Women’s basketball (9-10, 1-4 NESCAC) fell to the Middlebury Panthers (12-6, 4-1 NESCAC) in last Saturday’s matchup, suffering a 43-84 loss. The Panthers hit their stride in the second quarter, opening up what had been a close game and finding themselves en route to a comfortable victory.
The loss follows a rocky streak in conference play for the Ephs, going 2-2 in their four most recent matchups against NESCAC competitors. “[The] game was obviously a tough one,” forward Arianna Gerig ’25 said in an interview with the Record. “It was definitely disappointing, especially with the progress we’ve made over the season.”
“Middlebury outplayed us in every category,” added guard Cortland McBarron ’25.
After a hard-fought first quarter ended in a 15-15 score, Middlebury used momentum from a 23-4 margin in the second quarter to take a 38-19 lead, keying on several turnovers by the Ephs alongside consistent ball movement and shooting.
“The score was close, and instead of coming together as a team, we all went in our separate directions and fell apart,” forward Mairi Smith ’27 said.
Gameplay in the third quarter followed in kind. Middlebury extended its advantage through a 23-7 run, broadening the lead. The fourth quarter was more competitive — with the Panthers leading 23-17 — but the Ephs could not recover from the 35-point deficit and the Panthers took home a resounding win.
The Panthers showcased highly efficient shooting throughout the contest, finishing at 56 percent completion on 3-pointer attempts and 52 percent from the field.
The Ephs struggled from the field, shooting only 27 percent from the field and 18 percent on 3-pointers. Gerig led the team with 18 points, and Tatum Leuenberger ’27 tallied 16.
Throughout the season, the team’s young age has led to growing pains for the Ephs, who have frequently come just short of a win. This season, there are no seniors playing for the team. “We’re a young team,” Smith said. “That’s kind of been a challenge for us this season.” This season, the Ephs maintained single-digit margins in losses to Smith, Amherst, and Bowdoin — all nationally-ranked programs.
Despite the mid-season lull — the Ephs lost six of seven games from Dec. 6 to Jan. 12 — the team is optimistic, in part because of its younger members. “We have no seniors, so next year we should be even better than we are this year,” McBarron said. “I think we’re extremely talented, and it’ll just take some more time and experience.”
“As experience comes, people get more comfortable in their roles and they’ll be able to do more and more,” Gerig said. “It’s really exciting for the rest of this season and next season because I think I’ll be able to, as one of the older girls, see these younger girls flourish.”
Another cause for optimism has been the team’s recent play in a pair of NESCAC wins. The Ephs took down NESCAC foe Colby (9-9, 1-4 NESCAC) on Jan. 12, and followed up the win with a 60-52 triumph over Amherst (14-4, 2-3 NESCAC) on Jan. 16. The win against Amherst ended a ten-year streak of losses.
“I think that win has been a long time coming,” Gerig said. “It showed us all that we’re a great team, we can beat great teams — when we put it all together, we look really good.”
The Ephs will close their season out with five critical NESCAC conference games, starting at home against Tufts (10-6, 2-2 in NESCAC) on Friday and Bates (16-2, 4-0 NESCAC) on Saturday. The Ephs currently sit in tenth out of the eleven NESCAC teams in the standings, shy of the eighth place standing necessary to qualify for the NESCAC Tournament, where teams will vie for the conference bid to the NCAA Tournament.
According to McBarron, the team is up to the challenge. “Everyone’s really focused — especially these next three weeks, we need to give everything we can to win these next five games,” she said. “I think … those three games were definitely a turning point for us.”
“You want to hit stride at the end of the season,” Gerig added. “I think we just need to take the rest of the five games and see what we can do with them and work our hardest, and if we just leave it all out on the floor, I think we can do some exciting stuff in the last month.”
