Center Lauren Orlando ‘09 led the Judges with 27 points in Tuesday night’s 86-62 win over Emmanuel College, the team that knocked the Judges out of last year’s NCAA Tournament in the second round.
“They’re a completely different team than last year, [but] they bring the same philosophy as they did, so we knew we were going to get pressured a lot, we knew that we just had to stay composed, and if we did everything fundamentally correct we’d come out with the win,” co-captain and guard Jamie Capra ‘08 said. “Their philosophy is basically the same–they just pressed you the whole game, and they had subs coming in and out of the game all the time, and fresh legs. We didn’t turn the ball over as much as we did last year, and it was just an all-around great team effort.”
Orlando also contributed defensively, totaling 9 rebounds and 4 blocks.
“[Orlando] had a great game,” Capra said. “She had a tough game against Tufts, but there’s no better way to come back than how she played. It wasn’t even just her scoring– she rebounded really well, and she was blocking shots. She just looked like such a powerhouse. But that’s just an idication of what we can bring to the table if it does come down to it. We have posts who can work the ball inside, and we have guards who can play on the outside.”
Capra, who struggled offensively, particularly from the outside, prior to Tuesday’s win, posted her first double-double of the season, collecting 15 points and 14 rebounds.
“I had a rough couple first games,” Capra said. “My shot still wasn’t falling the way I’d like it to–my outside shot–but I can’t just rely on that. But especially the second half, I focused on finding other ways to help out offensively, and if that was getting offensive rebounds and just planting myself under the basket, I think I was able to do that against Emmanuel. They didn’t necessarily box-out very well.”
Capra added that she said she is struggling with tendinitis in her left foot. She said cites the tendinitis as an ongoing issue throughout her career, but admits that the problem seems to have worsened and has led to additional ankle and leg problems.
Nevertheless, she still stressed the importance of, as a shooter, coming out of a slump when you find yourself in one.
“It’s happened my whole career, so hopefully I can get it out of the way in the beginning and by the end of the year, I’ll be back to normal again,” she said.
The women are now 3-2 with the win. Prior to the season, they were ranked 14th in Division III by D3hoops.com, but have since fallen out of the Top 25 after a 2-2 start.
The Judges are looking to put together their first win-streak when they travel to Babson College on Saturday at 3 p.m.
“Cetainly if we play like we did against Emmanuel, we’ll be very successful,” Capra said. “If we go into Chrsitmas break [with] 3 or 4 more wins, we’ll be in good shape. There’s nothing to panic about yet, it’s still really early in the year.”
Babson, with a 1-3 record (not including their game against Bridgewater State tonight), watched the Judges lose to Tufts University on Sunday.
“After seeing how poorly we played against Tufts, they’re probably pretty [confident] right now that they can pull an upset against us, so we just have to be prepared because they’re going to come out with a chip on their shoulder and really believing that they can beat us,” Capra said.
