Last week, the women’s basketball team wrapped up their season with games against two tough competitors. Tuesday night, Feb. 15, the Vikings went on the road to take on the Ripon Redhawks, losing 59-32.
The Vikings played their final game of the season against the Green Knights of St. Norbert on Feb. 18, falling short 87-52
It was clear right from the tip that fortune was not on the side of the Vikings as they faced Ripon. In the first half, they made only three of 20 shots from the floor. This gave Ripon the early lead, and the Redhawks ended the first half with a 16-point lead. Together, sophomores Amber Lisowe and Alex Deshler scored 20 points, and it was with their help that the Vikings trimmed the Redhawk lead down to only 15 points in the second half. However, the Redhawks pulled away and clinched their victory with a score of 59-32.
For their last game of the season, the Vikings competed against St. Norbert College, the first-ranked team in the Midwest Conference. Lawrence knew they had a tough challenge ahead of them, but they still managed to pull out 52 points against the Green Knights. Lisowe led Lawrence in scoring with 22 points.
Freshman Chioma Ejimkonye had a great game as well. She scored 12 points and had seven rebounds. Despite Lawrence’s best efforts, the Green Knights were able to put away 87 points and defeated the Vikings 87-52.
The Vikings ended their season with a 1-16 conference record. When asked what the team did well this season and what they hope to improve on, Deshler replied, “Well as much as we love setting the record for turnovers, we really did improve. We got better through coming together as a group and playing as one team instead of five individuals. Hopefully we won’t turn the ball over as much, shoot a little better, and get a heck of a lot more wins next season.”
So, though they did not end with the record they hoped for, Lawrence did have their best season in recent years. Deshler left us with this statement: “Because of the girls on the team, the season was a lot of fun! We might have struggled on the court, but off the court we had the best time.”