Broken records

The Women’s Basketball Team is now 20-3 this season and 12-2 in the HCAC as they enter their final 2 games of the regular season. Despite what happens tomorrow, they are in the HCAC tournament, vying for the tournament title in order to clinch an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Women’s Basketball Tournament.

This is without doubt the best Women’s Basketball Team in the history of the school. This season has been full of firsts. They have recorded 20 wins in a single season and haven’t even made it to post-season yet. The most wins recorded before this season was 13. They have garnered national attention when they received votes in 2 national polls and will earn their highest conference finish in a season no matter how it turns out.

Among the Rose women’s basketball team are two outstanding contributors to the success of the team. First, there is Suzy Carlson, who scored her 1,000th point early in the season and takes 3rd in the record books with 1,263* points and counting. She is also currently ranked 2nd nationally with her 92.0% free throw accuracy and is a two-time NCAA Division III Statistical National Champion for shooting accuracy. She also holds the school record for 306* assists.

Then there is the unparalleled ability of Rebekah Forsyth. She claims first place in the record books with an epic 1,736* career points helped by the fact that she broke her own single-game scoring record by putting up 38 points against Marian. But it doesn’t stop there. She also has the top spot in the rebounding column with 1,040*. While amazing, she in no way carries the weight of the team on her shoulders.

Although other members of the team may not be breaking records left and right, they all still make tremendous contributions to the team, helping the team get as far as it has. I only wish there was enough space to talk about all of them.

Despite the devastating loss to Transylvania University, the Women’s team still has a strong chance of winning the rest of the regular season and thereby claiming home-court advantage for the HCAC Conference tournament which takes place February 23 and 24, the Friday and Saturday after final exams. (Mark your calendars if you’re around!)

Their last two games of the regular season are must-wins if they want the HCAC title. The first one is tomorrow versus Defiance at 1 p.m. after which SGA will be tailgating. But coincidentally the last and most important game of the season is next Saturday, February 17 at 3 p.m. when the women will take on Manchester, the team currently in first place. After losing to them earlier in the season, they are looking for revenge and to tie Manchester for the regular season title. They have worked extremely hard to get to this point in the season and the best thing you could do as a member of this campus and this community would be to show up on the seventeenth and loudly support your Fightin’ Engineers.



*All statistics as of 2/7/07