Season Recap: Women's Basketball
Lady Falcons enjoy another successful season but fail to reach 20 wins
Jon McColgan
Issue date: 5/1/08 Section: Sports
In what has certainly been a both exciting and successful year for the Bentley Basketball programs, one of the Falcon teams was forced to end its season in mid-March in a rather bitter fashion, as the Women's Basketball team fell to Assumption in the First Round of the NCAA Tournament at Holy Family University in Philadelphia, PA on Friday, March 14.
Sadly, this loss came at the hands of an annoyingly persistent rival in Assumption, and in a game that was fiercely contested, with 10 ties and seven lead changes, but the final 32-17 run by Assumption helped overcome a six point deficit and come away with the 69-58 victory. To make matter worse for the Falcons, the loss terminated the record string of 20 win seasons the Falcons had been amassing under Head Coach Barbara Stevens, which now stands at a superb twenty four consecutive seasons.
The clear issue in this game, which has been a thorn in the side of the Lady Falcons all year, is the lack of offense that has continually plagued the team. Shooting only 31 percent overall, with a dismal 3-21 three point stat, and going 11-40 in the second half in field goal attempts, Bentley simply could not put points on the board. Strong defenses have become the norm in Division II, which helps explain some of Bentley's woes, but the best defense is often a strong offense, and this is where Assumption was able to beat Bentley for the third time this season.
Overall, going 19-11 for the season, the Falcons had a fairly productive year, with both exciting wins and agonizing defeats. While no game went into overtime this season like the Mens' team experienced multiple times, the Lady Falcons felt both sides of winning, with thrillers such as the one point squeaker victory over soon-to-be Division I Bryant on Family Weekend in front of a record 3100 fans as well as easily cruising to a fantastic blowout of AIC in the Northeast-10 playoffs round contest, winning easily 61-38. However, the Lady Falcons unfortunately fell one victory short of the twenty or more win season, which was a significantly disappointing failure for the girls, but there can be no doubt that winning nineteen games is still a noteworthy achievement worth celebrating.
Sadly, this loss came at the hands of an annoyingly persistent rival in Assumption, and in a game that was fiercely contested, with 10 ties and seven lead changes, but the final 32-17 run by Assumption helped overcome a six point deficit and come away with the 69-58 victory. To make matter worse for the Falcons, the loss terminated the record string of 20 win seasons the Falcons had been amassing under Head Coach Barbara Stevens, which now stands at a superb twenty four consecutive seasons.
The clear issue in this game, which has been a thorn in the side of the Lady Falcons all year, is the lack of offense that has continually plagued the team. Shooting only 31 percent overall, with a dismal 3-21 three point stat, and going 11-40 in the second half in field goal attempts, Bentley simply could not put points on the board. Strong defenses have become the norm in Division II, which helps explain some of Bentley's woes, but the best defense is often a strong offense, and this is where Assumption was able to beat Bentley for the third time this season.
Overall, going 19-11 for the season, the Falcons had a fairly productive year, with both exciting wins and agonizing defeats. While no game went into overtime this season like the Mens' team experienced multiple times, the Lady Falcons felt both sides of winning, with thrillers such as the one point squeaker victory over soon-to-be Division I Bryant on Family Weekend in front of a record 3100 fans as well as easily cruising to a fantastic blowout of AIC in the Northeast-10 playoffs round contest, winning easily 61-38. However, the Lady Falcons unfortunately fell one victory short of the twenty or more win season, which was a significantly disappointing failure for the girls, but there can be no doubt that winning nineteen games is still a noteworthy achievement worth celebrating.
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