Freshman forward Courtney Schiffauer takes a shot during the Green and White Game at Breslin Center Sunday afternoon.
The women’s basketball team looked strong Sunday as it battled the scout team in the annual Green and White Game.
For the second straight year, head coach Suzy Merchant played her team against the scout team to save some energy and try a few new looks.
“We did it last year, mostly because we were injured and we didn’t have enough people to play Green and White,” Merchant said. “It allows kids to play when they’re not so tired. You can sub and you can play different combinations and you can do different things. I think that does help.”
The team played against each other for the first eight minutes of the game, then joined together to play against the scout team for the remaining 32 minutes.
In the head-to-head portion, the Green team jumped out to an early 5-0 lead, but play by junior center Allyssa DeHaan helped the White team mount a comeback. However, the Green team was able to hold off the surge and win the game 7-5.
When the team joined together for the rest of the first half, it looked solid, winning the first half against the scout team, but after the scoreboard was cleared for the second half, the play on the court wasn’t as smooth. The team saw its early lead dwindle in the closing minutes as tired legs turned into turnovers, allowing the scout team to win the second half.
Merchant said she was encouraged by the play on the court, though there are still things to work on.
“It was probably 30 minutes of good and 10 of really bad,” she said. “That’s typical of Green and White games. Sometimes you look all right, play together, other times you look pretty sloppy.”
The sloppy play should clean up as the team gets in game condition, DeHaan said. Many of the turnovers could be attributed to team fatigue.
“We tend to fumble the ball around and just not play smart when we get fatigued, so that’s the biggest thing we’re working on right now,” DeHaan said. “I think we can be a dominating running team and we just need to work on taking care of the ball and not turning it over as much.”
Junior forward Aisha Jefferson, who injured her knee early last season, played well in her first game action in more than a year.
“I’m just excited to be back on the floor,” Jefferson said. “I was just playing with a lot of excitement and enthusiasm. It’s just great to be back with the team.”
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