Women’s Basketball Sustains Rocky Winter Break

MATEO VAZQUEZ ’21
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
While students were enjoying winter break away from campus, the Trinity women’s basketball team was hard at work. The Bantams saw success during the break, gaining five wins out of the eight games that they played and bringing their current overall record to 13-5. They started the new year off right by dominating at the Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut on Jan. 2nd. Bantam forward Erin Cunningham ’19 played a poised and steady game, making seven of her eight three-point shots.
While the Bantams succeeded throughout the entire game, they did exceedingly well during the fourth quarter where they scored twelve straight points to seal the 81-54 win. Despite the success over the break, the Bantams did face some challenges, losing their next two conference games against Amherst (no. 1), and Hamilton. Trinity struggled against the Amherst Mammoths as they were held to just 31 points for the entire game (49-31). Trinity kept it close in the first half and trailed by just two points going into the locker room. The Bantams held on during the third quarter and trailed by just five points in the middle of the fourth quarter.
It wasn’t enough as the Mammoths showed their strength and broke out on an 11-0 run to seal the win. Top performers for Trinity were Courtney Erickson ’19 with 12 points, six rebounds, and three steals, and Erin Cunningham ’19 with seven points and seven rebounds. In their next game the Bantams took on the Hamilton College Continentals in what turned out to be a very tight game. During the first quarter the Bantams surrendered several easy baskets to the Continentals, including ten unanswered points at the start of the game. After the slow start, Trinity gained momentum and traded several baskets with the Continentals, keeping the score close throughout the second and third quarters. Despite being close, Hamilton held on to a lead for the entire game, never looking back at the chasing Bantams. The next game for Trinity was against Dean College on Jan. 9. A string of second half runs from the Bantams combined with 16 points from Peace Kabari ’20 gave Trinity a key win to end their short losing streak. The women next faced off against the Bowdoin College Polar Bears, suffering a tough, 30-point home loss. Two days later the Bantams welcomed the Colby College Mules to Hartford, escaping with a four-point win (59-55).
Quick offensive drives by the Bantams allowed the home team to control the flow of the game, a key to beating the stingy Mule defense. Another key to victory was the distribution of scoring opportunities amongst the team. Four different Bantams scored in double digits as Cunningham and Kabari scored 15 apiece while Erickson and Becky Reifler ’19 added ten points each. The next matchup for the Trinity Women’s team is against in-state rival Wesleyan University on Feb. 2.