The women’s basketball team came up just short Saturday afternoon, losing 68-60 to Fairfield University at the Multipurpose Activity Center. Sophomore guard Dana Carbone led the Hawks in scoring with 14 points, 12 of which came off of three-point shots. However, the main milestone of the day came from senior guard Sarah Olson, who scored her 1,000th career point in the game.
“It feels awesome,” Olson said. “It is definitely the exclamation point for my career. It is a great accolade to have.” Olson started her career at NJIT before transferring to Monmouth after the 2012-13 season. She had to sit out a year after the change due to NCAA regulations.
“It speaks to who she is as a player,” head coach Jenny Palmateer said. “It also shows how valuable she has been to us, and we’ve only had her for two years. I’m really excited and happy for her.” Olson finished the day with 11 points and became the second Monmouth basketball player to reach the feat this season, with men’s guard Justin Robinson accomplishing it on Jan. 18.
After a tightly-contested first half, MU built a six point lead in the opening minutes of the third quarter. Fairfield would respond, however, as the Stags went on a 12-2 run and never looked back. The Hawks then cut the deficit to 4 points at the 6:55 mark in the fourth quarter, but the Stags would answer with another 12 point run, opening the lead to 13 points with 2:29 remaining in the game. A couple three-point shots from Carbone would not be enough, however, as the Hawks fell 68-60 at home.
The Hawks came into Saturday’s game looking to respond after losing on the road to Quinnipiac University, 85-58, Thursday night at the TD Bank Sports Center. Sarah Olson led the Hawks in scoring against QU with 16 points, making six of the eight shots she took, including all three of the three-pointers she attempted. Junior guard Tyese Purvis contributed eight points, while senior guard Jamiyah Bethune added seven.
After a close opening two minutes, Quinnipiac began to open things up as they went on a 28-7 scoring run to finish the first quarter, making it 31-11 after 10 minutes of play. The Bobcats would maintain their lead for the remainder of the game, continuing their sizzling run throughout the rest of the first half, shooting 47% from three-point range and 57% overall.
Monmouth opened the second half on a 10-3 scoring run, and was able to cut the lead down to 17 at one point in the third quarter. However, just as the Hawks began to get hot, the Bobcats responded yet again, ending the quarter on an 11-1 run. Quinnipiac would hold their lead in the fourth quarter, making the final score 85-58.
“If you’re not able to keep up with them and score with them, you can go down really quickly,” Palmateer said after the game, attributing Quinnipiac’s multiple scoring runs to their hot shooting performance. “At one point they hit three three-pointers very quickly, and all of a sudden it’s nine points on the scoreboard for them.” QU finished the game shooting 47% from the floor and 42.3% from three-point range, outshooting the Hawks in both categories.
Palmateer also noted one of the reasons why Hawks struggled to keep up with the Bobcats was turnovers, as Monmouth turned the ball over 25 times in the game, compared to just 15 for Quinnipiac. “That was a double-edged sword for us today, because Quinnipiac capitalized on them and converted them into scores on the other end,” she said. The Bobcats finished the day with 27 points off of turnovers, which accounted for about 46% of their total for the game.
Monmouth also received a contribution from freshman center Erica Balman, who set career highs in scoring and rebounds, with eight and 10. In addition, junior forward Christina Mitchell finished the game with six boards.
The Hawks will host Manhattan on Tuesday. The game can be found on WMCX 88.9 FM, with tip-off scheduled for shortly after 11:00 a.m.
PHOTO COURTESY of Monmouth Athletics
