Within the past week, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) basketball season has commenced. The Judges men’s and women’s teams have both opened their seasons strong and look forward to the games that lie ahead. The women’s team has played three games so far this season, winning one, and the men’s team has played one game so far, which they won.
The women’s team started off basketball for the Judges this season in a game against Wellesley College. This game started off strong for the Judges as they earned a 12-point lead within the first six minutes of play. They maintained this momentum throughout the following two periods. Wellesley out-scored the Judges 24-19 in the final period, though they were unable to capture a lead in doing so. The Judges won this first game with a decisive score of 61-38. Players with especially notable contributions to this game for the Judges were Brooke Reed ’25, Katherine Vaughan ’25 and Carlie Marrella ’27. Ten Judges contributed to the point-scoring in this game.
Next, the women’s team hosted the Judges Invitational where they faced Oberlin College. The game started off with Oberlin capturing the lead. Though a pair of free throws from Molly James ’27 resulted in the women’s team-leading 7-6, the Judges could not maintain their contact with the score and ultimately lost 46-77. The Judges scored close to half the points Oberlin did in each period. Despite their loss, Caitlin Gresko ’24 and Marrella each scored 11 points in the game and tied for the most points scored by a Judge.
In their third game of the season so far, the Judges hosted Eastern Nazarene College (ENC) on Wednesday, Nov. 15. The points scored in each period were evenly matched, with the Judges narrowly losing each in the first half. However, they came back to out-score ENC in the third quarter 25-20, though they did not have it in them to maintain this momentum in the final period. The Judges lost this game 59-70. Leading the Judges in point-scoring was Gresko with 16.
Looking ahead, the women’s basketball team will play two away games within the next week. First, they will face Tufts University on Saturday, Nov. 18, and then they will play Babson College on Tuesday, Nov. 21.
Next, the men’s basketball started off their season this past Saturday in a game against the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. This game was competitive throughout, but with four players scoring in the double-digits, the Judges came away with an 86-77 win for their first game of the season. Judges who had notable performances were Ryan Power ’24 with 17 points, Ethan Edwards ’26 with 16 points, Jake Bender ’26 with 12 points and Toby Harris ’25 with 12 points as well.
Looking ahead for the men’s basketball team, their next three games will all be on the road, starting with their first-ever game against Rivier University on Saturday, Nov. 18th.
