 "Photo: Aaron Gould/ The Olympian")
Despite the return of leading scorer Jodi Mitchell, the Olympic College Rangers women’s basketball team lost consecutive games to extend their losing streak to 10 games.
What once had the outlook for a promising season at 3-4 has made an abrupt turn for the worst for the women, dropping 10 straight games by an average margin of 24.3 points.
“I don’t want to lose anymore,” said freshman forward Jasmine Campbell. “It’s really hard when we play tough and still lose how we do.”
The past two games have also been unkind to the Rangers, starting with the Bellevue Bulldogs visiting OC at the Bremer Student Center on Feb. 10.
The second place Bulldogs quickly jumped on the Mitchell-less Rangers and didn’t let up the entire game, outscoring the Rangers by 30 in the second half alone on their way to an 85-37 romping.
“It’s tough knowing they played hard,” said OC head coach Tammy Helwig. “They’re a really good team, and it showed.”
The Bulldogs, 11-2 league, 16-7 overall, held the Rangers, 2-11 league, 3-14 overall, to their worst shooting performance of the season, going 8 of 54 from the field for 14.8 percent and 28 turnovers. Jessica Jordan led the Rangers with 15 points and nine rebounds.
“It’s tough watching when you want to help them win, but you can’t when you’re on the bench,” said Campbell.
With the return of Mitchell to the lineup against first place Skagit Valley, the Rangers played much better than their previous game, yet still ended up getting pounded 78-51.
“We played better this game, but we just don’t seem to have the fight in us right now,” said Helwig. “Hopefully we’ll see that fire in the last few games so we can end on a high note.”
Although OC collectively shot better as a team in the game, 27 percent from the field, turnovers seemed to doom the women once again as they lost the ball 31 times to the Cardinals.
“You can never have that many turnovers and expect the game to end the way you want to,” said Helwig.
With the season coming to a close at the end of February, the team is looking to right the ship and finish the season on a positive note with stronger performances.
“I really just want the team to play better so we can win a few more,” said Campbell. “We’re all tired of losing, and we really want to win again.”
The team plays Seattle and Edmonds on the road before wrapping their season up against Whatcom at home Saturday.
Moral victories may be all that stands between the Rangers from dwelling on a dismal year, or from looking forward to what promise next year holds.
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