WOMEN'S BASKETBALL

The small roster finally caught up with Caltech Women's Basketball team on Wednesday night, as the Beavers had to play the last 10:00 of the game with only four players on the floor. Taking on the Keelhaulers of Cal Maritime, the Beavers tipped off with high hopes. The game started off the same as any other day, but somehow the Beavers ended up in the cross hairs of the officials, and both foul trouble and short term injuries forced them to play short.

In the first half the Beavers were sure that a lid was on the basket preventing their shots from falling. Connecting on only six shots and a set of free throws, Tech was only able to put 14 points on the board. The news wasn't any better in the turnover column. The Beavers coughed up the ball 15 times in the first period. They went on to 33 TOs for the night. The only good news in sight was the lack of fouls on the Beavers side, with only two on the half time stats. The buzzer brought a break and renewed hope for a better second half.

Then everything changed. Suddenly what was allowed in the first half was taboo and the foul count escalated quickly. Frosh Sarah Wright, who had not been whistled for a penalty in the first twenty minutes, picked up all five fouls in less than nine minutes and headed to the bench.

Numbers were already sparse for the team. A broken foot has had point guard Lisha Li on the sideline since November, and junior Hoi Yee Nam's flight home to Hong Kong for the break doesn't bring her back to Pasadena until Saturday. The disqualification of Wright meant the bench was even smaller, and the Beavers had only six left. Then it got even worse. Senior Lisa Yee, prone to cramping as a result of dehydration had to leave the game. Tech was down to five.

Moments later sophomore Theresa Juarez started experiencing pain in her knee. After missing two years in high school with a devastating knee injury, no one was willing to take any chances with Juarez and she headed to the bench. Then there were four.

Reserves Shannon Mohler and Kathryn Gunn not only had to play more minutes in one game than they had accumulated all season, but they had to step in to a game plan that Tech hoped would never come out of the play book. And as adversity often allows players to rise to the occasion, Gunn and Mohler did exactly that. Flanked by remaining starters Krissy Dahl and Erin Hoops, the foursome did their best to defend their basket and move the ball enough to find open shots. In the end, the Beavers came up very short in the score, but the situation revealed grit the team didn't realize that it had.

Krissy Dahl emerged as the Beavers high scorer with 9 points. Rebounds were the bright spot for Tech as they grabbed more boards than Cal Maritime. Tech finished with 45 rebounds. Dahl had 13 boards, and Lisa Yee continued her domination on the glass pulling in 15. Dahl also added four blocks to her stat line.

The good news came that neither Yee nor Juarez were out for the long term. Yee's cramping can be addressed this week, and luckily Juarez's knee problems were just the initial flare up of IT Band syndrome, an issue that delivers high pain but low risk for long term injury. With the arrival of her flight from Hong Kong, Hoi Yee Nam rejoins her teammates to restock the Beavers for their upcoming game with Southwestern College on Monday, January 4th. The tip off time has been changed, and the teams square off at 3pm in Braun Athletic Center.

GO TECH!!!

BOXSCORE