Blazers show no love to Wheaton on V-Day

FEB 14, NELSON H. KOBREN MEMORIAL GYMNASIUM-

Blair defeated Wheaton 57-20 tonight in a completely one-sided match. The Blazers improved to 9-10, as Wheaton fell to an embarrassing 0-18, each loss by double figures.

Blair went on an early 15-2 tear during the first 2:45 of the game. The run, as well as the victory itself, was led by senior guard Jennifer Sindall who scored ten of her game high 14 points. During this stretch, she shot 4-4 from the field, swishing two three-pointers and a baseline jumper along with a fast-break lay-up off one of her two early steals. Another crucial run was a 22-2 stretch spanning the second, as well as parts of the first and third quarters, which further solidified the Blazer victory.

Blair, which dominated in all facets of the game, abused the undersized and undermanned Wheaton squad on the boards, frontcourt, backcourt, charity stripe and scoreboard. The Knights, who came with only eight players, had repeated turnovers, traveling violations and airballs.

The Blazers played reserves for much of the game, including freshman point guard Rahisha Macdonald, a JV star, who replaced injured senior point guard Lara Dean. Macdonald finished with nine points, seven in the fourth quarter, as well as six rebounds, a team high four assists and two steals. Senior center Allyson Swailes also came off the bench and produced ten points and a team high eight rebounds.

Sindall believes that the team played fiercely and each player played well. "It was a team win and everyone came out with the intensity to show what they can do," she said.

Despite the 37-point margin of victory, the largest in years, Coach William Lindsay feels that the team needs to do a better job protecting the ball and that Wheaton's imperfections had a major impact on the outcome. "Wheaton has struggled, they have problems. We still turned the ball over a lot. We need to work on execution. Our number one focus was to come out and execute and we didn't really do that well," he said.

The Blazers lost their first five home games of the season by an average of 12 points, but since then, they have won the last three home games by an average of 26 points. Blair's next game is also at home against the woeful Kennedy team that lost 55-17 at home against Blair in their last meeting on Jan 13. If they can defeat Kennedy, on Feb 18 at 5:15, as expected, they would accomplish the greatly sought after, but elusive .500 record.