Tim Yean
Sports Editor
It was another strong season for the Anchorwomen basketball team under Jenna Cosgrove as they were able to punch in their ticket to the Little East Conference (LEC) Women’s Basketball Championship Tournament with a semifinals berth to go alongside it.
It would be a Herculean task to even match the team’s performance last year, a program-best 29-1 overall record with a LEC Championship win and a Sweet 16 appearance in the NCAA Division III Women’s Basketball Championship bracket. It was a drop down from that mark, a 19-6 regular season finish with a 14-2 conference record in which the Anchorwomen were knocked out in the semifinal round at home by the University of Southern Maine 71-57.
The Anchorwomen had a plethora of players return for this season, including now 1,000-point scorers Madison Medbury and Angelina Nardolillo. Other returning members included Maggie McKitchen, Claire Greene, Maggie Schwab and Jayda Bing (Bing would make her debut later on in the season due to injury).
Joining Coach Cosgrove’s program this season were two Emmanuel College transfers, sophomores Emma Tenters and Megan Schuermann. The Anchorwomen would also welcome six freshmen, being Shalyn Smith, Naima Bleou, Janae Gomes, Jaina Yekelchik, Jacqueline Joly and Nichole Ljuljic. Schuermann was a mainstay as part of RIC’s starting five while Tenters, Smith, Bleou and Yekelchik would all find themselves on the starting lineup at some points during the season.
A shaky 3-3 start to the season would be rattled off quickly with three straight wins prior to a week in San Juan for the Puerto Rico Clasico, going 1-1 during their time in the U.S. territory. Returning to New England, the Anchorwomen would finish out with a 12-2 stretch to conclude the regular season. Despite both losses coming against UMass Dartmouth, they were crowned co-regular season champions with the Corsairs due finishing with the same record at the end of the year.
Having the playoffs in control and the Anchorwomen with extra days of rest, it would seem as if business were to be as usual in their semifinal matchup– at home, against the University of Southern Maine, a team they had beaten twice in the regular season by comfortable margins. But as the game started, the Huskies sped their way to a 37-18 lead by half. Even with the Anchorwomen adjusting to an aggressive tone of play in the second half, it wasn’t enough, their shooting out of rhythm the entire evening. Those struggles never being solved, it was a 71-57 defeat for the Anchorwomen, and thus ended their LEC season.
Nardolillo and Medbury became 1,000-point scorers during the season, the latter in a 69-62 win over MIT during the Anchorwoman Invitational Tournament, and Medbury in a 56-47 win at Plymouth State.
Madison Medbury headlined multiple categories in what you could call the “Big Three” of Medbury, Nardolillo, and Megan Schuermann, leading her team minutes-wise. She led the Anchorwomen with 17.2 ppg (third in LEC), three-pointers and three-point field goal percentage (2.3 per game, 31.6%, third and fifth in LEC respectively), a conference-leading 5.1 assists per game, and 2.5 steals per game (second in LEC). Nardolillo scored 12.2 points per game while being second in the LEC in rebounding with 10 per game. She converted a team-high 52.5% of her shots while also converting 64.4% of her free throw attempts. She also led the LEC in blocked shots with 54 blocks during the season. Schuermann was a strong complementary piece with 11.2 points per game on 39.5% shooting, 6.5 rebounds per game and 1.2 steals per game.
The Anchorwomen as a whole finished second in the LEC offensively with 65.2 ppg, while boasting the top defense in the conference allowing 54.2 ppg. They connected on 39.2% of their shots while holding opponents’ to just 32.4% shooting. They defended well from perimeter only allowing 26.4% of shots from range to fall in. They outrebounded the LEC, leading the conference in amount of rebounds and rebounds allowed. They also led in blocks and were second in assists in the LEC.
It’s hard to replicate or improve upon a one-loss season when your team is that dominant. Looking at the other seasons though, you could consider this a “down” year. It’s their first under-20-win season since the 2018-19 season where the Anchorwomen finished 18-9 being 9-7 in conference play, but that team reached the championship as the five-seed.
From an outside perspective, it seems that the Anchorwomen are still their usual dominant selves but in the Cosgrove era they’ll want more. It’ll be fun to see how the Anchorwomen will look next season with the 1,000-point seniors Medbury and Nardolillo potentially exiting the program.
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