The University of Chicago’s Independent Student Newspaper since 1892

Chicago Maroon

The University of Chicago’s Independent Student Newspaper since 1892

Chicago Maroon

The University of Chicago’s Independent Student Newspaper since 1892

Chicago Maroon

South Siders Take on Undefeated Rochester

The women’s basketball team will host Emory and Rochester in the fourth weekend of UAA play. Emory enters the competition with just one conference win while Rochester boasts a 5–0 record in UAA play.

The Maroons will be taking on the Emory Eagles this Friday, and with both teams standing at 10–6, it will certainly be a solid battle. This marks the first matchup of the season between the two and will be the sixth straight University Athletic Association (UAA) matchup for the Maroons.

The South Siders are coming off of an up and down weekend where they split their two games between New York University and Brandeis. They lost to No. 9 NYU on Friday 71–55 and then came back on Sunday to blow out Brandeis 73–59.

Second-year forward Mary Grace Bilby believes that the team learned a valuable lesson in their loss to NYU and have used it as motivation to get better and win out in their UAA games. “We lost a tough game last weekend against NYU and then turned it around on Sunday to beat Brandeis. This week in practice we’ve been working on fixing our mistakes from the NYU game and fine tuning what worked successfully on Sunday.”

Bilby continued, “For the past couple weeks our team has made it our priority to be consistent and in control. This weekend in our game against Emory I think, if we stay true to these aspects, we can have a great game against Emory and be very successful.”

Looking at the opponent, the Eagles have struggled mightily in the month of January as they have lost four out of their last five games. The Eagles are coming off of a 76–62 loss on Sunday against Case Western Reserve where they only shot 30 percent from the field. The Eagles are led by Michelle Bevan and Shellie Kaniut who are averaging 10.5 and 9.1 points respectively. Bevan also leads the Eagles in rebounding with 4.4 rebounds a game. Although Emory’s record may not reflect it, they played both NYU and Brandeis to within three points, and their lone win of the UAA season came against No. 25 Carnegie Mellon.

However, Chicago is confident that if they play their brand of basketball, they will be in good shape on Friday. The Maroons were able to hold Brandeis to 39.7 percent from the field, and only 7.1 percent from three-point range. They also forced the Judges into turnovers 19 times. Since defense has been a focus for the squad all year, the Sunday game was certainly a testament to the work that they have been putting in.

Second-year guard Elizabeth Nye echoed this sentiment and added that the momentum they have from their win over Brandeis plays a role in what the squad will look to do in the future. “I think we’re taking what we did against Brandeis and carrying it forward. That was a good win for us. We played well together as a team. Emory is another tough team who presses a lot, so we’ll work more on that this week. Executing our press break well and carry forward the good team work from will help us be successful against Emory,” said the starting point guard.

After taking on Emory on Friday, Chicago will turn around to take on their toughest opponent of conference play in their Sunday matchup against Rochester. The No. 7 Yellowjackets are the lone undefeated team left in the UAA and have only dropped one game throughout the course of the season. Second-year Alexandra Leslie leads the team, averaging almost a double-double with 16.6 points per game and 9.7 rebounds per game. They will first have to play Wash U. who falls right behind them in UAA standings with just one loss before taking on the Maroons.

Chicago will look to take down the Eagles and to use that momentum to continue their success in UAA league play.  Tip-off against Emory is at 6 p.m. this Friday at Ratner Athletic Center. The game against Rochester begins at 1 p.m. on Sunday.

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