The women’s basketball team made an excellent recovery after losing to NESCAC foe Bowdoin College on Feb. 2. This past weekend, the Jeffs blew past Connecticut College and Wesleyan University in back-to-back home games at LeFrak gymnasium.
“This week in practice we worked especially on our help defense and our defensive intensity, which was largely lacking in the game against Bowdoin,” said senior tri-captain Stefanie Reiff.
Though Amherst looked shaky in the first minutes of its match-up against the Camels, the team regained composure, focused on defense and made some heady offensive plays to take a 35-22 lead at the half. The Camels tried to stay in the game, but the Jeffs—aided by 10 second half points from Reiff—only increased their lead.
Reiff had a great game, racking up 12 points and scoring the 1,000th point of her Amherst career, a feat only accomplished by eight other Amherst women basketball players. Junior guard Stacy Brossy added 14 points, and first-year center Sarah Leyman grabbed nine rebounds.
Amherst started off its senior night on a high note, scoring the first six points of the game. Wesleyan quickly responded with some ferocious defense, limiting the Amherst scorers.
The Jeffs were finally able to gain a significant advantage and led by 12 at halftime. The second stanza played out much the same as the first, and Amherst took the victory by a score of 70-53.
The three senior tri-captains, Reiff, Shaina Pollack and Anne-Claire Roesch, combined for 38 points and 12 rebounds, proving their leadership and skill on both offense and defense.
“In both games we were able to play two halves of strong defense and get our offense started from the energy we created on D,” said Reiff.
The Jeffs only have one more game before they begin conference Tournament play. “For the NESCAC tournament we will continue to work hard in practice and to push each other,” said Reiff. “That is one thing this team is great at doing; we always compete when we practice and push each other to work our hardest. For the future we’re really focusing on defense. Our philosophy is that even if the offense isn’t working very well, you can save the game with strong team defense.”
MEET THE FIRST-YEAR
Name: Sarah Leyman
Year: 2011
Position: Center
Hometown: Cincinnati, Ohio.
Stats: 8.8 points per game, 6.2 rebounds per game, 10 blocks on the season.
Q: What is your favorite basketball memory?
A: Throwing a full court pass to Sam Swensen, who hit a buzzer-beater three to win the game vs. Endicott and a half court pass again to Sam to put in a layup to beat Tufts before the buzzer.
Q: Do you have a major?
A: I want to major in biology.
Q: Do you have a favorite team?
A: My favorite basketball team is Duke.
Q: Do you play another sport?
A: I played soccer and softball in high school. I chose basketball [in college] because I had put the most time into it, also playing AAU in the spring, and loved it the most.
Q: Why did you choose Amherst?
A: I chose Amherst because of the opportunity to get a great education and participate in numerous extracurricular activities, especially basketball. The people I met while on visits here really helped my decision: everyone I met loved it here.
Q: What is your favorite part about being on the team?
A: How well we all get along. I love spending time with the team.