The women’s basketball team struggled to keep up against their Midwest Conference opponents this week, losing to both Carroll University and St. Norbert College. These games held the team at the bottom of the standings with a conference record of 1-11 and an overall record of 1-16.
Freshman Chioma Ejimkonye paced the Vikings in their game against St. Norbert with 11 points, followed closely by freshman Kassidy Rinehart with 10 points. Sophomore Amber Lisowe led the team with seven rebounds, followed by junior Cathy Kaye who had four rebounds.
The Vikings struggled with shooting, hitting only 16 out of 57 from the floor. St. Norbert took control just five minutes into the game and pulled ahead throughout the first half, taking the teams into break with 52-21 lead over the Vikings. This lead was strengthened in the second half with little fight from the Vikings, at one point reaching a shocking 49 point difference. Sealed with a jumper by Rinehart, the game ended 89-45, a 44 point Viking defeat.
Junior Becca Anderson said, “St. Norbert is a good team, as they are undefeated except for UW-Oshkosh. However, we made them look a lot better than they are. The team played hard for 40 minutes, but we have to work on scoring.”
The team’s troubled shooting carried into their game against Carroll, leading to a harsh 33-64 loss. Carroll grabbed the lead with a layup four minutes into the game and held it until their 64-33 victory over the Vikings.
Lisowe paced the Vikings with 10 points, eight of which were free throws. Kaye followed with seven points and Rinehart had six. Freshman Presley Neuman lead the team for rebounds with eight, and Ejimkonye had seven.
Lawrence hit only nine of the 40 shots taken, scoring 22.5 percent from the floor for the game. The team had 42 turnovers against Carroll, which ties the school record from 1982 against the University of Miami.
Anderson sarcastically remarked, “As much as we are thrilled to hold the record for turnovers in a game, we need to work on fundamentals. Simple things such as passing shouldn’t be an issue.”
The Vikings face up against Ripon (6-6, 7-10), Lake Forest (8-8, 7-5 MWC) and Illinois College (5-12, 5-7 MWC) at Alexander Gym this week, hopefully to secure a few more wins for the season.