Phoebe Christine Bush – Page 25

Students saddened by SCSC Chartwells employee’s departure

Michele Van Buren-Keefer has taken Linnea Velasquez’s place at the Schimmel Conrades Science Center Food Cart. Buren-Keefer started working there this semester, when it was discovered Velasquez had decided to leave.

By Rachel Vincinguerra
Transcript Reporter

Linnea Velasquez has worked at the Schimmel Conrades Science Center (SCSC) Food Cart serving students and faculty their morning coffee for almost 13 years. Velasquez began her day alongside the science majors early in the morning and closed up shop at 1:30 p.m. every weekday. After working at the university for so long, students and fellow employees were surprised when she did not return from winter break the week of Jan. 14 with other faculty, staff, students and Chartwells employees.

Junior Jenna Reeger said she saw Velasquez setting up the Science Center Food Cart on Monday Jan. 14, but has not seen her since. Reeger said she knew Velasquez from her visits to the Food Cart over the past three years.

“Sometimes she was really happy to see me and would chat and tell me a personal story,” Regger said. “No one is sure if she was fired, if she quit or if she was asked to leave. I could never tell how much she actually liked her job–she definitely liked the students–but I don’t know how much she actually liked working there.”

Senior Kathleen Dalton echoed Reeger’s assessment of Velasquez’s interaction with students.

“She seemed very kind to some students but sometimes impatient with others,” Dalton said.

Dalton personally had a friendly relationship with Velasquez and would often stop at the Food Cart to get her morning tea before class. She had not heard about Velasquez’s absence and said she is mostly curious to find out why. Although students like Dalton are curious about the cause of her absence, Chartwells employees have not said much on the matter.

Michele Van Buren-Keefer, who has taken Velasquez’s place at the Science Center Food Cart, said only a few other employees have asked where Velasquez went. “A couple employees said they’d miss her but not much has been said,” Van Buren-Keefer said. Gene Castelli, Chartwells’s Resident District Manager at OWU, said he is saddened to see Velasquez go.

“I personally liked Linnea a lot and got along very well with her and enjoyed her personality,” he said.
“It is sad she chose to leave.”

After twelve years, Castelli said he was upset by Velasquez’s sudden departure.

He said the reasons she left are uncertain and she has not confirmed anything to him at this point.

Velasquez said she came to OWU as a Chartwells employee in 2000 to support her son’s activity in high school sports.

She said she enjoyed the time she spent in the Science Center Cart and will always remember the kind words and small gifts of recognition she received from grateful students.

“Customer service was so important to me and knowing the names of each of you and what each person liked or disliked,” Velasquez said. “I can honestly say you people made me feel so important and special over the years and I thank you.”

Velasquez has chosen to remain private about her resignation, but she said she appreciates the good wishes of students and employees.

Students like Reeger, however, just wish they had time for farewells after three years of seeing the same face behind the counter.

“If I had known she was leaving, I would have liked to say goodbye,” Reeger said.

50 Day Club gets ready to start guzzling

By Brian Cook
Transcript Correspondent

The Backstretch Bar will hold sign-ups for their annual 50 Day Club on Saturday, March 23, according to owner Joanne Meyer.

The club, which started ten years ago, involves ordering at least two drinks at the Backstretch every day for 50 consecutive days leading up to Ohio Wesleyan’s graduation. Drinks don’t have to be alcoholic.

According to Meyer, it was inspired by two employees who decided to come to the bar every day for the last semester of their college career.

They only made it 32 days, but from that semester Meyer decided to make a change.

Meyer said it made her think about the emotional experience of finishing college and being part of the Delaware community and the “Backstretch family.”

Senior AJ Alonzo likes the idea of the challenge, but has limitations that will keep him from participating this year. “I would like to do the 50 Day Club, but I’m part of the ultimate Frisbee team, and we travel to tournaments often during the semester so I would miss too many days,” Alonzo said.

Senior Ethan Chapman, on the other hand, said he has “no interest in participating.”

The challenge is typically geared towards seniors, but it is open to anyone who is at least 21 years old at the start of the challenge.

Participants may miss up to three days if they have a valid excuse for each day, but must make up the drinks they missed within five days of their excused absence.

The 50 Day Club started with just 20 people signing up, according to Meyer.

She also said the highest entry rate ever was 178, but most people do not finish the challenge; so the highest number of completions in any one year was 69.

