March 7, 2010

Women’s Basketball Honors Seniors After Closing Out Tough Season at Home

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This weekend marked the end of an era for the women’s basketball team. For one last time, the trio of senior captains took the court in Newman Arena and played their hearts out against their Ivy League foes. Unfortunately, both Brown (8-19, 5-8 Ivy) and Yale (13-15, 8-6 Ivy) were able to topple the Red (7-20, 2-12 Ivy) on its home court, causing the end of the season to be even more upsetting for the seniors.

“It was a tough weekend for us,” said head coach Dayna Smith. “We originally went in excited because we really wanted to get the win for [the seniors] … but we all felt bad that they weren’t able to go out on a winning note.”

However, all three senior captains still managed to put in outstanding performances, despite the losses.

The Yale game on Saturday night ended in a similar fashion, as the Bulldogs defeated the Red, 74-60, on what was designated as Cornell’s Senior Night. Although the scoreboard may not reflect it, Cornell’s seniors certainly had a strong showing in their final game at Newman Arena, combining for a total of 36 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists.

Fedorowicz recognized that this weekend’s losses were due in large part to poor ball handling.

“There were a lot of unforced turnovers, and that hurt us a lot,” she said. “And rebounding was also an issue … we weren’t focusing on it as much as we should have been.”

Although this season has not been a very successful one for the Red, it seems that the seniors are still leaving the court with fondness.

“Even though we didn’t win, it was still a great year,” Fedorowicz said. “I enjoy my teammates so much, and I love having the friends that I’ve made here. It’s hard to know that that was the end.”

It seems that the rest of the team shares Fedorowicz’s sentiments, and that the seniors will be very sorely missed next year.

“They have done so much for the program here … they brought us our first championship ever,” Smith said. “It has been a tough year, but they’ve had great careers.”

As for the team’s future, it seems as though improvement is on the horizon for the Red.

“I think they’ve got great upcoming years because [the team] is so young,” Fedorowicz said. “Our freshmen have had to do so much this year … their confidence will be up, and they’re only going to get better and better.”

“A lot of young players earned a lot of experience this season,” Smith agreed. “With next year’s recruits plus a strong off-season, we may be able to turn this program around.”

Original Author: Hannah Fillas