Despite their best efforts, the Shepherd Rams have endured another fairly painful week. Thursday night, the Rams fell to the Notre Dame College Falcons 86–75 and then followed up on Saturday with an 86–81 loss to the Blue Knights of Urbana University.
The match-up against the Falcons got off to a rocky start as the Rams were trailing for a majority of the first half. Shepherd played without one of their top scorers, Cara Mason, who was benched due to a knee sprain, putting them at a disadvantage from the start. About halfway through the first half, the Falcons had racked up an 11-point lead over the Rams.
Although the Falcons had a decent lead, the Rams were able to change up some of their tactics. Shepherd managed to eliminate the gap and closed out the half with a tied score of 47–47. Shepherd’s momentum wasn’t enough to get them through the game. The Falcons broke the tie at the beginning of the second half and maintained the lead for the remainder of the game.
Junior guard Rachel Johnson led the Rams throughout the game with a season-high 25 points. Helping Johnson on the court was freshman guard Maggie McLoughlin who scored 12 points and junior center Gabby Flinchum who added another 10 points for the Rams. All together, the Rams shot 37.5 percent from the floor, 40 percent beyond the arc, and 91.3 percent from the charity stripe.
The Falcons answered the Rams with the help of Courtney Clark who scored 25 points throughout the game. Clark was also aided by Martha Nagbe’s 19 points and Molly Ritz’s 17 points. Notre Dame out-shot Shepherd from the floor with 47.4 percent, plus shot 46.2 percent from three-point range and 66.7 percent from the line.
Head coach Toni West didn’t expect a loss on Thursday night. Coach West said, “Last time we played this team, we lost by one point, and our defense was weaker then. Now our defense is stronger, so you would think that would put us ahead.”
Saturday’s match-up against Urbana gave both the team and fans hope for an end to the losing streak. The Rams maintained the lead for a majority of the first half and closed it out with a score of 46–41.
The Rams hung onto the lead for a while, but halfway through the period, the Blue Knights fought to close the gap and took the lead. The lead change was followed by five more lead changes. However, the last lead change was in favor of the Blue Knights, and it gave them their five-point margin of victory over the Rams.
The Rams were led by Flinchum who scored a career-high 28 points. Johnson tacked on another 12 points, and Mason was able to bounce back from her injury and sink 9 points. All in all, the Rams shot 42.1 percent from the floor, 35.7 percent from three-point range, and 63.2 percent from the line.
Urbana outshot Shepherd, connecting 48.5 percent from the floor, 35.3 percent from beyond the arc, and 69.6 percent from the charity stripe. The Blue Knights were led by DeVonyea Johnson, who scored 23 points. Johnson was assisted by Lexie Taylor’s 18 points and Katy Barkley’s 13 points.
After a tough week, the Rams fell to a 2–18 record. Their next chance to end the losing streak is this Thursday when they travel to West Liberty to play the 15–8 Hilltoppers. The Rams will then host the 11–10 Wheeling Jesuit Cardinals.