By Noah Gurzenski
This past Saturday, Ladies basketball opened up North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) play in impressive fashion, topping Hiram College 62-49. Running an efficient team offense and holding their opponent to just 23.8 percent shooting from the field, the Ladies established a commanding 34-19 lead at halftime, securing the win by not budging an inch throughout the second half.
After trailing Hiram for the first seven minutes of the game, Miranda Diesz ’17 put the Ladies up 9-8, a lead the team would not relinquish for the rest of the game. Over the next nine minutes, the Ladies put some space between themselves and the Terriers, outscoring Hiram 15-6 to take a 10-point lead. Much of Kenyon’s first-half success was due to the team’s aggressive defense, which produced eight steals in the first 20 minutes of play.
“Our defense has kept us in a lot of games,” Head Coach Suzanne Helfant said. “Early on, I was really concerned on how we were defending in the half court, but it’s turned into something that they have really taken a lot of pride in.”
Kenyon’s offense capitalized on this early defensive success, scoring nearly half of their first-half buckets off of turnovers. The Ladies also picked up significant points by hitting the boards to retain possession on offense and earning 13 second chance points.
“We’re really good at making the extra pass,” Co-Captain Sarah Hobbs ’15 said. “We’re a pretty selfless team; everyone who’s on the team is capable of scoring and we all understand that, so not only are we looking for our shots, but we’re also looking to get the ball to our teammates.”
The Ladies continued rolling in the second half, extending their lead to 22 points with a Sid Cera ’17 three-pointer at the 11:19 mark. Cera scored a career-high 17 points in the victory, boasting a superb .670 field goal percentage. Besides Cera’s individual performance, the Ladies’ bench stepped up in their own right, accounting for nearly a third of the team’s points.
The Terriers mounted a comeback late in the second half, at one point cutting Kenyon’s lead to nine, but proved no match for the Ladies, who held on to win by 13.
Last night the Ladies traveled to Allegheny College where they lost 56-45.