|
|
| Home | |
| Students | |
| 2008 Presidential election | |
| Arts | |
| Education | |
| Entertainment | |
| Environment | |
| Fashion | |
| Health | |
| Medicine | |
| Sports | |
| Terrorism | |
| Travel | |
| War in Iraq | |
| Click here for Archives |
SWEET START FOR RED FOXES
By Daniel Barrack
POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. --- Coming off of the most successful season in Marist College history, the 2007-2008 women’s basketball team is proving that reaching the Sweet Sixteen in the NCAA tournament last season was not by luck.
The Red Foxes ended last season by losing in the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA tournament to the University of Tennessee, the eventual national champions. Through the first nine games of this season, Marist owns a record of 8-1 and is currently first in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC). The one loss of the season came to #16 Ohio State on the first day of the season, but the Red Foxes have won every game since.
Marist’s six point loss to the 16th best team in the nation has been the second closest point differential in any game thus far. During their current eight game winning streak, Marist has won by an average of 14.8 points, including a 71-35 victory over Dartmouth on Nov. 18.
Star sophomore forward, Rachele Fitz, believes that the team is playing well, but can improve.
“Our team has been playing very well together but we haven’t played to our full potential yet,” said Fitz. “There are a lot of things we still need to work on, but the games we have played so far have been against very good teams and will help us out tremendously for MAAC play.”
Fitz is a major contributor to the team’s success, averaging over 18 points per game. During a two game streak against Utah and Nebraska, Fitz scored 26 points and recorded 10 rebounds one game, and then scored 28 points and retrieved 11 rebounds the next.
The success of Fitz and the rest of the women’s basketball team is no surprise to anyone after last season, which makes it even more impressive that the team has gotten off to such a successful start.
“At the beginning of the year Coach told us we would have a giant target on our back and it would only continue to grow, but that is what the game is all about, having challenges and overcoming them together,” said Fitz. “There are some great teams in the MAAC and they would love to have an upset against us.”
Even after catching the nation’s attention by reaching the Sweet Sixteen last season, the Red Foxes have not flinched. Through the first nine games of the season, this year’s team has started with eight wins in nine games. Last year’s Sweet Sixteen team started 7-2. Technically, the current women’s basketball team is better at this point through the season than last year’s team was.
But there is still a majority of the teams’ games to play. With most of the team’s out of conference games completed, the most important games of the season are up next. Out of the 21 games that remain on the schedule, 16 of them are against MAAC opponents.
While the start to the 2007-2008 season has been impressive so far, there is still a long way to go to match the success of last season. Marist has started its new season with a near perfect record, and look determined to go even further in the NCAA tournament this year. The players on the team are confident, but Marist College students are skeptical that the team will go as deep into the tournament this year as they did last year.
“The team is off to a great start and looks very impressive,” said Marist College junior Evan Foisey. “I doubt that they will get to the Sweet Sixteen again though. Once you get into tournament play it’s very difficult to keep beating the best teams in the country.”
The only thing left to do is to wait and see. The expectations are high ending last season three games away from the national championship. Almost every player from last season has returned, but it is yet to be determined if they brought their success back to school with them this year.