With just over a minute remaining in the Patriot League quarterfinal against Army, the women’s basketball team faced a 15-point deficit. Staring down the end of the season, senior guards Abby Antognoli, Kylie Favours and Halee Smith checked out of the game one final time and put their arms around each other.
“We were hugging each other, basically saying that we’ve had so many memories and it’s been such a long journey and it’s bittersweet,” Antognoli said. “We were embracing just being with each other in our last moments.”
“We’re all roommates and we’ve talked about this ending moment of our career,” Smith said.
The Leopards (5-11 Patriot League, 10-21 overall) defeated American University on Saturday (1-16 Patriot League, 1-29 overall) in blowout fashion in the play-in round of the Patriot League tournament. Despite a first-half lead against two-seeded Army (13-4 Patriot League, 23-6 overall), the Leopards squandered second-half opportunities on Monday and lost 55-40.
The Maroon and White got off to a blazing start against American. After a tight 11-10 beginning, junior guard Sauda Ntaconayigize caught fire, knocking down three straight 3-pointers en route to a 5-7 performance from downtown.
“Honestly, just the confidence after the first quarter, it propelled me through the other three quarters,” Ntaconayigize said. “Just shooting when I’m open, that was it, really.”
Early in the second quarter, it was the Antognoli show, as the All-Patriot League Third Team recipient scored or assisted on the first 13 points of the frame, including a gorgeous dime to Smith and a pair of transition buckets.
“We have a lot of girls who can get out and run,” Antognoli said. “We’re a smaller team, so our strength is transition, and that’s where we score a bunch of our points.”
To close out the first half, it was sophomore guard Teresa Kiewiet who scored six points in the paint in the final minutes, as the Leopards jumped out to a 44-20 halftime lead.
“I think being aggressive in the paint, looking for post-ups and stuff in the high post, it’s kind of been what’s been working for me,” Kiewiet said.
Keeping their foot on the gas, the Leopards kicked off the second half on a 10-0 run and went into the fourth quarter with a 34-point lead.
After some box-score dressing in the final frame, the Leopards took home the whopping 87-53 victory. Junior forward Emma Shields notched a 15-point, 13-rebound double-double. Ntaconayigize, Kiewiet and Antognoli each tallied double-digit games, including a masterful nine assists to zero turnovers from Antognoli.
“I’m a pass-first point guard,” Antognoli said. “I love to find my people around me. Tonight, I was able to handle the pressure pretty well, no turnovers, which is pretty unlikely, especially playing most of three quarters.”
The Leopards stifled the Eagles defensively, holding American to just 4-28 from 3-point range.
“We scouted them for their shooters,” Kiewiet said. “We knew who they were. We were able to put pressure on them and not let them get easy shots in the first half, especially, and hold them down.”
Following the dominating play-in game, the Leopards took on Army on Monday night.
The Leopards locked down defensively to start, holding the Black Knights to just six points in the first quarter to take a 12-6 lead. An early Antognoli 3-pointer in the second quarter extended the Leopards’ lead to seven points.
Army continued to fight back, getting dribble penetration, drawing fouls and crashing the offensive class, retaking the lead 21-19 going into halftime.
“I think the whole game, we struggled putting the ball in the basket, and it was covered up with the fact that Army did also in the first half,” Antognoli said. “It’s fool’s gold, thinking that scoring 20 points will allow you to win next half.”
The Black Knights got rolling in the second half, scoring 20 points on 50% shooting in the third quarter.
Smith said the Leopards tried to stay on their marks without switching.
“We wanted to try to stay out on the people who we started out on, so that’s what made it a little bit more difficult to deal with the driving,” she said.
The Leopards also gave up 23 offensive rebounds to Army, getting outshot 68-43 to put the Maroon and White at a significant disadvantage.
With her collegiate career coming to an end, Smith said that she was looking forward to seeing the future of the program.
“I know that they’re going to step up to the occasion,” Smith said.
“We haven’t won a play-in game the past three years, so that was a feat in itself, and playing the number two seed as tight as we did in the first half was a testament to our defense,” Antognoli said. “It’s just a shame that couldn’t carry for two halves, but proud of the fight.”
