Courtesy of Sean Elliot
On Sunday, Feb. 22, the Connecticut College Men’s and Women’s Basketball teams both competed in the first round of the NESCAC tournament. Unfortunately, both were defeated as the lower seeds in the bracket. Both teams had things to smile about however coming off of successful regular seasons for both squads.
Men’s Basketball
Men’s Basketball lost as the 8th seed and were heavy underdogs to 1st seed Wesleyan University by a score of 87-78. The Camels had handed Wesleyan their only defeat of the season in a nail-biter at the Luce Field House on January 31, which ended 84-83 in favor of Conn. This time, however, the story was different.
Although the Camels were able to keep it close in the first half down just one point at half time, Wesleyan was able to pull away and take a double digit lead in the early second half and never relinquished it. Wesleyan’s success in this game was off the back of junior guard Ben Lyttle who, despite only averaging 7.9 points per game this season for the Cardinals, was able to put up a team leading 19 points in the biggest game of the season so far for both of these teams.
Forward Elias Espinosa ‘26 led the charge for the Camels with an impressive 21 points alongside forward Dylan Watson ‘27 who posted an impressive double-double of 14 points and 12 rebounds. Guard James LaFrance ‘28 had an underwhelming postseason debut at Connecticut College with just 6 points from 8 shot attempts and 2 turnovers. LaFrance was a new addition to the team this season as he transferred from Eckerd College after one year. He had been a successful contributor previously this season, but on Sunday he was nonfactor.
Despite the loss, it was still a valiant effort by the men. They managed to stay competitive against a juggernaut like Wesleyan—trading blows throughout the first half—but the deficit was just too much to make up in the last ten minutes.
Courtesy of Sean Elliot
Women’s Basketball
The same can’t be said for the women who, despite having only one fewer NESCAC win this season, were trounced by Amherst College on Sunday. They came into the tournament in a three way tie for the 4th seed with Trinity College and Williams College at 5-5, but they received the short end of the stick and were the 6th seed by tiebrake. This forced them to go on the road to play 3rd seeded Amherst who held a 6-4 NESCAC record this regular season. The game was not close as the Camels lost 77-55 in their first round matchup. It was the same story as Amherst led the entire 40 minute game from start to finish. They trailed by seven after the first 10 minutes, and the deficit only grew as they found themselves down 35-18 at Halftime. Amherst’s defense was suffocating in the first half and was seemingly enough to ride out with a victory over the Camels with the scoring hovering around a 20-point difference for the rest of the game.
In their first NESCAC quarterfinal appearance since 2019, Mia Xerras ‘27 and Sophia Tavarez ‘29 led the Conn charge with 13 points each. The Camels started slow shooting 1-for-6 from the floor and were never able to really come back. Despite the loss, the women’s basketball team can still be proud of their season, having won the most games in a season since 2017-18 and the most NESCAC conference wins since 2015-16. A large part of the team’s improvement was due to the addition of Tavarez, who is a front-runner for the NESCAC Rookie of the Year, and ranks third in the conference in average points per game.
Looking Forward
Although it was a disappointing end of the Men’s and Women’s Basketball seasons, there were still lots of great moments to remember. From the men’s season, a defining upset win at home against Wesleyan, the only defeat Wesleyan suffered in the NESCAC this year. For the women’s team, finishing off a strong season with an impressive win over 19th nationally ranked Bates College. After struggling to make gains in previous years, Connecticut College students got to enjoy watching the team’s many exciting and exhilarating moments this winter. Now that the off-season is finally here, Conn can enjoy some needed rest. But these young teams are just getting started, so we’ll just have to wait another year to see what they can do on the court in 2027.