Recently, according to Meyer, the club added a team aspect to the game, where people are randomly assigned to one of four different teams that compete in games every Wednesday night.

Meyer believes team play has made the club better.

“Teams provide interactions between the OWU and Delaware community,” she said.

BishopNet has this gal singin’ the blues

Whether I’m casually clicking my way through a Facebook profile of someone who, let’s be honest, I’ve never met before, or trying to figure out what the correct reagent is for my organic chemistry homework, you can bet that I’ll have to refresh the internet at least five times in the hour.

This is a serious BishopNet problem. Some people may still consider the internet to be a luxury we all need to stop obsessing over, but to us college students, the internet is a necessity. Half of my homework has to be completed online or I have to get assignments off of Blackboard.

Not to mention the fact that my world will literally shut down if I can’t read or send emails successfully at any given moment of the day. The internet at Ohio Wesleyan has never been perfect, and I don’t expect it to be. But we aren’t a very big school, and I would hope that we could manage to have a network that can process 2,000 internet connections if OSU up the road has a million connections.

That may have been an exaggeration, but it’s still a problem. Having the internet crash on you while watching the newest “Grey’s Anatomy” sucks, but having it crash as you’re filling out a grad school application – debilitating.
The last two and a half years I’ve been on campus, BishopNet has gone from a slight annoyance to a connection that barely exists.

My knowledge of servers and networks is slim to none, but I can’t bear to think of another semester living in fear of the unpredictable connection.

A student working in the OWU network control center explained to me that the problem has been ongoing and things have been worked on, but the efforts to fix the slow connections and trips have apparently not helped the situation.

Perhaps we need to invest in more servers, or devote more time to the situation, because whatever work is being done, clearly is to no avail. Not only do students rely on the internet, but most of the professors, faculty and staff have to use BishopNet to accomplish normal, daily tasks. With a dysfunctional internet, the time it takes to do these tasks increases, and then nothing gets done on time or at least not without frustration. The only time BishopNet problems are o.k., is when they are describing OWU students’ mutual understanding of Thursday morning struggles.

Otherwise, we need some serious internet connection help.

Emily Hostetler
Transcript Reporter

The good and bad sides of anonymous complimenting

By Breanne Reilly
Transcript Reporter

When OWU Compliments popped up in my news feed in December 2012, I liked it immediately. The Facebook forum was created last semester so Bishops could show anonymous appreciation toward OWU students, organizations and staff.
According to the creators, who are all students, the forum was inspired by a suggestion from OWU memes and the Queens University Compliments page. It is all about giving Bishops the “warm-and-fuzzies” through positive posts that thank, compliment or encourage.

The page is set up so participants can simply send the administrators a private message. The creators repost the message without revealing the poster’s name. For extra anonymity, the page offers a Google form users can fill out so that even the creators do not know the source of the message.

Many of the posts refer to specific students or groups. Students who follow the page have a habit of tagging the people the post is addressed to so that they can receive his or her compliment on their news feed. These followers have taken on a shared responsibility to make sure the warm message gets back to the addressee. This is great example of how our community operates.

The creators encourage those who are mentioned in posts to compliment students who have not been mentioned on the page. The students can then pay it forward and keep a stream of positive posts up.

Although posts that mention specific students allow Compliments users to “share the love,” I prefer the comments that are left open to interpretation. A couple of weeks ago, somebody posted, “To the brunette I shared a laugh with in Corns today, you are a fox and I like your shoes.”

My initial reaction to this comment: Moi? Somebody thinks I’m funny! Somebody thinks I’m fashionable! I was elated.
My second reaction to this comment: Wait. This post could refer to any person with brown hair who has a class in Corns.

This is what I like about the anonymity the site offers. Some of the posts that Bishops leave are not specific so they can be taken as a compliment by several students. Imagine what 500 brunettes could accomplish with amped up confidence.

I also like the anonymity because it makes the compliment more believable. When we are complimented by our friends, we don’t always believe them. They tell us how great we are all the time. A stranger can be a more reliable source for a genuine compliment.

The anonymity of the forum also makes users feel free to share their thoughts. It’s easier to talk to someone when we’re not in front of them. Face-to-face communication makes us susceptible to others’ reactions. Behind our computer screens and anonymous identities we do not as vulnerable. We can thank our helpers without risking the Hallmark moment or admit a crush without getting all red in the face.

