Matt Gad – Sports Writer
Kate Lynch’s Southern Owls won three straight games before falling to Bentley University Jan. 29. This was the Owls’ first loss since Jan. 18, giving them a 9-12 record overall.
Despite Taylor McLaughlin’s 22 points in 40 minutes, the longest out of anyone in the building, Southern lost 70-67. Their conference record dropped to 5-9.
Southern only led for 13:09 in the game, being outscored in three of their four quarters Saturday. The score was tied 10 times and the lead changed hands on 16 different occasions. Bentley, the 20th best team in Division II, continued their strong mark in NE-10 play, improving to 13-1. They were led by Jen Gemma, 24 points, and Macchi Smith, 16.
“There wasn’t one play that beat us,” head coach Kate Lynch said, who was honored at halftime along with her 2007 national championship team. “It is always a combination of plays. We talked in the locker room after the game about giving up 14 offensive rebounds, and against a team that’s really strongly coached you can’t do that.”
“It’s not the fall at the end, it’s not a missed layup. In the end it is giving up the offensive rebounds and that really killed us. They scored on probably three-quarters of them.”
Taylor McLaughlin said: “It was a close game the whole time. A lot of momentum swings both ways, and I think the team did a good job focusing on the court and from the bench on what coach was saying.”
She called it a game of focus. Despite the loss, McLaughlin said the team is “definitely peaking.” She said they are a team continuing to get better, who know what to expect from other teams (at this point).”
Their season began with three straight losses to Queens College, the University of Bridgeport and Adelphi University. The team’s first win came Nov. 19 against the University of the District of Columbia in a neutral site game at Bridgeport’s Hubbell Gym.
“We played really hard for 40 minutes,” Lynch said. “Regardless of how the game was officiated, they still played really hard. It is tough to go into the locker room knowing they are that disappointed.”
However, Lynch still said the focus remains on finishing strong. “We’re fighting to make the playoffs and if we do that we know our record doesn’t matter at that point.”
In the end, Lynch and McLaughlin both noted they have “Adelphi at Adelphi” coming up: another conference test to really get back on a roll.
Following the Feb. 4 matchup with Adelphia in Garden City, N.Y, Southern will face-off with American International College, at home, Feb. 7 at 5:30 p.m. and the College of Saint Rose Feb. 11. Feb. 15 they play the University of New Haven Feb. 15 and Feb. 18 they play Le Moyne College in Syracuse, N.Y. Rounding out the regular season, the Owls will host Pace University Feb. 21 at 5:30 p.m.
Photo Credit: Palmer Piana – Photo Editor
I love southern team