This past Sunday, the No. 1 ranked DePauw Women's basketball team beat what polls determined was their fiercest threat, No. 2 Washington University - St. Louis by a score of 74-62.
This game was the Tiger's 40th consecutive win, a huge feat for the program. The victory was even sweeter because the Bears team has had a long-standing rivalry with the Tigers. The Tigers are now 6-0 for the season.
In the contest, junior Savannah Trees lead all scorers with 17 points. She also pulled down a career high in rebounds, with six, and pitched in three assist. Senior Ali Ross finished with 14 points, and junior guard Emma Ondik came off the bench to score 11. The Tigers' second unit scored 23 points in half of the play.
"We have always had a rivalry with Wash U," Ross said. "They have always been a challenging team to play against, making the game even more intense. Their coach is known for her success and it is cool that two coaches as successful as Coach Nancy and Coach Huffman get to coach against each other every year."
The two teams went back and forth, the score was tied three times early on in the first half until DePauw finally pulled away. By the end of the half the team had a twelve-point lead, 42-30.
"We started to move the ball really well towards the end of the second half and hitting six three's really helped extend our lead," Trees said. She leads team scoring, averaging 14.4 points per game.
"Savannah [Trees] has been more aggressive this year," Ross said. "She is awesome with the ball and a challenge for the other teams to stop. I know she will continue to get better as the year goes on and her 'hot start' will continue through the season."
For Trees, however, the statistics don't affect her mindset when she is on the court. The Libertyville, Ill. native was given a considerable amount of playing time from coach Kris Huffman since her first year. She is used to the spotlight, and doesn't mind giving it up for her teammates.
"Being the leading scorer doesn't mean anything to me," Trees. "The leading scorer can change at any point in time because we have so many scoring threats from all five positions on the court."
Women's basketball goes back into action this Saturday in their first conference game against Wooster, who is currently also undefeated.
