Women's Basketball Routs Frostburg State

By MADALYN CROWELL

The women’s basketball team walked away from Goolrick gymnasium last Saturday afternoon with a 71-53 win against Frostburg State University. They were led by three junior guards, Katie Wimmer, Jenna McRae and Rachel Martin, who scored Mary Washington’s first 12 points of the game and combined to total 44 points when all was said and done.

Wimmer had the most individual points for UMW with 16, followed by McRae’s 15 and Martin’s 13. The trouncing of the Bobcats was the sixth straight victory for the Eagles and moved them to 12-5 overall and 8-1 in the Capital Athletic Conference.

Although the victory seemed to be attributed to their offensive play, Wimmer accredited their defense for the win.

“Our defense was key,” Wimmer said.  “When we work together and rotate on defense it leads us into our offense. We did very well from the start defending them.”

The Eagles showed their superiority early, as they ended the first half with a 38-22 lead over the visiting Bobcats. Mary Washington outscored the new CAC arrival again in the second half (33-31), ending the game with an 18-point margin of victory.

“I was anticipating Frostburg to come out super intense and ready to play,” Wimmer said. “They have been doing very well this year, and we have both improved so much since the first time we played each other, so I was expecting the best from them.”

UMW knocked down 10 three-pointers and shot 47.6 percent from long range in the game. Wimmer, Martin, McRae all connected from three-point range, as did a trio of freshman in Sam Partonen, Brieneke Matthes and Sarah Jones.

The Eagles shot 50 percent for the game, while the defense Wimmer praised held Frostburg to just 37 percent shooting.

After the big Frostburg win, McRae looked ahead at the schedule to the huge match-up that now looms, a road bout for UMW against the Marymount Saints.

“We are playing Marymount next Wednesday, which is a very important game since they beat us the first time, and that’s our only conference loss,” McRae said. “Marymount is a huge rival and I know we’re all excited to get revenge for the first game. I’m excited because we’re playing so much better now, and I know if we play together as a team the end result will be what we want.”

The important Marymount game McRae referred was postponed from last night due to inclement weather. It will take place  tonight, Jan, 27.

While the women’s basketball team certainly has goals, McRae preached the importance of taking things slowly and not overlooking the little things.

“Truthfully, I’m just trying to take everything game by game, even day by day,” McRae said. “We have to focus on each team that we face and not think about the future too much and get ahead of ourselves. We know what we have to do to get what we want out of the season and I think we are definitely on the right track.”

The Lady Eagles will play a road game at St. Mary’s College and then will return home for their game next Wednesday, Feb. 2, against Ferrum College at 7 p.m.

photo credit: Marie Sicola/Bullet