The women's basketball team (3-12) went 2-4 over the winter recess, dropping their first four games, but finishing strong with back-to-back wins.
The Bears started the break in Miami for the University of Miami Holiday Tournament. Bruno's first game of the tournament was against host Miami Hurricanes on Dec. 29.
The Hurricanes proved to be a formidable opponent, as their offensive production overpowered the Bears. Miami shot 37 percent from the field in the first half and improved to 45 percent in the second half, while the Bears shot just 28 percent in the first half and 24 percent in the second half. The poor shooting, combined with 31 turnovers, hurt the Bears as they dropped the game 81-41.
Since the loss to Miami, Brown has been making more of a conscious effort to limit turnovers.
"We've really cut down on them and value possessions more," said Captain and former Herald Sports Editor Amy Ehrhart '09.
Christina Johnson '10 led the Bears with 10 points in the loss, while Sadiea Williams '11 chipped in nine points.
The Bears took on Duquesne in the consolation game the next day. The Dukes broke loose with an 8-0 run that put the Bears in a 14-6 hole, and started a six-and-a-half minute drought for the Bears offense. The Dukes got hot the last eight minutes of the half to extend their lead to 47-19 at the half. The second half proved to be more of the same, as the Dukes continued their hot shooting. Again, ball control was a problem for the Bears, who committed 24 turnovers en route to an 84-54 loss.
The Bears would head back home to take on Army on Jan. 4. Again, Bruno fell behind early in the game. The Black Knights' Alex McGuire '09 started the game with a hot hand, putting in 16 first-half points to put the Bears behind 35-14 at the half. In the second half the Bears tried to bounce back, led by Ehrhart and Aileen Daniels '12, who combined for 15 of Brown's 30 points in the second half,which ended with Army on top by a score of 64-44. The game marked the seventh consecutive loss for Bruno, and dropped the Bears' record to 1-11.
"We knew our preseason schedule heading into Ivies was going to be one of the hardest, playing teams like Miami, Auburn and Army, but we learned a lot from those games and now we're peaking at the perfect time so we'll hopefully be seeing them again come March," Ehrhart said.
In their second game of the new year, the Bears traveled to Washington to play American on Jan. 6. Led by 10 first-half points by Betsy Jacobson '11, the Bears were within four, trailing 31-27, heading into the second half. But costly turnovers down the stretch put the game out of reach for Bruno, who turned the ball over 14 times in the game, which ended in a 60-43 loss for the Bears.
An exciting finish at the Pizzitola Sports Center on Jan. 10 gave the Bears their first win of 2009, as Courtney Lee '10 drained two free throws with less than five seconds left to secure the victory 64-62 against Bryant University. The Bears knew it would take a complete game to beat Bryant and it took until the closing second to finish it off.
"We played 30 of 40 minutes against American and knew that without that second half letdown we would have won, so against Bryant we came out just as hard and played a complete game," Ehrhart said.
The Bears looked to build on their win over Bryant as they headed to New Haven, Conn. to take on Yale in their first Ivy League contest of the season. Again the game came down to the final seconds and clutch free throws.
This time it was Ehrhart who closed out the win for Brown, hitting two free throws with 2.8 seconds left in regulation. Throughout the season, the team has stressed the importance of free-throw shooting, which played a vital role in Brown's consecutive wins.
"We set a team goal of 80 percent, and when we meet that we'll win a lot of our games," Ehrhart said.
Although Yale shot 52 percent in the second half and the Bears' field goal percentage dropped to just 29 percent, Brown was able to hold on to their lead and win their second consecutive game, again by a score of 64-62.
Brown was led by Grace and Lee, who each contributed 12 points. The Bears will look to continue their hot streak as they tip off in a rematch against Yale this Friday at 7 p.m. at the Pizzitola Sports Center.
