The women’s basketball team continued its excellent start to the season on Wednesday with a 70-57 win over Colgate. The Red (3-0) has come out victorious over the Raiders (0-3) in its past six contests.
“We were really hitting shots well from the outside and making proper reads from the defense they gave us,” said senior forward Nicholle Aston. “We didn’t allow their pace to affect us and stuck to playing our game.”
Aston had 14 points, seven rebounds and two assists in the game and was one of four Cornell starters to score in double digits.
Senior guards Megan LeDuc and Kerri Moran finished with 19 and 13 points, respectively, and senior forward Nia Marshall finished with 10. Senior guard Taylor DePalma chipped in five points. The all-senior starting five accounted for 61 of the Red’s 70 points.
The only problem in the game was the amount of turnovers. The Red finished with 23 turnovers compared to Colgate’s 15.
“We have some things to clean up when executing our plays in terms of timing and quickness and need to see help earlier on defense,” Aston said.
Nevertheless, the Red can be nothing but happy with how the season has gone thus far, according to LeDuc.
“Although we did have a lot of turnovers, we had a lot of assists to counteract that,” LeDuc said. “We played good team basketball and as a starting senior class, we really came out intense and ready to win the game.”
The last time the Red started a season 3-0 was in 1993.
“Every single win makes us hungrier for the next game,” LeDuc said. “We’re hoping this competitive mindset will prevent us from becoming complacent during our non-conference play.”
The Red have 10 more non-conference games before Ivy League play begins on Jan. 14.
This is the first year with Ivy League tournaments at the end of the men’s and women’s basketball seasons, so a major goal for the team’s formidable senior class is to end their college careers with a tournament victory.
“We’re looking to end our college careers with an Ivy League title and really think we can do that with the team we have this year,” LeDuc said.
Aston said the team is intently focused on making the tournament.
“To get [to the tournament], we need to make top four in Ivies,” Aston said. “Since the preseason rankings have us there, we know that really it is only us who can stop us from reaching the tournament.”
However, the team knows that staying within itself and taking the season one day at a time will be essential in attaining this goal.
“Our team goals are to build on every game we play and to get better everyday,” LeDuc said.
With such a healthy, motivated and experienced team, there is nothing preventing the Red from maintaining this momentum and achieving this goal, according to Aston.
“As long as we stay true to our game and trust in the process through practice, I don’t see us slowing down anytime soon,” Aston said.