The women’s basketball team started off their season in big fashion. In the Hunter College Tip-Off tournament, the Profs put together an incredible start, winning all three of the tournament games and bringing home the championship.

The tournament wasn’t particularly difficult for the Profs either, as they won the final two games of the tournament by double digits, including a 94-57 win over Hunter College in the championship.

Freshman guard Nicole Mallard was voted MVP of the tournament, however she’s just happy she got a taste of college basketball.

“It feels really good, especially as a freshman,” Mallard said. “The pace is a lot different from high school, so it’s good to know I’ve adjusted easily.”

Along with Mallard, sophomore guard Grace Marshall also received honors as she was named to the all-tournament team.

“It felt really great,” Marshall said. “[I was] coming back from an injury, so it was great to see that I fully recovered. It was a good start to the season, and it showed what we’re headed towards.”

After starting 3-0 in the Tip-Off Tournament, the team knows that they’re capable of even more and continue their winning ways as conference play gets ready to begin next week.

“I think it shows that we’re ready to take on our conference and that we’ve been working really hard. It just shows hard we want this,” Marshall said.

“I think it shows that our offense is really good, we scored almost 100 for two of the games. Like Grace said, it shows we’re ready to play the tougher teams in the NJAC,” Mallard said.

The Profs start the year 3-0, but whether or not they can keep up the pace remains to be seen. As a team with no seniors, the Profs don’t seem to be worried about a lack of veterans on the squad affecting their play.

“I think being a younger team motivates us to do better and work harder, kind of like an underdog mentality. We have four juniors and they are very good leaders, so in a way it doesn’t matter,” Marshall said.

Mallard offered an even more optimistic rationale when considering the lack of seniors.

“I think it’s better because we’re going to have the exact same team next year and some incoming freshman, so it gives us more time to improve with each other and we’re not gonna have to adjust to anyone leaving, just adjust to players coming in,” Mallard said.

The Profs next game is on Saturday, Nov. 23 against Widener College, which is the final tuneup before opening a set of five straight New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) games, beginning with Rutgers-Camden on Tuesday, Nov. 26.

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