Freshman Kenya Earl fights past Scots defense.
Photo by Caroline Garrow
The Lawrence University women’s basketball team, after a tough winter break schedule, started off the term strong with a 63-59 win against the Monmouth Scots on Jan 6 at Alexander Gymnasium. Freshman standout Kenya Earl scored a game-high 20 points on 9 for 14 shooting from the floor, had five rebounds and two blocks. Junior Leah Reeves went 6 for 8 from the floor and added 16 points and four rebounds. Rookie Elena Gonzalez grabbed a game-high nine rebounds and nine points. Senior Olivia Hoesley dished out a game-high seven assists for Lawrence.
The Vikings carried their lead steadily in the first half, scoring 34 points before going into the second. The Scots quickly trimmed the lead back to 39-32 in the third quarter, but after a Reeves jumper with 2:12 left, Lawrence was up 49-37 and closed the game from there.
This week, the Vikings have three tough road games, at Cornell College on Friday, at Illinois College on Saturday and at Lake Forest on Wednesday. The don’t return home until Saturday, Jan 20 at 4 p.m. when they take on the Beloit Buccaneers.
Lawrence is currently 3-10 overall and 1-4 in conference. Their first conference win came in December when they played Illinois College and won 64-56 at home. This was also the first conference win that true seniors, Olivia Hoesley, Natalie Kramer, Lauren Deveikis and Nicole Cummins had during their four years at Lawrence. Unfortunately, due to a player being ineligible, that win was stripped away from the Vikings. Lawrence is currently tied with both Grinnell and Beloit in conference. If they can secure another win against Illinois College, hopefully that will give the Vikings the momentum and confidence they need to lead them into the final month of the season.
Best of luck to our Women’s Basketball team for the remainder of the season!