By Andrew Feingold
Pride Women win on Senior dayPride Women beat James Madison- Freshman guard Shalamar poured in a career high 23 points and the Pride scored a season-high 43 first half points as they easilu beat James Madison on Sunday afternoon. The game became interesting with back-to-back baskets from James Madison freshmen forwards Lesley Dickinson and Meredith Alexis in the first 1:08 of the second half which got the Dukes within nine for the first time since the Pride led 16-7 with 11:20 left in the first half. That would be as close as the Dukes would get though, as the Pride quickly answered with a lay-up from junior forward Amaka Agugua and a three-pointer from red-shirt freshman guard Cigi McCollin, giving the Pride a 14-point advantage (48-34) with 17:20 remaining on the clock. The Pride would cruise from there, opening as much as a 21-point lead on several occasions before settling for the 19-point win. Pride seniors (Claxton, Dilworth, Pela and Smolarek), who were honored in pre and postgame ceremonies, combined for 26 points, 12 rebounds, seven assists and four blocks. Pride womenreturns to action on Friday, March 5 when they travel to UNC Wilmington for their regular season finale. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.
Pride lose to Bears in TennisThe Pride ran into trouble when they faced #49 Brown University this past Sunday losing 7-0. The Bears swept all three of the doubles matches to begin the match, with the closest match occuring at third doubles. Phil Charm and Kris Goddard defeated Jared Coggan and Robert Sforzo of the Pride, 8-3, in the closest doubles match.All six of the singles matches were straight set sweeps for Brown, including Prides number one singles player, Nikola Djordjevic.
Djordjevic, fell 6-1, 6-3 to Nick Goldberg of Brown. It was Djordjevic’s first loss since October 19 of last year and only his second loss in his past 13 matches. Mike Bosch had the closest match in singles for the Pride as he fell 6-2, 6-4 to Phil Charm at fourth singles. Pride tennis returns to action on March 6 when they face Yale University and Fairfield University at the Yale University Indoor Courts.
Women’s basketball team is soaringPride women have won two of its last three games. They have won six more games than they did last season. The last time a team has more than 14 victories in a season was in 1983-1984 when the team finished with an overall mark of 18-11. By defeating James Madison 76-57 on Sunday, the Pride clinched its first winning regular season since 1993-1994 and the fourth-ever as a Division 1 program. Also their 11 CAA victories are a school record in a season. Junior forward Amaka Agugua has really stepped her play and went over the 500-point plateau for her career. She has now scored 635 points in her two-plus seasons for the Pride. Senior guard Staceyann Claxton (sister of Speedy) has 46 steals in the Pride’s last 14 games (3.3 steals per game).