Walker leads women’s basketball to fifth straight win
February 8, 2018
The women’s basketball team dominated Lafayette on the road on Feb. 3. They scrapped the Leopards by a score of 80-57 for their fourth straight win.
On the offensive end, the Bison shot 51.8 percent from the field, including 45.5 percent from beyond the 3-point line. Kate Walker ’19 led the Orange and Blue, shooting 5-of-6 from beyond the arc. She finished as the Bison’s leading scorer with 21 points, her sixth consecutive game with this honor.
“I think driving and finishing at the rim has opened up scoring opportunities for me this year. It also gets me to the free-throw line more, where I can get some easy points for the team,” Walker said. She certainly wasn’t the only offensive contributor in the game, as all 13 Bison not only saw minutes, but tallied at least one point.
On the defensive end, the Bison played aggressive but smart basketball. They forced the Leopards into 15 giveaways, which led to 23 points off turnovers for the Bison. The Orange and Blue had 14 turnovers in the contest, but only four in the first half. This efficiency allowed them to enter halftime with a 43-23 lead. This season, the Bison have outscored their opponents by 82 points in the first half of the season.
“We have started to play with more consistency and focus, and that has really shown in the last few games. This team has so many threats and is capable of shutting teams down with our defense,” Walker said.
On Feb. 7, the Orange and Blue hosted a conference match-up against Lehigh, who pulled out a narrow win over the Bison earlier this season. The Bison redeemed themselves with a 59-52 win, paced yet again by Walker with her game-high 19 points. Kaitlyn Slagus ’19 tallied a double-double with 12 points and ten rebounds, while Kyi English ’19 led the team with three of the team’s season-high nine steals.
Stifling defense for the Bison held the Mountain Hawks to 18 points in the first half and 33.3% shooting. The Orange and Blue had nine blocks in the contest.
With the wins against Lafayette and Lehigh, the Bison improved to 15-8 on the season and 9-3 in the Patriot League. They remain in a tie for second place in the Patriot League with Navy, both behind first place American, with six games remaining in the regular season schedule.
