By Tucker Paquette
@tpaquette17
Springfield women’s basketball dropped its season opener to Western New England on Friday evening by a final score of 70-63.
The Pride and the Golden Bears went back and forth for much of the game. Each team navigated lulls in scoring to hang tight: A combination of toughness and defense played a key role in sparking both teams’ successes.
Springfield and Western New England were also aggressive in diving for loose balls throughout the game. Each team generated their fair share of turnovers off of deflections, blocks and steals.
Both teams shot the ball well in the first half, which led to a faster-moving pace, especially in the latter stages of the second quarter. The Pride had a seven point lead at halftime thanks to their effective offense and ability to limit the Golden Bears on the other end.
As the second half progressed, the Golden Bears shifted their offensive focus toward working out of the paint, and they found positive results. Western New England attempted 22 free throws in the second half, making 15 of them. For context, they only shot nine free throws in the first half.
While some of these were earned by getting the ball into the post and drawing contact, the Golden Bears also got to the line more often due to an uptick in touch fouls by the Pride.
Springfield was down by two with 1:24 remaining in the game, but from that point on the Pride committed four fouls, two of which were committed off of lost rebound opportunities.
Head coach Naomi Graves believes the Pride’s decision making down the stretch wasn’t ideal.
“I think we didn’t play the last five minutes of the game [the] smartest [way],” Graves said. “We just didn’t make the right decisions at the right time.”
Specifically, Graves lamented the fouls that allowed the Golden Bears to go to the charity stripe line and pad their lead.
“Defensively, we had too many fouls,” Graves said. “We did too many hand checks, too many high touches.”
The gap in shooting efficiency between the teams also was a main reason in the crunch time minutes playing out how they did. Western New England shot 5-8 (62.5%) from the field in the fourth quarter, while Springfield shot 5-17 (29.4%) during the same stretch.
However, the Pride’s struggles in the final quarter were preceded by a first half in which the team shot 13-31 from the field – good for a 41.9% mark.
Graves also thinks this inconsistency is to be expected in the first game of the season.
“There were flashes of greatness, just like every new first game, and there were moments where we couldn’t find any offense,” Graves said.
A positive for the Pride on Friday was point guard Kassidy Carrano. In the sophomore’s first career start, she led the team in scoring with 18 points, displaying tight ball-handling skills, nifty passes and a calm control of the team’s offense.
Graves believes Carrano answered the call and made a significant impact for the Pride.
“I think the bright spot of the game was Kassidy,” Graves said. “She stepped up big and played her heart out. I thought she was the star of the game.”
Despite the loss, Graves saw encouraging signs from her team. Going forward, she believes they’ll be able to use the game as a catalyst for improvement.
“I think it’s going to be a good game to learn [from], I think we’re going to get better from this loss,” Graves said.
The Pride will be back in action on Wednesday, Nov. 13 at 7 p.m., where they travel to face Endicott in Beverly, Mass.
(Photo courtesy of Springfield College Athletics)