The women’s basketball schedule heats up with the start of University Athletic Association play. The No. 25-ranked Maroons are fresh off of a big upset against the No. 22-ranked Wash U. The Maroons are on an eight-game win streak heading into this weekend in which they face off against conference foes NYU and Brandeis University.
Chicago has been boosted by consistently big performances from multiple team members. Just against the Bears, three different players, second-years Miranda Burt, Taylor Lake, and Mia Farrell, reached double-digits in points, and three more, fourth-year Elizabeth Nye, third-year Jamie Kockenmeister, and first-year Meaghan O’Hara, contributed five points each. Third-year Olariche Obi earned a team and game high of 17 rebounds despite only being in for 17 minutes of play because of foul issues. Lake also contributed five steals and Burt added three. Overall, the Maroons made ten three-pointers in the game compared to just three by the Bears.
Obi was very happy with her team’s performance on the weekend. “Last weekend was amazing. It was the first time since I have been a Maroon that we won on their home court. We had so many people step up! I’m not surprised in how my teammates played because I know they’re capable, but it was a nice reminder that we have a squad that can hang with and defeat the best of the conference.”
With the updated d3hoops.com rankings, Chicago becomes the second-highest ranked UAA team in the nation, behind only Rochester. Neither NYU or Brandeis are nationally ranked and their records (8–4 and 8–3, respectively) are not as impressive as the Maroon’s 10–2 mark. NYU defeated Brandeis handily last weekend, so the Maroons should have some level of confidence heading into the weekend. However, Obi emphasizes that the team cannot be too confident. “Previous to playing Wash U last weekend we had set the goal for ourselves about midway through pre-conference play (when we were 5-2) that we wanted to go 9-2 before conference play. After we did accomplish that, we wanted to have a goal moving forward into conference play. We said that we can’t necessarily overreach in terms of what we want to do moving forward. We obviously want to win conference and go from there but we remind ourselves that we have to win the weekend and that’s what we did at Wash U. It was great, and we plan to do the same this weekend with NYU and Brandeis. We’re looking at every weekend as [a] further step to our goal.” The Maroons have done nothing but accomplish their goals so far this year, and it seems as though they will continue to do so.
