Women’s Basketball Looks Ahead to Conference Finals
The Bullets Boast an 18-2 record in conference play heading into the semifinals
By Garrett Glaeser, Staff Writer
Last Saturday, the Bullets’ women’s basketball team took care of Bryn Mawr 86-48 and secured the #1 seed in the Centennial Conference playoffs for this upcoming weekend.
“It was really important to get the win coming off the loss to Dickinson,” said senior guard Teal Tasker, “Coach always says to play to our standards and we hadn’t been playing as our best selves.”
With the win, the Bullets improved to 21-4 for the season and 18-2 in conference. On Friday, they will face Ursinus in the semifinals, who took down Muhlenberg 57-38 last Tuesday. #2 Johns Hopkins takes on #3 Haverford in the other semifinal.
In talking about which team would be the preferred matchup, Tasker said that she, along with her teammates, didn’t really care who they’d be playing.
“Both teams play very different styles and regardless of who we play it’ll be a hard fought game.”
Earlier this season, the Bullets defeated Muhlenberg twice, winning 69-58 and 65-55.
Both semifinal games Friday and the championship Saturday will be held at Bream Gym here at Gettysburg regardless if the Bullets advance to the final or not.
“We feel the most confident and shoot the best in our gym,” Tasker said, “We had two losses at home this year and it’s a great opportunity to redeem ourselves at home.”
Moreover, the Bullets have something more to prove having fallen from the D3 Hoops Top 25 rankings. Prior to this past week, the Bullets were ranked #22 but the loss to Dickinson bumped them out.
The team reached their highest ranking for the year back in December when they were #18.
Tasker and fellow senior guard Emma Dorshimer look to finish their Bullet basketball careers with back-to-back Centennial titles.
Led by Emily Gibbons ‘18 last season, the Bullets finished 26-3 overall and 19-1 in conference and defeated Haverford in the final 44-35. It was the program’s second conference title, the first coming back in 2013.
“It was an awesome, unforgettable feeling being Centennial champions last year and being a senior going out on a high note this year would be cool too,” Tasker said.
The team also played two games in the national tournament last year, beating Albright 74-65 and then falling to #16 Montclair State 70-45 the following day.
If the Bullets are successful this weekend, they’ll have the opportunity once again to compete for a national championship.
“The goal is to make it past the first weekend into the second, but knowing that we made it as far as we did would still be something really cool,” said Tasker.
It was nearly a decade ago that the women’s basketball team made the greatest run in team history, making it to the Sweet Sixteen. Since then the Bullets have only made it to the tournament two other times, once in 2013, and the other being last year.
“If we do get in the tournament, our goal is to compete with other teams and make it as far as we can playing our style,” Tasker commented.
Regardless of Centennial or national championship, the women’s basketball team has proven to be a perennial contender since Head Coach Nate Davis came to the program in 2015, and with plenty of young talent, the squad looks to have a bright future.