This tendency to open up online is called the online disinhibition effect. Harmless symptoms of this effect include a less guarded, more affectionate attitude while logged on. We are less anxious about the consequences of cyberspace actions because they cannot be directly linked to us.

The positive statements on OWU Compliments prove that this effect is not a bad thing. But communicating through social media behind a shield of anonymity can have negative consequences. Little of our communication takes place through written or spoken words. Approximately 93 percent of our communication is based on what we perceive through body language. Humans need interactive, authentic communication to properly connect.

And this is the only problem I have with an anonymous online forum.

The point of OWU Compliments is just that–to compliment—and not necessarily to connect. Arguably, the page has brought the community closer together as a whole. But since its creation, there have been hundreds of positive posts from Bishops. I could be making an assumption, but that’s hundreds of compliments and thank you’s that were not delivered through a personal means of communication.

Although we do positive deeds through posting on the page, we don’t help ourselves through faceless appreciation. We are avoiding face-to-face communication and allowing anonymous posters on an online forum to communicate for us.
My recommendation is this: if you want to compliment or thank someone, say it to them in person. Then go and post it on the OWU Compliments page so you can share your appreciation with the entire community.

Endowment investments: Where should institutions put the money?

By Thomas Wolber
Associate Professor of MFL

For some 170 years, Ohio Wesleyan University has been in the business of educating students. On the one hand, it attempts to develop a young person’s knowledge, skills, critical thinking and intellect. On the other hand, according to its “Statement of Aims,” it places education in the context of values.

Among the quoted goals are intellectual honesty, the concern for ethical issues (such as justice), the appreciation of cultural heritages and the willingness to meet the responsibilities of citizenship.

Thus, OWU strives to equip students not only with knowledge but also with “character.” We are a community of students and teachers united in the free pursuit of truth in the never-ending quest to examine the world around and within ourselves.

Ohio Wesleyan, founded by Methodists, is not unique in that respect. Many colleges and universities have goals that are based in Greco-Roman philosophy and/or the Judeo-Christian tradition.

Within that frame of reference, let us examine now the issue of socially responsible investing (SRI). It becomes clear very quickly that there is a deep gap between theory and practice. It is often the case that institutions of higher learning invest their endowment funds in whatever yields the highest returns. The maximization of profit is often the primary goal and the highest priority. In the short-term pursuit of revenues, the consideration of the long-term social and political impact is often ignored. Many schools claim to have strong ethical values, but when it comes to business decisions, they are unscrupulous. They teach good citizenship but don’t practice it themselves. They don’t put their money where their mouth is, forgetting that reputations and legacy are enhanced or diminished by the choices we make.

The question is, should a university (or a pension fund) invest in “sin stocks” involving alcohol, tobacco, gambling, pesticides, guns and ammunition, prostitution or pornography? Should they invest in coal mines, hydraulic fracturing, nuclear power plants and other industries that are harmful to humankind and to the environment?

Should they invest in countries where a tiny elite reaps all the income and squirrels it away in Swiss bank accounts while the vast majority of the population is oppressed and starving? Should they invest in far-flung countries on the other side of the globe when their own local communities are not thriving because of a lack of jobs? Wouldn’t such investments be socially irresponsible and in violation of the stated missions of most colleges even if the income is intended to serve educational purposes? How does this create a better world?

If you take the notion of “intellectual honesty” seriously, the answer must be unequivocally no. Institutions must consider the social, political, and environmental impact of their investment strategy. In the opinion of this writer, the endowment portfolio of a university should match their mission. The good news is that green investing is growing rapidly. Plenty of viable alternatives exist if business-affairs people and trustees only cared to look.

Locally, Huntington Bancshares recently rolled out a new investment option called EcoLogical Strategy ETF that emphasizes renewable energies, energy conservation, ecofarming, natural and organic foods and recycling. Nationally, in 2005 there were 55 funds with a total of $12 billion in assets. Five years later, in 2010, there were 250 mutual funds with $316 billion in assets. In 2012, the numbers was 333 funds with $640.5 billions.

The field is exploding. Dozens of publications offer information about environmentally friendly stocks and bonds and other green-investing strategies. The non-profit US-SIF (Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investment) has a great website that explores ethical investment options. The U.N.-based “Principles for Responsible Investment” is another webpage devoted to SRIs globally.

