An old sports adage says "it's very hard to beat a team three times in one season." How hard? Go ask the New England Patriots. The Otterbein women's basketball team also found out how exactly hard it is.
In the Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) tournament action last night the fourth seed Cardinals fell to archrival Capital University 72-66 at the Rike Center.
The Cardinals were coming off a huge win on Saturday against Capital. Senior Sara Fee hit the "shot heard round the Rike"- a half court shot that gave the Cardinals the win 63-62. The Cardinals knew that the buzzer-beater loss would not make Capital happy coming into the game Tuesday.
"They were pissed that we won the last game," said junior Laura Roth. "We knew that they were going to come here and take it to us."
However, Mother Nature decided to get in on the action. The Cardinals were riding a wave of momentum into Tuesday night's contest when the snow storm set basketball action on ice. The game was postponed until Wednesday and the one-day layoff had a negative effect on the Cardinal performance.
"We were really pumped for Tuesday," said Roth. "We had to get re-pumped for today and it was really difficult."
Sixteen-year head coach Connie Richardson, an unbeliever in the power of the sports adage, was disappointed with the team's performance. "I don't think we played up to our potential at all," she said.
With the loss to Capital, the Cardinal's season is over. The team finished 14-12 overall and 10-8 in the OAC.
The production that seniors Sara Fee and Ana Gamble bring to the team is well-known. The two players scored 11.6 and 12.5 points per game respectively.
Richardson highlighted other senior contributions that didn't make the box score."[Katie Homan] is my hero; no one works harder than Katie Homan. Chelsea [Callif] has always been our emotional leader," she said.
Roth said the seniors will be missed but it is time to think about next year.
"It is a big disappointment [to see them go]," said Roth. "But we can't let it affect next year...Coach is letting us have until spring break off and then we're going right back at it," she said. t&c;
