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Austin Dike | Phoenix Staff

Ceylan Bodur '11 eyes and opening against Franklin & Marshall on Saturday.

BY ANDREW GREENBLATT

In print | Published February 5, 2009

Intense chatter floods through the canyons of Tarble Pavilion on weeknights. Those running on the indoor track, walking through the main lobby and entering the trainers’ room can hear it. The basketballs pounding against the hardwood and the sneakers chirping on the floor serve as the perfect canvas for the women’s basketball team’s symphony of focus. “Ball! Ball! Ball!” There is shouting and screaming as the defender rips her hands into the air to contest, and the forwards whirl their heads toward the basket, pivoting their bodies for a chance at the rebound. The intense defensive drills that the Garnet repeat in practice will be key determinants of their playoff destiny in the upcoming week. The Garnet will face against conference-leading Muhlenberg (13-0) and third-place Dickinson (7-4), whom the Garnet (7-5) are only a half game behind in the conference standings. Last Saturday, against Franklin and Marshall (7-4), Swarthmore lost by a score of 61-55, pushing them back into sixth place in the conference, a half game back of Dickinson, Franklin and Marshall, and McDaniel, who are jammed in the middle with records of 8-5.

Kathryn Stockbower ’11 said, “It was definitely a frustrating loss because we knew that it was a winnable game that slipped through our fingers in the final minutes.” Christina Duron ’12 added, “Our poor defense during the last few minutes was the reason they took that game away from us. We are not as aggressive as we should be on defense, but we can fine-tune that, and I know we’ll be ready for Dickinson and Muhlenberg.”

Swarthmore is last in the eleven-team conference in scoring defense, allowing 64.5 points per game, and eighth in field goal percentage defense, allowing opponents to shoot 38.9 percent. All of their upcoming opponents rank in the top half of the conference offensively: Dickinson is sixth averaging 62.6 points per game, Muhlenberg is first averaging 70.5 points per game, and Gettysburg is second averaging 65.9 points per game. With matchups against two of the top scorers in the conference, defense will make or break the Garnet’s playoff hopes.

Muhlenberg first-year Alexandra Chili is second in the conference, scoring at 17.0 points per game, while Dickinson junior Brooke Muller is fifth with 15.7 points per game.

“We really just want to take Chili and Muller out of their games and force them to do things that they aren’t as good at,” Sarah Brajtbord ’11 said. Stockbower added, “It is going to be really important for us to put together a solid 40-minute performance against Dickinson and Muhlenberg – something I know that we can do.”

“Defense is about knowing your player’s strengths and weakness and forcing them to play to their weakness, “ Brajtbord explained, noting that an outstanding defensive effort was key in the Garnet’s triumph over Dickinson earlier this season.

In their first matchup with Muhlenberg on Dec. 4, the Garnet surrendered 23 points to Chili in a 70-83 loss. Dickinson’s Muller scored 16 points on Jan. 10, but she shot a poor percentage (4-for-13 from the field). The Garnet defense buckled down to earn a 71-56 victory. The Garnet will need a similar performance to put themselves among the top five teams in the conference and into the playoffs.

The Garnet hasn’t made an appearance in the conference tournament since 2005, when it finished with a conference record of 11-7 and eventually fell to Dickinson in the semifinals by a score of 67-42.

The crucial upcoming stretch, with three of the final six regular season games to be played against teams in the playoff hunt (Muhlenberg, Dickinson and Gettysburg), is the homestretch that will ultimately determine whether the Garnet will play in the postseason.

The focus level is there, and the expectations are high. Duron cited a team goal to “grab either the second or third spot in conference” after all is said and done. Brajtbord pointed out that, “If we don’t get to the playoffs, we will be unsatisfied and disappointed. This team deserves a spot in the playoffs, and that spot is there for us. We just need to take it.”

The Garnet will travel to Dickinson on Saturday and will face Muhlenberg on the road on Tuesday.

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