The Wet Bandits, a team of freshmen from Knott Hall, defeated the Irish Amish, a team of sophomore girls dressed in full Amish regalia — except for their Nike and Adidas basketball shoes — by the comfortable margin of 21-5 Tuesday.
The Wet Bandits were captained by Charlie Lee and consisted of Lee, Will Crowley, Tyler Smith, Tebo Bennett and Chris Carr; the Irish Amish roster incorporated Claire Kueny, Erica Vesnaver, Laura Yoviene, Analise Althoff and captain Megan Bastedo.
The Amish's humorous clothing belied a will to win the game evident from the team's organized warm-ups and their commitment to a dribble-drive-kick attack on the offensive end of the floor. Their game plan resulted in open jump shots, but the Amish could not get their shots to fall and fell behind quickly.
The Bandits were able to use their superior size and athleticism to make easy passes and find easy scores in the paint. Their missed shots usually resulted in offensive rebounds that they were then able to convert into layups. In fact, their athleticism later in the game allowed them to execute alley-oops in the second half when the outcome was in doubt.
"We executed our game plan to the best of our ability," Lee said. "We play for keeps every time we take the court."
The Irish Amish, despite their high effort level, saw some inherent disadvantages that gave them an uphill battle from the beginning.
"We felt that our conservative dress and attitude and lack of height were big factors today," Bastedo said. "I'm really confident in our chances in the women's bracket. Next time we'll slit the dresses a little bit higher."
You're not that special 21, Team Cupcake 7
You're not that special (trust us, we read your application) a team of counselors from the Office of Undergraduate Admissions, defeated Team Cupcake, a squad of seniors with a large, supportive cheering section in a long, defensive battle that was marked at times by sloppy play from both sides.
The Admissions team was captained by Matt O'Rourke and featured Gabe Brown, Maureen Clark, Stephanie Nguyen, Chris Perkins, Charleen Vinalon and Julie Denkler, while captain Emily Stewart's Team Cupcake squad played Mary Cecilia Mitsch, Lauren Miller-Lemon, Emily Chappell and Patty Carnevale.
The size discrepancy between the teams favored Special, who used its advantage on both ends of the court, with Perkins and Brown racking up block after block on defense and gaining as many as four offensive rebounds on a single possession multiple times.
In addition, the Admissions team tried to utilize fast breaks but often missed the ensuing layup attempt, characteristic of the shooting from both teams. Team Cupcake tried to counter the size advantage with swarming, energetic defense on the perimeter and in the post, using active hands to disrupt the Admissions offense.
The contest got off to an even start before Special pulled ahead; Team Cupcake would not give up, however, and fought hard to the very end, as demonstrated by one sequence in which a Cupcaker took an elbow to the lip.
"We've got fat lips and bruised knees, but on the whole, we came to play today," Stewart said. "We were a little anxious about playing people older than us, but we had a great game."
The Admissions office, for its part, will savor a rare Bookstore Basketball victory before preparing for its next game after the Easter break.
"It's been a while for our office since we've won a game and so we're happy to come out here, play pretty well, and get a W," O'Rourke said. "It was a hard-fought game, and they played us tough. We're going to enjoy this one for a while."
Team No. 1 21, Tiger Tiger Rawr 8
In an all-senior matchup Tuesday evening, Team No. 1, a victim of censorship, defeated Tiger Tiger Rawr.
Team No. 1 had the obvious advantage in height, athleticism and number of Y-chromosomes. But instead of putting Tiger Tiger Rawr away immediately after a 5-0 run, they let them stick around. Team No. 1 tried to get fancy with alley-oops and no look passes, but to no avail. Once they settled in and decided to end the game, they did so.
Tiger Tiger Rawr, clad in orange shirts with black stripes and consisting of seniors Gabby Mai, Carolyn Rumer, Colleen Nolan, Ellen Mrowka and Kiel Hockett, rode their youthful exuberance the entire game, despite being down on the scoreboard.
"The Tigers had the tenacity," Rumer said. "We just didn't have the accuracy."
Coming into the game, Team No. 1, consisting of seniors Greg Cunn, John Baumgardner, Mike Lucien, John Langley and Ray Farabaugh, just wanted to "let the game come to us," Lucien said.
According to Team No. 1, who could nearly coast to victory for the final points of the game, the deciding factor in the outcome was "playing four girls." Apparently Hockett's male presence was not enough to intimidate the all-male Team No. 1.
"And we wanted to execute the cherry picking strategy," Langley said.
The Mantastic 5 21, 2010 Quidditch Olympic Gold Medalists 2
In an entertaining all-female showdown, the Mantastic 5 led a rout of the 2010 Quidditch Olympic Gold Medalists, 21-2.
The Mantastic 5 came dressed in tank tops and flannel shirts, while the Harry Potter-inspired Gold Medalists wore black outfits, capes and wielded wands. But when things got serious, the capes came off, the wands were tossed aside and some of the Mantastic 5 even lost the long-sleeved flannel.
The disparity on the scoreboard never reflected the intensity of the game. Every rebound was contested, nearly every pass deflected and every dribbler was met with hounding defense by the opposition.
The Manstastic 5 simply knocked down shots with greater consistency than the Gold Medalists.
Even though the final tally made it look like a blowout, no one on the 2010 Quidditch Olympic Gold Medalists — freshmn Catherine Reidy, Patrizia Martellard, Maria Diamond, Brianna Piper and Meredith Kugar — were disheartened at the end of the game.
"We just wanted to try as hard as we could, but have fun at the same time," Reidy said.
"We're better on brooms," her teammates added.
The Mantastic 5 — juniors Allison Vicenzi, Amywren Miller, Eileen Flanagan, Delia Cronin and Sam Maxwell — "were looking for a complete destroyal."
"We model our game after the Bash Bros. from the Mighty Ducks," the Mantastic 5 said.
The Mantastic 5 played well, but in order to advance further in the seemingly neverending bracket of Bookstore, they will need to improve.
"We have some practicing to do," they said. "We expect great things in the next round."
