While most of Brown's students relaxed during the winter recess, the women's basketball team was working hard on the court. Back to Brown on Dec. 26, the Bears prepared for their games with their first contest only three days later on Dec. 29 against Lehigh in the Mountain Hawks' Christmas City Classic. At the tournament in Pennsylvania, Brown also played Stony Brook in the consolation game. Since then, the team has played three more games against notable opponents, including No.19 George Washington University, Big East foe Georgetown and the Bears' first Ivy League match against Yale.
Although the Bears struggled to achieve a winning record over the break, they focused their energy on defense and the upcoming Ivy League games. The Bears came out of the break 0-5, but they say they are not focusing on their losses, but rather the improvements they need to make.
"We're always disappointed when we lose, but we never get discouraged," wrote forward Natalie Bonds '10 in an e-mail. "We just come to practice ready to work. We feel that we have a really good chance of winning Ivies."
The Bears fell to Lehigh 68-38, in scoring by captain Annesley O'Neal '08 and guard Jaclyn Goldbarg '09 with 11 points each. Guard Christina Johnson '10 was close behind with ten points.
Even with three players scoring in double digits the Bears couldn't get ahead. The team came within 11 points with 8:30 remaining in the first half but the Mountain Hawks pulled away with 10:09 left in the game, scoring ten uncontested points.
In the Bears' second game of the tournament, they lost to Stony Brook 64-52. Although they didn't come out on top, Brown did improve in the areas they were focusing on.
"The team's goals were to improve in all the statistical categories. Our main focus however was on defense. We want to out-rebound teams and have good defensive rotation," O'Neal said.
From their game against Lehigh, the Bears improved their stats. Bruno improved from a minus-six rebounding margin against Lehigh to a plus-one against Stony Brook, pulling down a total of 40 against the Seawolves. Most of the difference came on the defensive end, where Bruno picked up an extra ten boards. The Bears' quality defense also kept the Seawolves to 27 percent shooting.
Guard Karly Grace '11 had a team and career-high of 12 points, while O'Neal added 11 and forward Ashley Alexander '10 had a double-double with ten points and ten rebounds.
After the tournament the team had a few days to rest and re-energize for their trip to Washington, D.C. to play Georgetown and No. 19 George Washington on Jan. 4 and Jan. 6, respectively.
Although the Bears were strong on the glass again, out-rebounding Georgetown 36-35 overall and 25-20 defensively, they couldn't get good shots off against the Hoya defense, shooting just 34.1 percent (15-44).
Despite an early lead of 13-11 and a close game at the half, where the Bears only trailed 25-24, Brown's many turnovers and poor shooting sabotaged any chances of pulling ahead. The Hoyas overcame a team-leading 12 points and six rebounds from Alexander to bury the Bears 65-46.
Brown's recently improving defense couldn't match up to No. 19 George Washington two days later and they fell 98-22 at the Smith Center in Washington, D.C.
The Colonials stormed out to an early 23-0 lead with the Bears' first basket finally coming at 11:42 mark on a lay-up by Alexander. George Washington continued to rack up points in the second half with 67 percent shooting compared to Brown's 23 percent, and with 5:55 left in the game led 85-19.
Leading the Bears scoring was O'Neal with seven, followed by guards Shae Fitzpatrick '10 and Sadiea Williams '11 with four each. Fitzpatrick also had a team high of four rebounds.
Despite the team's recent losses, it had ample time to regroup and was prepared to play in its first Ivy League game of the season against Yale at home on Jan. 19.
"Our main goal during the winter session was to focus and prepare for the beginning of our Ivy League games. Our overall team goal this year is to win the Ivy League Championship," Betsy Jacobson '11 said. "We came back from break Dec. 26 and have been working extremely hard to reach all our goals."
It was finally the Bears' chance to shine and they came into the game strong and ready to play. Even with a sound first half, and a solid game overall, out-rebounding and out-shooting the Bulldogs, Brown couldn't hold an early lead and lost to Yale, 52-45.
Brown took the lead early, 11-9, with 7:52 left in the half. It continued to dominate and by halftime was up 27-19.
The Bears' lead was short-lived, however, and with "a loss of concentration," as Jacobson put it, the Bulldogs crept up from behind, getting within six points with ten minutes to play in the game. With under three minutes left, Yale took the lead for good 43-40.
The Bears kept it close, but with decisive free-throws from Yale's Melissa Colborne and Lindsey Williams, the Bulldogs assured their win 52-45.
Williams led Bruno in scoring with 11, while Alexander almost had another double-double with nine points and ten boards.
Still ready to prove themselves in the Ivy League the Bears with get another chance at Yale this weekend, Jan. 26 in New Haven, Conn.
