The No. 7 women’s basketball team improved to 14-2 overall and 4-1 in University Athletic Association (UAA) play with a pair of home wins last weekend.
The Bears erased a 10-point second-half deficit and senior Brianne Monahan scored on a put-back at the buzzer to give WUSTl a 51-49 win over New York University Jan. 22. Trailing 35-25 with 14 minutes left in the game, the WUSTL defense turned up the intensity, forcing four NYU turnovers while the Bears went on a 10-2 run to cut the lead to two points with less than 10 minutes remaining.
A couple big three-pointers by freshmen Maddy Scheppers and Alexandra Keane helped the Bears take a 47-45 lead with 3:10 on the clock. With about a minute left in regulation, NYU made 2-of-4 free throw attempts to tie the score at 49-49. A three-pointer by Monahan with three seconds left was no good, but Scheppers grabbed the rebound under the basket and put it back up. When Scheppers’ shot didn’t fall, Monahan was there to get the rebound and lay it in as time expired to give the Bears the win.
On Jan. 20, freshman Melissa Gilkey notched the first double-double of her career with 11 points and a career-high 13 rebounds to lead the Bears to a 69-42 win over Brandeis University.
The Bears return to action with two more home games next weekend, taking on No. 5 University of Rochester at 6 p.m. Friday, Jan. 27, before facing Emory University at 2 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 29.
Men’s basketball splits pair of UAA games
The men’s basketball team split a pair of conference home games last weekend at the WU Field House.
The Bears shot a season-high 56.4 percent and dished out 25 assists in an 80-54 win over Brandeis University Jan. 20. Senior Dylan Richter scored 17 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the field, and hit 3-of-4 from three-point range in the win. Richter has scored in double figures in 12 of 15 games this season and eclipsed 900 points for his career, and is 92 shy of 1,000 for his career. Sophomore Alan Aboona added a career-high 16 points and five assists and hit 6-of-6 from the foul line.
WUSTL closed out the week with an 89-75 loss to No. 23 ranked New York University Jan. 22. NYU shot a season-high 66 percent and had 26 assists in the win. Richter led the Bears with 18 points on 7-of-23 shooting, while sophomore Chris Klimek added 10 points.
The Bears (12-4, 4-1 UAA) close out their four-game homestand against the University of Rochester at 8 p.m. Friday, Jan. 27, and No. 8 ranked Emory at noon Sunday, Jan. 29.
Track and Field teams sweep Illinois Wesleyan Triangular
The men’s and women’s track and field teams combined to win 15 events on their way to sweeping the Illinois Wesleyan Triangular team titles Jan. 21.
The WUSTL women scored 119 points to edge Illinois Wesleyan who finished with 117. University of Chicago was third with 77 points. On the men’s side, the Bears scored 138 points to win the triangular over Illinois Wesleyan (119) and Chicago (68).
Senior Erica Jackey led the womensby setting a school-record in the 800 meters with a time of 2:14.14 to finish second in the event. Jackey also added a first-place finish in the mile. The WUSTL men were led by freshman Nicholas Alaniva, who won the pole vault with a season-best height of 4.42 meters. Alaniva added a fourth-place finish in the long jump and a fifth-place finish in the 55 meters as well.
Other event winners for the Bears included Jasmine Williams (women’s high jump), Justin Pieper (men’s high jump), Anna Etherington (women’s pole vault), Ahkianne Wanliss (women’s 55), Molly Wawrzyniak (women’s 3,000), Tom Arnold (men’s shot put), Ryan Doll (men’s 55), Tyler Jackson (men’s 55 hurdles), Arthur Townsend (men’s 400), Austin Vanbastalaer (men’s mile), Kevin Sparks (men’s 3,000), and Andrew Catanese (men’s 5,000).
Both teams return to action Saturday, Jan. 28, at the Engineer Invitational at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute, Ind.
Swimming and diving splits a pair of dual meets
The swimming and diving teams split a pair of duals Jan. 21 and 22, sweeping Principia College before falling to Division I Southern Illinois University.
The women beat Principia 139-38, but fell to SIU 79-145. The men’s team earned a 130-27 win at Principia before dropping a 73-144 loss at SIU.
In the dual against Southern Illinois, the Bears earned 15 second-place finishes and 18 third-place finishes. Senior Chris Valach led the men’s team with three second-place finishes. Valach was the runner-up in the 200-yard backstroke and the 1,000 freestyle, while also swimming on the runner-up 400 freestyle relay team.
The women were paced by freshman Sara Taege, who was second in the 200 butterfly and the 200 freestyle, while racing on the Bears’ second-place 400 freestyle relay team as well.
Both teams will prepare for the University Athletic Assocation Championships Wednesday, Feb. 15 through Saturday, Feb. 18 in Cleveland.
Ryan promoted to defensive coordinator for football team
Head football coach Larry Kindbom announced that special teams coordinator Jim Ryan has been promoted to defensive coordinator.
Ryan replaces Brian Allen, who will remain on staff as a defensive coach. Ryan just completed his fourth season on the Danforth Campus, and second as special teams coordinator. He has also served as linebacker coach and recruiting coordinator.
Basketball teams bringing cancer awareness to court
Both the men’s and women’s basketball teams are doing their part to bring cancer awareness to the court in January and February.
On Friday, Jan. 27, the men’s team will participate in the annual Coaches vs. Cancer week. That will include conducting a marrow registry drive, where students, faculty and staff can sign up to become member of the National Bone Marrow Registry.
No monetary donation is required – the event is designed to get more young, healthy individuals added to the registry to help those in need of a donation to find a match.
Educational information about the donation process will also be provided.
Basketball teams host Youth Day Sunday, Jan. 29
The men’s and women’s basketball teams will host Youth Day Sunday, January 29.
Admission to the doubleheader vs. Emory University is FREE to all youth campers, families, and friends. There will be special youth oriented events throughout the games including an exclusive drawing for a camp scholarship for both a girl and a boy at half-times of the games.
The men’s game starts at Noon, with the women’s game to follow at 2 p.m.