Quakers win second straight on Schuckman Court

For Immediate Release:
Dec. 20, 2005

RICHMOND, Ind. — There was plenty of holiday cheer to go around on Tuesday afternoon as the Earlham College women’s basketball team defeated Hanover College 77-70 on Schuckman Court in the Athletics and Wellness Center.

The Quakers led most of the way as they survived early foul problems, while dealing with some issues from last weekend’s two losses at the Rose-Hulman Invitational. “We won both halves,” Earlham coach Liana Coutts said. “It was just tremendous. There were a lot of things we needed to address.”

Janee' Covington

Coutts was pleased with the winning effort as the Quakers won their second straight game at home. “With us being such a young team that is fabulous,” she said.

Sophomore guard Whitney McBurrows (Lansing, MI/J.W. Sexton) scored the first basket of the game for the Quakers and a few moments later first-year post player Tasha Merrill (Cedar Grove, IN/Franklin County) picked up her initial foul and Coutts inserted first-year guard Janee’ Covington (Indianapolis, IN/Arlington). “I put Janee’ in and that helped free up Whitney,” the Earlham coach said. “Janee’ gives us such a tremendous lift off the bench. It enabled us to spread the floor and we were able to drive.”

The move helped the Quakers to a 15-7 advantage after first-year LeShea Orr (Dayton, OH/Jefferson) scored with 11:55 remaining in the first half. Hanover grabbed a brief lead late in the first period, but Earlham was in front 37-31 by intermission.

Despite the lead, the Quakers had some foul trouble and were forced to use some zone defense in the opening stanza, which allowed Hanover’s Angela Newkirk to toss in 20 or her 28 points. “She had 20 points in the first half,” Coutts said. “We weren’t good at tracking her. We talked about that at halftime.”

With the halftime message delivered, the Quakers built a 10-point lead at the 18:35 mark of the second half. Hanover, however, clawed its way back into the contest to tie the game at 47-47 and then again at 52-52 with 7:26 left.

Moments later back-to-back 3-pointers by Covington put Earlham in front to stay at 58-52 and the Panthers could not get any closer than two points after that as the Quakers put the game away.

Covington finished with 24 points five assists to lead the Quakers, while McBurrows added 14 points.

Sophomore Chelsea Caywood (Richmond, IN/Richmond) had 12 points. Merrill had nine points and a team-high nine rebounds. Orr finished with six points and seven rebounds. Junior Guin Summerton (Williams, IN/Shoals) tossed in eight points.

Earlham (2-9) returns to action at home on Dec. 29 against the University of Wisconsin-Platteville. The non-conference contest begins at 5 p.m.
Box score.