It may have been a week off from NESCAC play for the women’s basketball team, but the squad took care of business, staying undefeated last week with road wins over Keene State and Skidmore.
The team dominated Keene State throughout en route to a 23-point win on Tuesday before pulling away from Skidmore in the second half for a 64-36 victory on Saturday. With the wins, the ninth-ranked Lord Jeffs open the season 5-0 for the sixth straight year.
Keene State came into their matchup 2-2 and fresh off a loss to Trinity, and the Owls had no answer for an Amherst defense that is allowing just 42.6 points per game on an average field goal percentage of .278.
Keene State managed just two points in the first 11 minutes, while the Lord Jeffs poured in 19 points from five different scorers.
The Owls managed to end the first half with 15 points, but the Lord Jeffs maintained their lead as Haley Zwecker ’16 came off the bench to score eight first-half points.Up 19 at halftime, the team was never challenged in the second half. Keene State once again opened the half anemic on offense, recording five points over the first seven and a half minutes. Amherst’s offense had no such trouble finding its rhythm, adding 31 points to make the final score 65-42.
Co-captain Bridget Crowley ’13 led the team with 15 points, while Haley Zwecker ’16 added 14 off the bench. Megan Robertson ’15 controlled the paint throughout, scoring 12 points and racking up a career-high six blocks.
The contest against Skidmore was a tale of two halves. In the first half, the Thoroughbreds looked as if they would be difficult to put away. Matching the Jeffs nearly shot for shot, Skidmore entered the half down just three points.
Unfortunately for the Thoroughbreds, they had to come back out and play 20 more minutes, and Amherst scored 15 of the second half’s first 17 points to end any hopes of an upset.
In the second half, Amherst jumped out to a quick 9-2 lead and maintained that cushion for a good portion of the first half, stretching the lead to 27-15 with 7:16 left on a Jasmine Hardy ’13 three-pointer.
The team then missed its next eleven shots, and Skidmore threatened to take the lead before Zwecker stole the ball and converted an easy layup with 18 seconds left to make the halftime score 29-26.
Angela Botiba answered a Robertson layup to make it 31-28 two minutes into the second half, and Skidmore then proceeded to completely fall apart.
The Thoroughbreds had six turnovers, eight points and a .166 field goal percentage over the final 18 minutes of the game.
The Lord Jeff offense came out much improved in the second half, going 15-for-32 from the field. Hardy paced the team with 16 points and three three-pointers and is shooting threes at a 48.1 percent clip, good for third in the NESCAC. Amherst held a 37-32 edge in rebounding and forced sixteen turnovers.
The team returns to action Thursday against Eastern Connecticut before hosting RPI on Saturday in their last game before winter break.
