Bentley Blasts' Cliffe, 61-46

The Radcliffe basketball team suffered the first blemish on its otherwise spotless record this season by losing 61-46 to a tenacious Bentley squad last night.

The Crimson squad, showing little of the well-choreographed passing game that brought twin victories against Emmanuel and Brown last week, played consistently well for the first three quarters of the game, but finally collapsed under a blizzard of Bentley offensive drives.

Jitterbugs

"We got pretty nervous toward the end," freshman forward Wendy Carle said later. "We panicked, and that's when we started throwing the ball away," she added.

The game began on an ominous note as the powerful Bentley offense kicked off to a quick eight-point lead. The score evened out soon afterwards, the two teams trading buckets for most of the half. The halftime score showed Radcliffe ahead by a hair, 28-27.

Gloom and Doom

But misfortune had already descended upon the Radcliffe team. Star freshman forward Caryn Curry suffered a slightly sprained ankle only six minutes into the first half, and although probably not serious enough to keep her away from Wednesday's game with Boston State, the injury crippled the Crimson's offensive hopes for the rest of the game.

With Curry gone in the second half, the team began to lose ground. Halfway through the second stanza, the score stood at an uncomfortable 51-43 Bentley advantage.

Meanwhile, the fouls were piling up. The traditional Crimson one-on-one defense opened like a sieve before the unrelenting Bentley offense. Time after time the Bentley women set up the plays on offense, biding their time until a hole opened up and they could drive on home.

Center Beth Craig was the first to bow out under foul pressure when the half was five minutes underway, followed three minutes later by center Susan Hewitt. With their tallest players out, the Radcliffe rebounding game quickly disintegrated.

Now the Radcliffe frustration came to painfully vicious full circle. The Bentley offense kept on breaking through and the weakened Radcliffe defense could do nothing. In all, a total of 20 fouls were committed by the Crimson, a season's record.