Big Red fail to trim early deficit, fall to Brown
February 5, 2011 —It was a tale of two halves for the Big Red women’s basketball team, unable to overcome a poor first half in a 66-53 loss to the Brown Bears Saturday night at Newman Arena.
The Bears (5-15, 1-5 Ivy League) snapped an eight-game losing streak, holding the Big Red (5-14, 2-3) to 17 points on 29 percent shooting in the first half.
According to Big Red head coach Dayna Smith, the Big Red needed to start the game strong in order to put them in a position to beat the Bears.
“That was part of our game plan,” Smith said. “That we needed to jump on (Brown) in the first four minutes. We really wanted to come out aggressive, but we couldn’t hit shots, couldn’t press…that really hurt us.”
Trailing 33-17 at the half, the Big Red trailed by as many as 22 points in the second half, allowing the Bears to get their first win since a Dec. 30 victory at Monmouth.
Big Red guard Stephanie Long hit a three to cut the Bears lead to 54-41 with 3:45 remaining in the second half, and the Big Red trimmed the lead to as little as 11 points, but could not spark a comeback.
Smith believes the Big Red could have easily beaten a struggling Bears squad, but failed to execute on both ends of the floor.
“We felt like we matched up well against Brown, where we could compete, (but) we didn’t,” she said.
Forward Claire Fitzpatrick led the Big Red with 23 points, connecting on eight of 14 shots, but no other Big Red player scored in double figures.
According to Smith, it comes down to receiving more production from other Big Red players, considering Fitzpatrick scored over 40 percent of the Big Red’s points.
“Some people have to step up (and) contribute,” she said. “That’s what’s needed and that’s what we need to focus on this next week.”
The Big Red hope to snap a three-game slide when they travel to Philadelphia to take on Penn next Friday, Feb. 11 at 7 p.m.
For Smith, none of the disappointing and tough losses should be taken for granted.
“We can sit and say we had a moral victory in the second half, but that’s beyond us,” she said. “We’re better than that.”