Women’s basketball starts season off on short end
Staff Writer
While the Men’s basketball has gotten off to a hot 4-0 start, it has been a little bit of a different story for the Women’s basketball team so far. The Women’s team has started their season cold as they have dropped each of their first four games and have scored less than 46 points in each of those games while being outscored by opponents 251-153 in those games combined.
The Vikings started their season by playing their first two games on the road and dropped both of them to Cayuga and Albany-Pharmacy. They only lost by seven points in a close battle against Cayuga where they were tied with only two minutes left, but Cayuga just pulled away late in that game. Sophomore guard Deirdre Werner led the way in scoring with 14 points in the loss.
However, their second road loss to Albany-Pharmacy was a different story as the team lost in blowout fashion, 64-32. Once again it was Werner who led the team in scoring with nine points.
After dropping the first two road games, the Vikings came back home for their home opener last Friday, seeking to get their first win of the season against Jefferson Community College. The Vikings dropped that game as well, putting themselves at an early 0-3 hole to start the regular season as they lost to Jefferson 70-38. For the third straight game, Werner led the Vikings in scoring with 14 points.
So far, throughout the first three games this season, Werner has been the clear leader of this team as she led the team in scoring for all three games and is one of three sophomores on the roster.
“Deirdre Werner is a returning player and she is one of our captains, she is one of our solid players.” said head coach Rich Gilooly on Werner’s success.
One major reason why the Women’s basketball team has gotten off to a slow start so far this season is because they are a very short-handed team. During their home opener against Jefferson, the team only had six players active for their game. With five people being on a court at a time, it can be very tough to play 40 minutes of basketball with only six players on the roster.
Gilooly said, “The process is tough, we have had some injuries, we have had some bad luck. We look forward to getting some girls back here these next couple of weeks which will certainly help us be a little more competitive, but it gives us the opportunity to be out there on the floor and learn from our mistakes and get game experience for everybody and put our girls in a position where they can learn from their mistakes.”
After falling in their home opener, the Vikings went on the road the next day to face Herkimer Community College and saw their losing streak hit four games as the Vikings lost to Herkimer 72-45. For the third time in the first four games, the Vikings lost a game by more than 25 points which is not the way that the Vikings wanted to start their season.
“The more important thing for us is just becoming more consistent, more comfortable with what we are doing. It is going to be a long season, we know there are going to be some growing pains,” said Gilooly on the 0-4 start. “We are trying to be a better basketball team come January or February, it is going to be a process.”
The Vikings will look to snap that four game losing streak on Wednesday as the Vikings play host to Adirondack Community College at 7 p.m. before hitting the road on Sunday to face Schenectady Community College.