Women’s basketball loses two straight on the road

Julie+Mooney%2C+UAA+Player+of+the+Week%2C+drives+to+the+net+against+University+of+Rochester+Feb.+14.

Arianna Wage / Observer

Julie Mooney, UAA Player of the Week, drives to the net against University of Rochester Feb. 14.

Stephen Wong, Staff Reporter

The road provided no comfort for the Spartans’ women basketball team as they lost both of their games over the weekend to Washington University in St. Louis and the University of Chicago.

Playing away from the comfortable confines of Horsburgh Gym is never easy for the Spartans, but this road trip was made even more difficult as the squad had to travel to Missouri on Friday then Chicago for their next game on Sunday.

The Spartans’ first game was in St. Louis, Mo. while they faced off against the Washington University in St. Louis Bears. The two teams had faced off earlier in the season on Jan. 24, in Case’s most lopsided loss of the year, 71-37. Even though the Bears had slipped in national rankings from No. 2, when they previously met, to No. 7 in their latest matchup, they were no less of an opponent.

Washington University came out firing right out of the gate, quickly building an 11 point lead with 13:30 left in the first half. Senior Julie Mooney quickly responded for the Spartans with two three-pointers in a day that would see her score a career high 28 points. Unfortunately, the Bears were able to capitalize on some of the Spartans’ turnovers and headed to the locker room on a 23-13 run while holding the lead 47-31.

The second half held better fortunes for the Spartans as they outscored their opponent 36-33 with Mooney continuing her barrage of shots, and Brooke Orcutt helping out on the boards with 15 rebounds while dishing 10 assists. But the Spartans’ second half efforts could not compensate for their first half faults, as they ended up losing 80-67.

After the tough loss, the Spartans made the 300-mile trip to Chicago to play the University of Chicago Maroons on Sunday, looking to bounce back. In their earlier meeting on Jan. 26, Case lost in a close game 80-66.
Despite a hot start that saw the Maroons jump out to an early lead, the Spartans were able to fight back and stay in the game behind the scoring of Laura Mummey and Mooney, who scored 24 and 21 points, respectively.

Case was able to take the lead at the 7:45 mark, but eventually relinquished it en route to ending the half down 33-40.

The Spartans were able to decrease their deficit in the second half down to five points with 8:11 left to play after an Orcutt free throw. But from that point, the Spartans were no longer able to make up ground and fell to the Maroons 79-68.

Next weekend, the Spartans will once again hit the road against Carnegie Mellon in their final game of the season and will hope to end it on a high note.