MORRISTOWN – In the first Atlantic East Conference game, the St. Elizabeth Eagles fell to the Marymount Saints, 90–57, on their home court at Saint Joseph Hall. Though the scoreboard tilted heavily in Marymount’s favor, the Eagles continued to fight until the final buzzer, spurred on by a relentless crowd of students who filled the gym with noise from start to finish.
Graduate student point guard Yasminah White took control of the court off the jumpball, hustling down and making the first three pointer of the game. As one of the Eagle’s captains, she is a role model for the other players on and off the court.
“My mindset was to kill,” White stated in a post-game interview. “What I mean by kill is to be aggressive. When I’m aggressive, my teammates feed off of that. As a point guard, I gotta lead. And it’s not just offensively, that’s defensively as well. That’s being a leader.”
Throughout the first quarter, the Eagles showcased their strengths: three pointers, cuts down the paint, and steals. Senior forward My’shiah McQueen was consistent in shooting behind the wing, racking up points for her team three at a time. She also proved to be a menace on the court, stealing the ball from a Marymount player after a harsh struggle.
Despite that, the Eagles were forced to play man defense at the start due to the sheer talent of the Saints. A formidable player, junior forward Catie Kolwey, stood strong at the free throw line. Standing at a whopping 6’0, she was the key to her team racking up two points back to back. After a simple pass, she pushed through the defense to toss a layup that never once missed.
Starting the second quarter with a score of 24-12, the Eagles knew they had to change things up. They moved up into a higher defense, pressuring the ball in hopes of stopping primary point guard Cara Vollmer of Marymount early on. She proved to everyone on the court that she can handle the ball and shoot from afar, as well. Vollmer was no stranger to three pointers, earning a few for her team.
While McQueen continued to land buckets, St. Elizabeth’s senior forward Jasmine Pierce faced a little bit of trouble. She fouled Marymount’s freshman guard, Elsa Meysselle, on a few occasions, some leading to free throws for them. As expected, the students were not pleased at the many calls on the Eagles. Pierce was not alone; referees called out senior guard Elyssa Russo and senior forward Ty’la Holmes, all in the last few minutes. It began to look grim for the Eagles as the quarter ended 43-21 in favor of the Saints.
The women of Marymount were extremely active. They were quick on their feet to rebound nearly every shot, dominant in boxing out, and had no issues running fast breaks. Grad student guard Chandler Eddleton stole the ball from White, running down the court on her own to make the layup. She, along with sophomore guard Kaylah Barr hustled through the baseline at every possible moment, truly working the Eagles’ defense.
The third quarter was a bit of a struggle for St. Elizabeth, as they were faced with the back-to-back layups of their opponents. Though they kept up their offensive aggression, they also had to stay focused to keep themselves from turning over the ball.
“Keeping my head in the game, staying focused, so that we can perform and execute,” was one of the most important things to captain Ahjionae Cobb. Playing for her team, knowing that every game matters, and that every moment counts is what keeps her motivated on the court, no matter the score.
Throughout the quarter, Eagles guard Russo came up clutch and stole the ball on multiple occasions. She sped up and down the court and continued the thread of three pointers. As the buzzer went off, she scored one, though it still wasn’t enough. The quarter ended at 65-42, Marymount leading again.
The Saints kept their 3-2 zone defense, seeing as it worked the entire game thus far. Sophomore guard Jaylah Thompson accidentally passed the ball to her freshman forward, Jordan Avent, when she wasn’t ready and hit her in the face. Even as it bounced off, the Saints caught it and went for another layup.
The remainder of the final quarter was full of back-to-back steals on both ends, cuts through the paint from the Eagles, and fouls for the Saints. Both teams were at the free throw line multiple times, though Vollmer never missed one. Cobb made an amazing cut before getting fouled, putting her on the line. White made the same mistake as Thompson, passing the ball to freshman forward Jada Peterson when she wasn’t ready and costing the ball. Despite their best efforts, the Eagles could not reach the quantity of points needed to catch up, and so lost.
When asked what his message was to his players after the loss, head coach Trey Bailey Strothers said, “My message was all about, you know, we’re in a new conference, this was the first conference game. It was all about getting off to a good start, showing the conference what we’re really about. We wanted to really come out and send a message. Unfortunately, we didn’t get that done tonight.”
It was a tough game, but the Eagles never lost their connection with each other. “I feel like communication is important. Talking to each other, just communicating,” White claimed the reason was. “You never know what I’m thinking, or what my teammates are thinking. Just letting each other know, you’re good, we got this, stay in it, keep fighting.”
“The biggest lesson for us is to continue to shoot the ball, have confidence,” Strothers continued. “So if a team does go zone like this team did tonight, we can make other teams second guess that and end up going back to man. Really just disciplining zones when teams come out in that.”
The Eagles will host Neumann University on Saturday, January 10, where they will face the Knights at 1 p.m.
