The Case Western Reserve University women’s basketball team traveled this weekend to Chicago and St. Louis but came back home with two losses, leaving their conference score record at 1-6 and their overall record at 8-10.

On Friday night they faced the University of Chicago in a close match that resulted in an unfortunate loss. Fourth-year guard Sarah Mitchell recorded a career high with 22 points and 6 steals, but it was still not enough for this team to take home the win. Overall, the Spartans shot 35.5% from the field goal range and 19.0% from the 3-point line compared to 41.5% and 27.8% from the Maroons. Both teams had a total of 40 rebounds, 16 turnovers and 10 steals. Fourth-year forward Kayla Characklis added 12 points and graduate student guard Kate Montgomery added 10 points.

The game had 7 ties and 9 lead changes. The Spartans had their largest lead of the night after a layup by first-year guard Mya Hartjes had them leading by 7 with 4:03 left in that quarter. The Maroons fought the Spartans and managed to cut down the difference to 2 points going into the second quarter.

The Spartans kept their stamina up and managed to end up 3 points over after 2 free-throws leading them into the third quarter. At the start of the third quarter, a 3-pointer by second-year guard/forward Emily Plachta gave the Spartans a 6 point lead, but they were unable to keep this up and ended up trailing by 3 at the end of this quarter.

In the fourth quarter, the Spartans tried to catch up to the Maroons, managing to get a point away from the scoreboard but could not tie the game. In the end, a free throw by the opposing team sealed the game 59-64 in UChicago’s favor.

After their unfortunate loss in Chicago, the Spartans traveled to St. Louis to face Washington University, but their efforts were not enough to win against the Bears. Mitchell managed to score 20 points followed by Montgomery who got 16 points. Characklis added 9 rebounds and 6 points as well. The team shot 35.0% from the field goal range and 32.1% from the 3-point line which was not enough to match WashU’s 57.1% from the field goal range and 34.8% from the free throw line.

Although being down for most of the first quarter, a layup by graduate student forward Morgan Micallef gave the Spartans the first lead of the night with 2:16 left in the first quarter. They were able to keep this lead throughout the second quarter, leading by as much as 8 points after Montgomery completed a 3-point shot. Keeping their stamina, a jumper by Montgomery with 56 seconds left in the second quarter gave CWRU a 7-point lead heading into the second half of the game. WashU was quick to trim down this lead and with 3:44 left in the third quarter they were able to take the lead. The Bears’ impressive shooting accuracy made it hard for the Spartans to come back and with 1:31 left, a layup by the opposing team had the final score of 65-82.

Both UChicago and WashU will be traveling to Cleveland to face the Spartans in Horsburgh Gymnasium Friday, Feb. 2 at 5:30 p.m. and Sunday, Feb. 4 at 2:00 p.m., respectively. We hope to see this team turn their losing streak around and deliver a win in the upcoming home games.