In the corporate world, more and more responsible shareholders are demanding change and are exerting pressure. At a growing number of colleges and universities, too, students and teachers concerned about climate change are demanding that their institutions sell off their holdings in fossil-fuel companies, which represent a significant portion of the stock market.

Colleges and universities can and must do more to practice good corporate citizenship. Socially Responsible Investment would be an excellent starting point.

Gunderson sculpts reflections on landscapes, upbringing

By Jacob Beach
Transcript Reporter

1977 was the last time Barry Gunderson had an exhibit on the Ohio Wesleyan campus. Gunderson is a sculptor from Minnesota and has been working for Kenyon College since 1974 as a professor of sculpting. The exhibit itself showcases five different series that Gunderson has been working on throughout his career. The names of these series are “Dirt”, “Liverpool”, “Versailles”, “UMOs” and “Head Cases.” Each one has a different story to tell and uses different techniques.

“All art on display have to relate to the classroom and art department,” said Justin Kronewetter, director of Ross Art Museum. “Barry is all 3D work. His work relates to one of the areas of the art department and campus programming.”
The first series on display when entering the Ross Art Museum are Gunderson’s “UMOs.”

This acronym stands for Useless Metal Objects. According to Gunderson, the pieces are a series of 50 welded and painted aluminum sculptures that “are not useless at all.”

“I love the power I have to manipulate this lightweight, yet strong material into whatever form I need,” he said.
Gunderson uses several techniques of “grinding, mark-making and adding paint.… Pattern making and surface details are vital.”

According to Gunderson, this is the very first time that he has seen all his UMOs in one place since he began sculpting them five years ago. Kronewetter said he’s pleased to offer Gunderson the opportunity to show his entire collection at the Ross.

“I am happy to provide him enough space in a professional venue so that he can show off his work all together.”
Surrounding the UMOs is a series called “Head Cases,” which are wooden faces and heads that depict, according to Gunderson, “the worries and thoughts that interrupt that full night’s sleep.”

The middle room of the art gallery contains the series called “Dirt,” which “explores the abstract patterns of plowing, tilling, seeding and growing.”

This series stems from Gunderson’s Minnesota upbringing and is influenced largely by the work of painter Grant Wood. “I work from both memory and imagination,” Gunderson said. “…Every time I go home we drive through the farmlands in the northwest and certain patterns just stick in my head.”

In the back room of the museum is the final series being shown at Ohio Wesleyan, “Liverpool.”

Gunderson produced the project—a series is based on his fascination with terrace houses—during his sabbatical in 2005.

“I quickly became interested in those long strings of houses where individual owners assert their individuality with distinct divisions of color, pattern and building material even when the structural integrity is disrupted,” he said.
Gunderson said he finds his art and work to be relaxing and therapeutic, but stressful at times.

“I work all the time except in class time, I am one of those guys that is not happy when I am not in the studio; my wife knows I get cranky when I am out of the studio for a couple of days, and it is rare not to see me in there,” he said.

The exhibit’s design was envisioned and set up as a collaborative effort between Gunderson, Kronewetter and his studio design class.

Kronewetter went to Gunderson’s house to see the collection before setting it up. “Justin had a vision,” Gunderson said. “They came to my house, I showed them my collection and they collected it and arranged a beautiful exhibit, in my opinion.” It takes an average of 10 days to set up an exhibit, according to Kronewetter. He said a “workforce” of 12 students was instrumental in preparing the show.

“The gallery couldn’t exist without them,” he said. “The students are in charge of moving sculpture stands, pulling nails, patching nail holes and loading the truck and trailer.”

Kronewetter said he thinks viewers of exhibits often don’t realize the work that goes into putting them together.
“A lot of people think exhibits seem like apples falling off a tree—they just appear,” he said. “Most people walk through that door, they had an enjoyable experience, but had no idea what it took to just get the musicians, prepare the food or cleaning.

“A majority of the students will never visit Ross their entire college career and it is a shame because not only does their money help pay for exhibits, they are missing out on a whole dimension,” Kronewetter said.

Gunderson said art is a valuable position in today’s society but he is still concerned where its future lies. “Art shares our vision of the world in such a way that the people that don’t do art can appreciate things around them,” he said. “Art is valuable. I am fearful where the country is going. Kids are not being served art, and our curriculum is suffering.”

