Strong point guard play from Cornell and Columbia handed the women's basketball team (3-15, 1-3 Ivy) two more losses this past weekend. Brown looked evenly matched with both teams, but lacked consistency and was unsuccessful in pulling out a victory.
In the match-up with Cornell (7-9, 3-1 Ivy) the Bears came out of the gate strong, matching Cornell basket for basket in the beginning of the half, but the Big Red started to pull away from Brown at the 12-minute mark when they opened up a six-point lead.
Cornell would continue to attack on the offensive end, boosting its lead to as high as 13 with less than four minutes to play in the first half. Although the Bears fought back, the Big Red scored six points in the last minute of the stanza to head into the locker room with a 38-25 lead. Cornell shot 60 percent from the field in the first half, while Bruno shot just 31 percent.
Brown turned it around in the second half, outscoring Cornell 37-36 in the final 20 minutes of play. Courtney Lee '10 and Nataile Bonds '10 led the way for the Bears. Lee ended the game with her first career double-double, scoring 11 points and picking up 10 rebounds, while also recording three steals and four assists in 40 minutes of play. Bonds also sparked the Bears offense with 18 points and nine rebounds of her own.
"Coming into the game we knew how they played post defense, so we isolated Natalie down low, which allowed her to score, and once the inside scores, it opens up the outside shots," Lee said.
The duo combined for half of Brown's points in the second half, as the team shot 50 percent from the field and held Cornell to just 36 percent.
"Consistency from both Courtney and Natalie is something that the team depends on," said Head Coach Jean Burr. "They have faced the challenge and stepped up."
The Bears would come no closer than nine points to the Big Red, and their second half push was just a little too late as Brown fell by a final score of 74-62. Despite the relatively lopsided final score, the Bears had strong showings in other aspects of the game as Brown out-rebounded Cornell 34-32, while the teams finished with an even turnover margin, with 18 each.
"The biggest differences were the uncontested shots we gave up, especially behind the arc," Lee said. "They also got a lot more points from the free throw line than we did."
Cornell's Shanna Scarselletta scored a game-high 22 points, followed closely by teammate Lauren Benson's 20 points. Benson contributed solid point guard play with a 50 percent mark from behind the arc with a 2-for-4 effort and a solid 10-of-14 showing from the free-throw line.
"It was disappointing that the point guard and center came away with the best games, and we knew they were their best players. We needed to make other players step up on their team," Burr said.
Columbia 76, Brown 51
The next evening the Bears faced the same challenge from Columbia (9-9, 2-2 Ivy). Strong point guard and center play by the Lions would end up being the deciding factor in another hard fought game. Columbia's Sara Yee had a career-high 20 points, along with seven rebounds, to push Columbia past Brown, 76-51, on Saturday.
The first 10 minutes of the game were tight with neither team able build a substantial lead. Christina Johnson '10 helped keep the Bears close with strong outside shooting. It wasn't until the last five minutes of the half that the Lions would pull away from the Bears, going on a 12-4 run to open up a 31-21 lead.
In the final minute of the first half Sarah Delk '11 drained a three to pull the Bears to within seven points heading into halftime. In the first half the Bears shot 36 percent from the field, while Columbia managed to shoot slightly better at 42 percent.
"We could have been more aggressive against Columbia, but we did a good job breaking their press and we got good looks at the basket on offense," Burr said.
Bruno started the second half on fire, creating offensive opportunities and cutting the Lions' lead to just three. Sadiea Williams '11 and Lee sparked the Bears in the early going, but Columbia's Yee and Judie Lomax proved to be too much to handle as they took over the game. Lomax ended the game with 18 points and 15 rebounds, to compliment Yee's 20 points on the night.
The Lions extended their lead to 53-35 with nine minutes remaining to put the game out of reach for the Bears. Rebounds turned out to be costly for the Bears, as they were out-rebounded 41-28 by the Lions, whose rebound total included 13 offensive boards.
"We worked hard to force missed shots, but we just needed to grab the boards," Burr said. "It is a team effort to limit rebounds. We need to bring confidence and fight to that part of our game."
Johnson and Delk each finished the game with 11 points to lead the Bears. Bonds had another strong game finishing with 10 points and eight rebounds.
Following the two losses, the Bears have begun to prepare for this weekend, when they will take on Ivy rivals Harvard (10-7, 2-1 Ivy) and Dartmouth (8-9, 3-0 Ivy).
"This week the emphasis will be on defense and holding ourselves accountable for forcing a weak shot, a contested shot, but never an open shot and also limiting teams to one shot and done," Lee said.
