Win streak hits No. 12

PETE PAGUAGA — Sports Editor

Before the beginning of the women’s basketball season, the Northeast-10 preseason polls came out and had the Southern women’s team ranked 13 out of 16 teams. As the midway point of the season passes they are currently sitting tied for second place, one game behind Bentley for the top spot.

“It was expected; it wasn’t a surprise,” said head coach Meghan Brown.

The Owls are off to a great season after starting 2-3 with losses to St. Thomas Aquinas, Assumption and Pace. The Owls have since won 12 straight games, which catapulted them to the top of the conference.

“It’s nice and fun but not what we are looking for,” said Brown. “We want to get better with the process. It’s a marathon not a sprint.”

The streak started with an overtime win over American International College, and since then the Owls have dominated opponents with their uncanny ability to pull away late in the second half.

An example of this was against UMass- Lowell, when the Owls went on a 21-1 run in the second half to overtake a 10-point deficit and beat the Riverhawks by nine.

Their best win this season came in dominating fashion, when they beat Dominican College on Dec. 30, 70-32. The Owls put up 44 points in the first half and led 44-18 at half.

One of the reasons for the recent success for the Owls after finishing 11-16 last season, 13-15 in 2009-’10 and 7-20 in 2008-’09, is the maturity of the three seniors Alex Fiola, Sylvonya Moore and Lauren Allen and the return of four other players from last year’s team.

“We try to set a good example on and off the court,” said senior captain Fiola. “This has been the best team chemistry in four years.”

“We tend to be vocal, help them (freshmen) if they don’t understand,” said Moore. “We bring them into our family.

“We have seven returning players with a commitment they made to each other,” said Brown.

Last season ended leaving a bad taste in the Owls mouth after losing to Assumption on the final day of the season, missing out on a chance in the NE-10 conference championship.

“We knew the feeling we ended with,” said Fiola, talking about how last season ended.

“We worked hard in the off-season,” said Moore. “We’re hungry, we’re working together as a team.”

Even though the Owls have had this long winning streak, they know that this is just the beginning.

“We know it’s going to get tougher,” said Fiola. “Nothing is easy. We are giving it all we’ve got.”

“I will do whatever it takes to win,” said Moore. “We could go very far [and] get to the tourney in March.”