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The Rowan women’s basketball team is in dire need of what head coach Gabby Lisella described in just one word.
Consistency.
At 3-4 and 2-1 in the New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC), the Profs have had some great moments on the court, as well as some, well, not-so-great ones as well.
This past week was a perfect example of how inconsistent the team had been thus far.
A devastating 79-70 overtime loss to conference rival TCNJ on Wednesday proved Rowan’s inexperience in closing games. The Brown and Gold looked flat in overtime, a shadow of the team that came out on fire in the first half.
Rowan created turnovers and limited TCNJ’s ability to score from deep, forcing the Lions to cough up the ball 23 times and shoot under 30 percent from three. But, on the other hand, they allowed TCNJ to mirror their defensive prowess, as Rowan had 18 turnovers and were inefficient from the field and free throw line. The Profs shot just 39.7 percent from the floor and only went 6-11 at the charity stripe. The free throw struggles have been apparent all year, going a mere 84-149 before this past Saturday’s game. It should also be noted that Rowan had multiple starters sit for extended periods of time due to foul trouble.
Rowan had a better game against a struggling New Jersey City University (NJCU) team, defeating the Gothic Knights 79-60, keeping them win-less.
Again, the Rowan defense was stagnant, holding NJCU to just 25 percent shooting from the field. Again, the Profs caused a lot of turnovers, recording 24 steals and did the same a bunch themselves, committing 34.
“It wasn’t our best game,” said junior forward Kailyn Sytsma, who scored a team-high 16 points in the game. “We had a lot of turnovers, a lot of personal issues that we still need to work on. A win in the NJAC is always a good win, and we desperately needed that.”
If it wasn’t already apparent, there is plenty to learn from the past week.
“We just need to work together better,” said freshman guard Kennedy Brown. “We just need to focus the whole time and focus games out.”
Head coach Gabby Lisella takes the early season up and downs as a means to get better as the year advances.
“Of course at this point in the season you have to take every opportunity, win or loss, to find ways to get better,” Lisella said. “Our games have all been close, and I think we need to put ourselves in a position to play with confidence when things are on the line.”
Luckily, now is the perfect time to right the ship. It’s still early on in the season and the Profs are right smack in the middle of the NJAC.
Looking into this week, the Brown and Gold will look to put those lessons to good use against two tough NJAC opponents.
The team travels to Galloway, New Jersey to play a struggling Stockton team on Wednesday at 6 p.m. The Osprey are 1-6 overall and win-less in the NJAC. This can serve as a perfect tune-up game for a big home contest against 5-2 Ramapo College (1-2 NJAC) on Saturday.
Updates on this game will be provided Thursday morning at www.thewhitonline.com.
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