The Little Things Make All the Difference

On Tuesday night, we beat the second-best team in the Liberty League, RPI. I guess you could call it an upset because they are higher in the standings than we are, but really we just felt that we were the better all-around team and that is why we won the game. What really mattered was that it kept our playoff hopes alive heading into this weekend.

If you look in the box score of Tuesday night’s game, you will see that we won by a score of 59-55. You will see that Brittany Parks led us with 21 points and five steals, and you will see that Olivia Westbrook-Gold had 11 points and six boards off the bench to spark us as well. You’ll see that RPI was led by 19 points from graduate student Whitney Coleman. But the box score won’t tell you offer the most revealing glimpse into why we won because it was the unheralded, non-statistical contributions of freshman Anielle Fredman that made the difference.

According to the box score, Ani played just nine minutes in the contest, and contributed with just a foul and a turnover. The box score doesn’t tell you that Ani made all the difference in the game. After House picked up her fourth foul and headed to the bench, we went through a tough scoring drought, while RPI’s Coleman beginning to take over the game, hitting jumper after jumper in the lane. With about eight minutes left to play, our 12-point cushion had been whittled down to four as Coleman single-handedly brought RPI back into the game.

It was at this point, which about eight and half minutes left to play that Ani Subbed in, her first appearance of the game. We switched our defense to a box and 1, and Ani’s sole job was to faceguard Coleman at all times and keep her from getting the ball and scoring. This is exactly what Ani did. Ani was able to keep Coleman from getting the ball the majority of the time, and when she did get it she rarely scored. The intensity and pressure of Ani’s defense truly allowed us to win this game.

In the box score, Ani’s play seems insignificant, but everyone watching that game, my teammates and coaches in particular, knows that we don’t win that game without Ani on the court playing her “Big D” as she likes to call it. Sometimes, the box score can’t tell the story of the little things, and those really do make all the difference.