The Observer, February 9, 2007
Volume XXXIX, Issue 16
Throwback Weekend ends losing skid for Lady Spartans
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Last Friday in Adelbert Gymnasium, the Case Lady Spartans snapped their seven-game losing streak with a convincing 76-59 win over the Tartans of Carnegie Mellon. Sporting yellow jerseys for the evening to honor Mather College, the Spartans jumped out to an early lead against the Tartans.
"It was definitely a good win for us," said senior guard Dana Dempsey. "We've been struggling for the past couple of weeks, and tonight we were able to use the great atmosphere as a spark to regain the intensity and energy we had been missing. We knew we should have beaten them last weekend, and there was no way we were going to be swept by them this season."
After jumping out to a 10-2 lead about six minutes into the game, the Spartans continued to push the tempo, stretching their lead to 15 at 28-13 with only four minutes to play in the first half. Unfortunately they hit a lull at that point and allowed CMU to go on a 12-5 run to end the half at 33-25.
The Tartans carried that momentum early into the second half as they narrowed the score to within one point. Showing tough resiliency and jumping onto the back of Maria Jackson, who played a fantastic game, the Spartans went on a 27-11 scoring run, capped by a Mary Herendeen three-pointer with four minutes to play in the contest.
Jackson was the star of the night, leading all scorers with a career-high of 26 points. She shot an impressive 12 of 15 from the floor. Ashley Horton and Ashleigh Tondo also made substantial contributions. Horton scored 14 points and grabbed 14 rebounds, while Tondo had 12 points and 6 assists.
With such a solid win Friday night, the Spartans hoped to carry much of that momentum into their Sunday afternoon game against the University of Rochester Yellow Jackets, who entered the game ranked seventh in the country. Historically, Case has had a fair degree of success against what is always an extremely talented Rochester team. In fact, the Spartans had upset them each of the past three seasons at home.
"We knew going into the game that we always played well against them," Dempsey said. "We were excited about the opportunity to knock them off again, especially after the way we played at Rochester the weekend before."
The Spartans led for almost the entire first half before relinquishing the lead after a Megan Krebbeks jump shot. Case then played catch-up for most of the second half. While managing to keep it close for the first few minutes, Rochester slowly increased its lead, eventually stretching the score to 58-47. From that point forward, Case tried to whittle away at the margin, and the Spartans came within three points on a Dana Dempsey 3-pointer with 0.4 seconds left in the game, but Rochester ran out the remaining fractions of a second for a 74-71 win.
Dempsey finished the game with 21 points and was supported by another strong effort from Jackson, who finished with 19 points and 6 steals.
Despite the tough loss for the Spartans on Sunday, Throwback Weekend was still a strong success. The atmosphere for both games was quite unique compared to a normal home weekend for the team.
"It was definitely a fun weekend," said Dempsey. "The gym, the uniforms, and the overall energy really combined to create an awesome atmosphere to play in."
This weekend the Spartans travel to Chicago and St. Louis for two very competitive games. Both teams are ranked in the top 25 nationally, but the Spartans are confident they will return home with at least one victory.
