Tough loss marks end of women's basketball

Going out on top is every athlete's dream, from the NBA to the Women's Football League. And for the five Norwich seniors on the women's basketball team, this was their final test – to go out on top and have something no one can ever take from them.

The Norwich women's basketball team had anticipated playing against Emmanuel College from the start of its 2009-10season.

The lady Cadets suffered a terrible loss in the Greater Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC), but gained hope for a new season after being invited to the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) tournament.

"Going into the conference championship against Emmanuel, we knew it was going to be a tough one," said Christine Daniels, 21, a junior criminal justice major from Concord, N.H,

A tough one indeed. Norwich hung tough for most of the first half trailing 27-21 with under seven minutes in the first half. Senior Jessica Jaggers hit a jumper and Natalie Marchese scored on a fast break layup to bring the Cadets to a score of 36-28 at the half.

"I was proud of our girls; they played their hearts out.  The game was pretty even percentage wise, but the difference was they held one of our leading scorers to only seven points," said Brianna Gauthier, the Norwich women's basketball assistant coach.

"Playing against Emmanuel is very intense. Their defense is always in your face, full court, all game. It is very frustrating as a guard because it wears you out way faster than half court defense," said Natalie Marchese, 21, a senior physical education major from Rutland, Vt.

For the rest of the game Norwich would not come any closer than eight points before Emmanuel College made a 12-2 run to its biggest lead at 72-54.

"It felt like we couldn't hit anything out there. We were getting good shots but nothing would fall, Emmanuel played a great game," said Jessica Jaggars, 22, a senior physical education from Vergennes, Vt.

"Sometimes there are going to be games like that. As a team we have to able to find other ways to score. If our shots are falling, we have to take our toughness to another level and play smarter and more physical," Gauthier said.

Emmanuel College scored 27 points off of 28 turnovers by the Cadets and also scored 14 fast break points to finish the game with a 75-61 win.

"We gave everything we had out there and that's all you can ask for.  Emmanuel played a tough game and they won but this is what college basketball is all about – you win some and lose some," said Allyson Daniels, 22, a senior biology major from Concord, N.H.

"I feel bad we weren't able to pull this one out for our seniors. They worked so hard all season and it's sad to see their college career end like this," said Tara Stevenson, 20, a sophomore biology major from Watertown, Conn.

The lady Cadets suffered a tough loss but learned 24 hours later that they still qualified and were invited to the ECAC tournament.  The team was scheduled to play Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) March 3.

"Even though it's not the NCAA tournament, the ECAC's give us another opportunity to be together and once again go out and prove to people just how good we really are," said Laurel McWilliams, 22,  a senior international relations major from Swanton, Vt.

The Cadets fought a tough battle in their final game of the season, losing to WPI 70-54. Allyson Daniels led the team with a game high of 21 points and Jessica Jaggars chipped in with 11 double-doubles (14 points and 16 rebounds).

"We just never recovered from the loss against Emmanuel," Gauthier said.

"Even though we lost in the conference tournament and the ECAC's, I'm happy how my career ended.  I couldn't have asked for better teammates to share my college experience with," Allyson said.   

"Every game we gave it our all, played as hard as we could, and that's all anyone could ask for. We lost but I wouldn't trade this season for the world," Marchese said.  "Now it's time to focus on school and get ready for the real world."