The women’s basketball team starts their season determined to prove themselves to the league. The Judges finished a hair below .500 last year, closing out the regular season with a 12-13 record. In conference play, the Judges struggled to find their pace, posting a 5-9 record.

The squad shot out of the gate, blasting their first three opponents for huge victories. The team blew out Mount Holyoke College 81-38 in their season debut and looked solid going into the last month of the season, winning three straight conference games to start the month of February. Yet the team slowly slipped into sixth place to end their season, ceding their final four games of the season and their hopes of a national playoff berth. 

The club struggled to overcome  New York University in both of their conference games, which beat the Judges in the standings by two wins. The Judges fell in their final game of the season to NYU in a crushing 70-56 loss, a game that might have propelled them into a fifth-place tie. 

Ultimately, the Judges’ offense struggled during the season, with the team falling to the bottom of the conference in scoring. The squad shot a conference-low 35.4 percent from the field for a low total of 59.6 points per game. The team also sunk to the bottom of the pit with 11.1 assists per game during the 2015 regular season. 

Forward Maria Jackson ’17 led the club in all three major categories, with 9.9 points per game, 1.8 assists per game and 6.7 rebounds per game. Fellow seniors Sydney Sodine ’17 and Paris Hodges ’17 followed suit with 9.3 and 9.2 points per game, respectively. The two also followed closely in rebounds per game, boxing out for 5.6 and 4.9 rebounds per game, respectively. 

The team will need to rely on their returning core of seniors this season if they hope to regain their winning record. First-year recruits include center Amber Graves ’20 and guard Hannah Nicholson ’20, who hope to add much-needed value to the team’s roster. Graves may serve as a nice addition to a team that has had a drought in the center position for the past few seasons. 

Though the Judges lacked a center, the team was still able to slide into a respectable third place for overall rebounds per game in the conference, with 40.7 per game. 

This year’s team is nicely spread on both sides of the court, with six forwards and 10 guards to shake up their opponents’ strategy.  The squad, led by coach Carol Simon in her 30th season, will aim to bolster their offensive follies and jump the .500 hurdle. 

The team opened up their season with a solid 2-1 record, coming away with crushing wins in their first two and falling in their third matchup of the regular season against Westfield State University.