By Michaela Gates, Staff Writer
Women’s basketball has been surging of late as they rumbled forward for their ninth straight LEC victory this past Saturday against Western Connecticut. Senior Alicia Kutil as well as junior Nakira Examond combined for a staggering 57 points and 26 rebounds as the Corsairs dropped a whopping 105 total points.
What is even more remarkable is that Kutil barley even needed a full game to drop her total of 33 points. Kutil managed to put in a mind-blowing 27 points in the first half alone. Many people refer to these type of stats as “video game stats” as the numbers do not even seem real, however I assure you they are as Kutil played one of the best games a Corsair basketball player, male or female, has had perhaps in the last two seasons.
Kutil is now also fifth all-time for the Corsairs in scoring as she has dropped a grand total of 1,226 points thus far in her career. To say that the senior’s time at UMassD has been memorable would frankly be a massive understatement as she certainly has a chance to continue to climb the scoring ladder a bit more in the next few games.
Examond also had a fantastic as well as memorable night of her own as she was able to break her way into the 1,000 point club as she dropped half of her 24 points in the second half of play. Examond is certainly an interesting piece of this high powered Corsairs machine as she is only a junior.
Examond is also a force on the glass as she averages ten rebounds per game and was able to collect thirteen on Saturday’s outing against Western Connecticut. Given how well the Corsairs have played lately it is far from insane to think that they may have a shot at another deep run in the NCAA tourney this March.
While they struggled against no. 18 ranked Bowdoin early in the year, they lost in a very tightly contested game to currently no. 8 ranked Tufts 74-66. It is also worth noting that while Bowdoin was ranked no. 18 at the time of the loss, they have since climbed all the way to no. 3 in the nation and have still not lost a game.
The women are also undefeated in LEC play thus far, if they continue their play in the next five games they will lock up the no. 1 seed for the LEC tourney and would of course be the favorites to repeat as champions.
This would of course be the quickest way into the NCAA tourney, however given how well the Corsairs have played this season as well as how tough their schedule is, it would still be very possible that they could receive an at-large bid for the tourney.
While only time will tell how this season finishes for the women of Corsair basketball, on thing is certain, they are certainly playing at an aggressively high level and look poised for tournament play and another big run.