The Monmouth College women’s basketball team opened the 2022-23 season on Tuesday night with an 83-71 road loss against Greenville University. The Scots had seven freshmen make their college debuts in the contest.
Monmouth got off to a quick start with a bucket from Zoie Wall (Bartonville, Illinois) and a 3-pointer from Jadyn Mitchell (Flanagan, Illinois) on the first two possessions. Greenville tied the game at five and after Monmouth led 9-8, the hosts went on a 7-2 run. Greenville pushed the lead to eight at the end of the quarter, 21-13.
Tarae Warner (Burlington, Iowa) had a 3-point play to start the second quarter and a bucket by Mitchell cut the Greenville lead to 24-20. The Panthers scored the next six for a 30-20 lead but Monmouth answered with a 6-0 run of their own. Free throws put Greenville up by 11 with 90 seconds left in the half but Monmouth scored the final six points of the half to trail 40-34.
The teams traded buckets early in the third quarter with the lead going between four and nine for the Panthers. A free throw from freshman Ashley Jones (Abingdon, Illinois) cut the Greenville lead to three with 3:21 to go in the quarter. After the Panthers scored, MItchell cut the deficit to two with a bucket but the Panthers finished the quarter with a 64-58 lead.
Down eight, the Scots scored five in a row on a 3-pointer from Mitchell and a bucket from Wall. Mitchell scored on the next possession to make the score 68-67, the closest the game had been since the first quarter. Greenville responded with a 3-pointer of their own before the teams swapped baskets. Jones and Warner scored on consecutive possessions and the Scots trailed 73-71 with 4:03 to play. But Monmouth didn’t score again and Greenville went on a 10-0 run to end the game with an 83-71 win. The Scots missed their last five shots of the game and had five turnovers in the final four minutes.
Mitchell led the Scots with 18 points while Wall had a 16-point, 10-rebound double-double. Warner had 12 points and Jones had nine. Freshman Olivia Dinges (Amboy, Illinois) scored eight points and Lily Harlan (Washington, Illinois) added five. Warner and Jones both had eight rebounds while Wall led the team with four assists.
MONMOUTH MOMENTS: The Scots and Panthers haven’t met since the 2010-11 season. Monmouth is 2-3 all-time against GreenvilleThe Scots lost 46% of their scoring from last year to graduation with Wall (8.3 ppg), Warner (8.0), Harlan (7.0) and Mitchell (5.9) as the top returning scorers. Monmouth had seven players make their college debut on Tuesday. In addition to Dinges and Jones, Audrey Law (Bloomington, Indiana), Madison Heisch (Illinois City, Illinois), Allie Hoy (Woodland, Illinois), Ella Goodrich (Minonk, Illinois) and Kiersten Cox (Illinois City, Illinois) made their debuts. Heisch started with the four seniors. The freshmen combined for 20 points and 21 rebounds in 84 minutes played. The Scots outrebounded Greenville 45-26. Monmouth was 4-for-21 from 3-point range and 17-of-30 from the free throw line. The Scots held Greenville to 5-of-26 shooting from 3-point range, Monmouth is 19-29 in season openers. The Scots travel to Cedar Rapids, Iowa to take on Coe College at 3 pm Saturday. The first four games are on the road before the home opener against MSOE at 6 pm on Monday, Nov. 21.
***Courtesy of Nathan Baliva, Monmouth College***
