This last week in Chatham athletics featured matchups of men’s and women’s basketball traveling to square off with the Bethany College Bison as the end of the calendar year draws closer.
Wednesday Dec. 10
The Cougars traveled south to Bethany, West Virginia, to face off in its second Presidents’ Athletic Conference game of this season after a loss to Washington & Jefferson in Washington, Pennsylvania in the previous week.
This game began a close affair between the teams, ending the first quarter just 9-12 in favor of the Bison. The Cougars only landed on 11.76% of shots in the quarter, while the Bison would score on 33% of its attempts.
The same story would follow along in the second, with slight improvement for the Cougars. They scored on 4 of 17 attempts but would fail to score a single three-point shot before heading into the breakwhere the score would be 31-19.
The third quarter seemed to be a mark of improvement for the team, where it shot 57% from the field, scoring 18 points to attempt to close the deficit. However, this would not follow into the fourth and final quarter, where again the Cougars fell to just 10% from the field, ending the night in a 58-43 loss to the Bison.
The Cougars would win the turnover battle on the night, 25-17 and were led by seniors Madison Nereu with 16 points and 14 rebounds, and Alyssa Laukus, who had 12 points, five assists and five rebounds on the night.
Nereu leads the team in both points and rebounds on the season, averaging 17.8 and 9.7, respectively, with Laukus close behind her, averaging 13.4 and 5.4 with an additional 3.1 steals per game. Women’s basketball will face Juniata College as its next opponent on Dec. 30, where it travels to Huntingdon, Pennsylvania to square off with the Eagles.
Tuesday Dec. 16
Chatham men’s basketball would travel to Bethany, West Virginia, to square off in their matchup with the Bison. The team aimed to bounce back after its loss to Washington and Jefferson two weeks ago.
The first half was a tight affair with the Bison taking an early lead, 14-5, after the first six minutes,but the Cougars claimed the lead around the ten-minute mark, 18-17, with a layup from Diaun Pinkett ‘26. The game would remain air-tight with the first half finishing 41-39 in favor of the Bison.
It was more of the same when the Bison would take an eight-point lead after the start of the second half. But with nine and a half minutes remaining, the score would be tied at 62-62 between the teams.
A quick burst by the Cougars would give it a 75-67 lead before the Bison would battle back to a 77-76 scoreline with only two minutes remaining of game time. The game remained close, with the Cougars eventually coming out 86-83 victors on the night.
The Cougars were led by Pinkett, who had a 25-point and 12-rebound double-double on the night, with an additional 23 points from Sam Norfleet IV ‘28, and a double-double from Jake TenBerge ‘26 (12 points and 12 rebounds).
Men’s basketball will travel to face Pitt Bradford on Saturday, Dec. 20, in its first of two matchups in the John Carroll Classic. It will then square off with the hosts, John Carroll, at 3 pm Sunday, Dec. 21, to conclude the two-game weekend.