Women's basketball breaks losing streak

Carole Beitcher Guest Writer

Stuck in a bit of a slump, the women’s basketball team has found itself behind a 1-4 league record and a 5-11 overall record, tied with Skidmore for sixth place in the competitive Liberty league.

For the most part, the makeup of the team is much the same as last year’s: only one graduating senior and two injured starters left the lineup, and two players, guard Natalie Serkowski ’06, probably the team’s most tenacious defender, and center Rachel Cerlen ’07, have returned from injuries last season to make solid contributions and help keep the team afloat.

Also returning are forward Meredith McGair, the leading scorer for two years running; and forward Sarah Porter ’06, an all-around force, and point guard Erin Harper ’06, holder of Vassar’s single season assist record and a player Coach Steve Buonfiglio calls a “warrior—carrying the load and never complaining”. However, the team is still relatively young—four juniors, two sophomores and five freshman—with a starting lineup of all juniors, two of whom are missing a whole year of competition.

Though troubled by uncharacteristically weak shooting, causing rough blowouts like a 24-61 defeat at the hands of first place St. Lawrence on Jan. 21, the team maintains a positive outlook on the long-term, playing each game with the playoffs in mind. However, the team still has a shot at the playoffs with eight games remaining. According to Harper, “Any team can win on any given day. We have the ability to beat any team, we have a lot of talent, but we haven’t played up to our potential yet.”

The season has seen some ups as well. On Jan. 22, the Brewers ended a five game losing streak with a nail-biting run against the Clarkson Golden Knights.

Behind during most of the first half, the team didn’t find a solid rhythm until Clarkson’s go-to player, guard Linda Fernandez ‘05, took a breather with four minutes left. Led by Serkowski and Cerlen, Vassar exploded with a 16-0 run to make it a six-point game.

The excitement deadlocked in the second half. While both teams found big contributors, neither could break. Serkowski rang in 14 points and eight rebounds, Harper claimed seven rebounds and a game high of nine assists, and McGair knocked in 13 points and grabbed six rebounds. All three stayed in the game for over 30 minutes.

With only 15 seconds left to play, McGair lofted a deep jumpshot off of Serkowski’s pass to bump the Brewers just past the opposition, 46-44. With little more than nanoseconds remaining, Clarkson was unable to answer and returned home with yet another nail in the coffin of an 0-5 record.

Buonfiglio said of the team’s record, “We’d like to see our improvement reflected more in our wins and losses, but if we keep our positive attitude and keep doing the things we’re doing well, good things will eventually come.”