Women's Basketball vs. RPI (W 80-57)

The Engineers of Rensselaer Polytechnical Institute from New York finished a three game stretch in southern California against our Lady Bulldogs tonight in Currier Gym. With three players over 6 feet in height, our five starters and five reserves still managed 48 points in the paint en route to a 80-57 victory. We had four players in double digits; Allison led the way with 18 followed by 16 from Mariah, 14 from Courtney, and 10 from Brittany. Mariah missed a double double by one board. Z played another stellar defensive game and notched another two blocks. Christina had 8 assists, many coming off of fast break points. Next week we have another double header. Our ladies play at 5 pm and the men follow at 7 pm; both games against Cal Lu in the SCIAC opener. This begins the part of the season where we need tons of student support as our team strives to repeat as SCIAC Champions in 2011. Go Dawgs!

Men's Basketball vs. Whitman (L 88-65)

Any other five game skid might be of concern, but the games we've played the last few weeks have all been against tough opponents. Tonight was no different, although we were playing pretty even after a shaky start and a flurry of threes toward the end of the first half. Matt and Tristan paced our squad against the Missionaries of Whitman. We actually shot the ball fairly well, it's just that we took 26 fewer shots in the game than they did. That was in part to the 27 turn overs from the press and the 38 points off turn overs for them. We settle that down at the start of next year and we're in every game from this point out. Our record starts anew in 2011. Our SCIAC opener is at home on January 8 at 7 pm.

Women's Basketball vs. Aurora (W 63-41)

Three wins in a row, including tonight's victory over the Spartans, has put our Lady Bulldogs back on track and over 500. However, looking at our bench tonight, I wasn't sure what team was the Spartans. Our bench was near empty, spartan-like. Shouldn't we have more than five on the bench? Can we get some of our players back, please? Now that isn't to say those backing up our starting five aren't good. They are. It would just be nice to have a few more as we head into SCIAC play next week. But just in case, I brought Talulah along. She's ready to suit up should the coach need another perimeter player. But he didn't because we dominated the paint. Mariah and Courtney led out thin squad from a close game in the first half to a comfortable lead in the second. Mariah had a double double; 19 points and 13 boards. Courtney did too, if you count the number of times she got fouled or hit the floor; 17 points and who knows how many bruises. Overall our shooting wasn't stellar (35 percent), but our defense held them to 22 percent from the field and we out rebounded them by 20. Mackenzie had six of the team's ten blocks. Christina played a frenzied and unflappable point. We'll only get better as we get healthier. Our ladies play the second game of a double header tomorrow night after them men. Come out and support two Bulldog teams without leaving your seat. The games start at 5 pm. Go Dawgs!

Men's Basketball vs. Marietta (L 101-67)

The undefeated Pioneers from Marietta blazed their way in and out of Currier Gym before our Bulldogs had a chance to steer them toward defeat. And we found out why they're undefeated. The Pioneers built a double digit lead early and when the second half rolled around, they shot a lights out 70 plus percent from the floor to put all hope of a come back to rest. This wasn't a case of poor defense (although we could stand to get a bit stingier) as much as it was a case of they couldn't miss. What hurt us the most was our 24 percent shooting from behind the arc and an unthinkable 32 percent from the charity stripe. Those two numbers are bound to go up tomorrow as both of our teams play another back to back double header. The men go first at 5 pm. It's our second to last tune up before we enter SCIAC play. Come on over and enjoy some hoops.