Women’s Basketball Team Ranked 22nd in the Nation; Records Longest Winning Streak in Their History

Cece Hampton ’24

Sports Editor

The Trinity women’s basketball team has had a spectacular season this winter, closing out their regular season with a final record of 7-3 in the conference and 20-4 overall. They currently have the third best record in the NESCAC and are ranked 22nd in the nation. This is an improvement from their 2021-2022 season, in which the Bantams finished with a record of 8-2 in the NESCAC and 17-6 overall. 

To recap the season so far, from the end of November until the first weekend of February, the Bantams were on a 16-game consecutive win streak, their longest in history. This win streak was cut short by an incredibly close game to Williams on February 3rd, when Williams clinched the game by just one point. This was the Bantams’ first conference loss of the season and only their second loss overall. As expected, they quickly rebounded after the loss with a win the next day at Middlebury, ringing in Coach Emily Garner’s 100th win.

Key players that the team can attribute its success to are junior center Reilly Campbell (Wallingford, CT), junior transfer Emma Wax (Pine Brook, NJ), and senior guard Bria Fuller (Springdale, MD). Campbell is a force to be reckoned with on the court. Averaging 15.8 points per game, Campbell dominates game play and continuously leads in points scored. Meanwhile, Wax leads the team in assists during her first season as a Bantam after transferring from Marist College, proving to be a valuable asset to the Bantams. Both Wax and Fuller played a crucial role in securing the Bantams’ first victory against Amherst since the 2006-2007 season on January 28th, one of a handful of team records the Bantams have broken this season.

This is Coach Garner’s 7th season leading the Bantams. This year, Garner is a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Faculty Fellow, and serves as a member of the DEI Committee. In the fall of 2019, Garner was honored as one of Trinity’s “50 for the next 50,” recognizing women who will have an enduring impact on the future of Trinity College. This was certainly well-merited, foreshadowing Garner’s more recent successes leading the Bantams these past two seasons in particular. Last winter Garner oversaw the Bantams’ best season in two decades. After their wins against Skidmore and Springfield at the end of this past December, the Bantams achieved a record of 11-1, a feat the team had not accomplished since the 2008-2009 season. It is clear this season that both Garner and the team have a competitive appetite that cannot be satiated.

This past weekend, the Bantams took to the road again, going up against both Bates and Tufts to finish off their regular season. They lost to Bates 53-61, and they took a tough hit from Tufts, where they lost 56-57 after a nail-biting game.

Next up, the Bantams will take on the NESCAC tournament, ranked as the number three seed. In March, Trinity will be hosting this season’s NCAA Division III Championship Semifinals in Oosting Gymnasium.