Coming off a six-point loss to rival Franklin & Marshall College at the Terry Greene Memorial Tournament, the Blue Jays women’s basketball team was looking to start off the season in conference play on the right foot. Unfortunately, they ran into ninth-ranked Lebanon Valley College, who is also picked to win the conference. LVC scored first and remained in control the rest of the game on their way to a 62-38 victory over the Blue Jays.
The Blue Jays faced many contested shots due to the stingy defense that LVC played, as they were held to less than 29 percent shooting. The Dutchmen also dominated most statistical categories such as points in the paint, outscoring the Blue Jays 24 to 6, bench points 16 to 9, and points off turnovers 14 to 11.
Junior guard Kendra Beittel believes that there are a lot of positives that the team can take from their first conference game. “With new players in the mix this year not everyone was as familiar with LVC. Having already played them once this season, going into the second game we will be more familiar with them and how they play as a whole. We will be able to do more drills and such specific to LVC at practice prior to playing them again,” Beittel said.
The Blue Jays are off to a 1-3 start with their sole win being their season opener, which was a one point over Susquehanna University 69-68 Nov. 15. So far this season, the Blue Jays have been outscored by an average of more than 10 points per contest.
With some new players in the starting line-up this season as well as head coach Sherri Gorman in her first season at Elizabethtown College, there have been some adjustments, but Beittel trusts the team’s transition has been a great one. “I think we have adjusted fairly well. With any new coach there are going to be changes, but I think as a whole we have done a pretty good job at adapting to those changes. The returning players are all very comfortable playing with one another so adding a few new into the mix really was not that difficult,” Beittel said.
One of the few bright spots so far in the early season has been the scoring abilities of first-year Rachel Forjan. The York Catholic High graduate is second on the team in scoring, with 13.3 points per game and leads the team with 17 three-point shot attempts, seven of which she made.
Forjan also has confidence in her teammates that they can turn around from their early season start. “The Lebanon Valley game was a very good learning experience for us. Even though the score did not show it, we did some things very well as a team. The coaches were very positive about it.  LVC is a very good team and the things that we did well against them gave us some confidence. This game also highlighted the things we need to work on harder at practice.  Being a first-year on the team with a new coaching staff, I had no idea what to expect. The girls on the team were very welcoming and encouraging,” Forjan said.
Another bright spot has been York University sophomore transfer Taylor Santor who has made an impact in distributing the ball as she leads the team with eight assists.
The Blue Jays next game is against Widener University, who is currently 3-0 for the season. The team has confidence that they will bring their style of basketball and come out with a victory. “We will prepare for Widener the same way we prepare for any other team. On any given night, any team can beat anyone in our conference. We come prepared, and ready to play every game with the same intensity whether the team is 3-0 or 0-3,” Beittel said.