Women’s basketball travels to Buffalo without Beckford
Junior guard Tamzin Barroilhet drove the ball down the court during the Flashes’ game against the Miami Redhawks on Wednesday, Feb. 15. Miami won in over time, with a final score of 65-69. Photo by Jenna Watson.
With just three games left in the season before the Mid-American Conference Tournament, the Flashes (5-18, 4-9 MAC) are battling to grab a first-round home game before playing at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland.
Currently on a six-game losing streak and looking for answers, the team is hitting the road Tuesday to take on Buffalo (7-19, 2-9 MAC). On the road is where the Flashes have struggled most in their game and have a record of 1-11.
The Flashes have hit a rough patch in the season at the worst time. Junior forward Diamon Beckford, who has been the Flashes’ second leading scorer, has missed the team’s last two games with an undisclosed injury and is questionable for a return against the Bulls.
“With Beckford out, and you don’t know when she’s going to be back, you just have to get optimal performances out of the four that you have on the bench, regardless of minutes,” coach Bob Lindsay said. “I think the Buffalo situation is the same way: You’ve got to get those kids to come in and give you positive minutes.”
The Flashes had their best offensive output in two years Jan. 19 with an 85-point outburst in a win against Buffalo. The Flashes have a lot of problems to get fixed this time around with a road meeting with the Bulls.
Committing 74 turnovers in their last three games, the Flashes will need to be “better with the ball,” Lindsay said.
“I think for us it is correcting some of the mistakes that we’ve been making,” Lindsay said. “We’ve been very mistake prone either on the defensive end or offensive end. Even though I think overall as a team we’ve certainly improved, we just have a lot of things that we need to do better than what we do to be able to compete.”
Highlights
Claiming an 85-73 victory in the two teams’ last meeting, the Flashes had their best offensive night of the season and sank 11 of 22 3-pointers.
Junior Diamon Beckford is questionable for return after missing the team’s last two games, but junior Leslie Schaefer will be ready to step in for her. Schaefer is coming off a career-best 13-point performance at Ohio.
In the teams’ last meeting, the Big Three, juniors Trisha Krewson, Tamzin Barroilhet and Beckford, combined for 68 of the Flashes’ 85 points.
With all the problems that the Flashes have had of late, the team has been in some games that ended in losses. Losing by a combined nine points in the team’s last two games, including an overtime loss to Miami, Lindsay knows the team isn’t far from getting back to winning.
“We have to go in and obviously be better with the ball than we have been in the last couple of games. We really — even with Beckford out of there — had an opportunity to win two games in a row,” Lindsay said. “The turnovers were everything in those games and obviously some missed layups which has been a trademark of us the entire season.”
The team has had a shorter amount of time to prepare for the game with a Tuesday night affair. Lindsay said little has changed with the limited time and that there is “no magic formula” for success this time of the year.
“You’ve got to go in and get stuff done, and if you get it done, you have a chance to win and if you don’t, you don’t,” Lindsay said.
Contact Matt Lofgren at [email protected] and @MLofgrenDKS.