Knights held the lead for the first couple minutes, but the Bears always found a way to close the gap. Senior Maggie McGrane sank a jumper with about a minute to go, but it was quickly returned by the Bears who hit a layup with 17 seconds left in the quarter. By the end of the first, the score was tied 17-17.
When the second quarter started, senior Grace Galgano had two quick baskets to increase the Knight’s score by four. But unfortunately, the Bears cranked their game up a notch and created a 32-27 lead by the time the quarter was over. The Knights were gonna have to close the deficit and take the lead in the third quarter if they wanted to move on to the next round.
After halftime was over, the Knights were aggressive on the court. Junior Audrey Hintz hit two jumpers to bring the Knights back into competition with the Bears. For the rest of the quarter, the Knights kept their energy high and held a one basket deficit with WashU. At the end of the third, the score was 47-45.
With only one quarter to go, it was anybody’s game. The Knights were only behind by a basket. Unfortunately, the Bears turned up their game to 11 and forced a gap. Although the Knights had some great shots in the last quarter, it wasn’t enough to stop the momentum of WashU.
Grace Galgano had another solid game, scoring 11 points for the Knights and finishing the season with 346 total points. Galgano was the Knights leading scorer for the season. Audrey Hintz had the high point total of the game with 14 and was 6-10 from the field. For the entirety of the game, the Knights played amazing defensively. They kept WashU leading scorer, Lexy Harris, to just 10 points. That was her lowest point total of the season when she was in for at least 22 minutes of the game.
Even though the Knights lost, they had an outstanding season overall. Not only did they hold a 20-9 record overall, but they were 9-4 at home and 11-3 away. Being able to capture wins away from your home court is not an easy feat but the Knights did it with ease. They also outscored their opponents with total points for the season. The Knights accumulated 1869 points while all of their other opponents combined only had 1511.
Be sure to keep up with the Knights next season as their games are never boring. There will also be some fresh faces on the court next season since there are three seniors who will have graduated. Grace Galgano, Eva Elliot, and Maggie McGrane were all key players for the Knights so it will definitely be interesting to see how next season pans out.