Sports
By Ben Jenkins, Newswire Intern
Despite their record, Xavier women’s basketball has a promising season ahead of them with players standing out each game.
After a 2-0 start the Musketeers have dropped two straight to mid-major opponents. The season opened with a win over the University of New Haven Chargers. Junior guard Maryiah Noel led the Muskies finishing with 13 points and eight rebounds.
Game two saw Xavier squeak out a one point win over Purdue University Fort Wayne Mastodons. The Mastodons gave Xavier all they could handle but once again Noel played a great game. Noel finished with 22 points and 10 rebounds to help the Muskies get to 2-0.
The third game of the year saw the University of Dayton Flyers make the trip down I-75 to renew an old A-10 rivalry. It was back and forth all night long but in the end Dayton pulled away to defeat the Musketeers 71-66. Noel led Xavier in scoring for the third straight game with 22 points but it was not enough for the Musketeers to remain undefeated.
Women’s basketball has the potential to turn around their history of poor play this year.
Xavier played their fourth straight game in the Cintas Center when the Kent State Golden Flashes came to town. This marked Xavier’s second straight loss of the year. Kent State was just too much for the Musketeers to handle. Despite the loss, sophomore guard Meri Kanerva had a breakout game. She led the team in scoring with 23 points.
The next two matchups see the Musketeers run into two Mid-American Conference (MAC) opponents. The Ohio University Bobcats will travel to Cincinnati and Xavier will look to get back on track. The following game the Musketeers will travel to the University of Akron to take on the Zips.
Following those two games, the road is going to get tougher as Big East play opens up. Conference play begins Nov. 30 when the number one ranked University of Connecticut Huskies come to town. This will no doubt be an uphill battle for the Musketeers.
“The team is hungry, and it shows in their high-octane practices,” women’s basketball manager Jacob Halbsema said.
“In Big East play we’re going to be the underdog in a lot of games but I think this team can take down anyone if they get hot,” Halbsema said.
The Musketeers seemingly have the talent to give some of the giants in the Big East a run for their money. Noel is averaging almost 20 points per game and she also leads the team in rebounding at 5.8 per game.
The rest of the way for the Musketeers will not be easy, but they have shown flashes of a great team. If they can shift the current momentum the Muskies will surprise a lot of people this year.