According to Kronewetter, you don’t necessarily have to go to the Ross Art Museum to enlighten yourself.

“Read a good book, listen to a symphony, have an enjoyable enlightening experience,” he said. “It is a dimension of the college experience that most students are missing.”

Many of Gunderson’s larger works can be found at a number of other universities and locations throughout the United States and in New Zealand.

Stout folks up ‘Les Mis’

By Ellin Youse
A& E Editor

The music of the production “Les Miserables” is best known for its robust orchestra, emotionally charged vocals and core trembling vibrato.

So when sophomore Connor Stout released his “Folk Les Mis” EP (extended play) last week, he transformed the album with a completely new feel to the normally dense, emotional soundtrack.

“All the songs in Les Mis are so sad,” Stout said. “I wanted to give them a happy spin. I don’t want them to be so sad.”

And sad they are not. In his cover of “Empty Chairs at Empty Tables,” Stout transforms a depressing ballad of loved ones lost into an upbeat, jazzy melody with lighthearted vocals. He sings, strums and taps his fingers as he bounces around his bass.

Watching him, one completely forgets he is singing about a revolution turned tragic.

Stout first saw Les Mis performed onstage when he was 5 years old, and grew up to act in the role of protagonist Jean Valjean in his high school’s production of the play.

“My reasoning behind doing an EP of Les Mis is pretty selfish actually,” Stout said.

“This is an opportunity for me to sing all of the parts I couldn’t ordinarily sing. Like, ‘I Dreamed a Dream’ is such a kick-ass song, but I usually couldn’t perform that seeing as it’s sung by a lady.”

Although Stout’s dream is to be able to sing and play base in a rock band, he said his inspiration to perform Les Mis in a folk rendition came from his love of playing bass.

“Bass is a very diverse instrument in its sound, so it introduced me to a lot of different styles of music,” Stout said.

Stout covered each song in a different style.

From fifties doo-wop to bluegrass, Stout said he wanted to create a variety of folk sounds.

As for the recording process, Stout plays every instrument himself and layers the tracks on top of one another to form a final product.

Stout uses about four or five instruments in each song, and records all of his tracks with his iPhone.

“I tape all my stuff using a $5 app,” Stout said, laughing.

“You can tell I didn’t do it professionally, but I gotta say, it doesn’t sound like I did it on an iPhone.”
You can hear Stout’s project on his SoundCloud page, “My Celia Castle.”

Women’s basketball comes from behind to defeat Wooster

By Heather Kuch
Sports Editor

Despite a loss to Kenyon on Saturday, Jan. 19, the women’s basketball team was able defeat Wooster in the final minutes of the game on Wednesday, Jan. 23, with a score of 76-62.

The Bishops were able to come back from a five-point deficit in the second half to defeat the Wooster Scots in the final minutes of the game. Freshman guard Hanna Fedorka said the win improved the team’s confidence level, and that they plan to learn from this win.
“This game was a good team win for us,” Fedorka said. “The coaches prepared us well, and everyone stepped up when we needed it the most. We were inconsistent in the first half, but the second half we were more aggressive on both ends of the court. We are a very close team and we are really starting to play well.”

The Bishops led the Scots for the majority of the first half, with help from baskets by sophomore guard Sarah McQuade and sophomore wing Caroline Welker. Wooster closed the gap in the final minutes of the first half, bringing the score to 31-27. The Bishops held on to a narrow lead. In the second half, the Bishops were able to pull away and increase their lead to 35-27, but a series of back-to-back baskets from the Scots tied the score at 40-40.

Sophomore Caroline Welker shoots a 3-pointer to put the Bishops ahead in the game. Welker scored 12 points in the game against Wooster.

Wooster then pulled away, as the Bishops were unable to stop a Scot guard from scoring several three point shots and pulling five points ahead with eight minutes remaining in the half.

With three minutes to go in the half, the Bishops tied the game back up at 60-60, when Welker was able to knock down a three pointer off an assist from sophomore post Kristin Henning. The Bishops then made a nine point run, putting them ahead for the remainder of the game.

Assistant coach Maggie McCloskey said the team came together when they were down and worked as a whole to pull ahead of the Scots.

“I think we showed our perseverance and players stepped up when they needed to,” McCloskey said. “We hit some big shots down the stretch and had some key defensive stops and we hit our free throws towards the end.”

The Bishops outscored the Scots 16-2 in the final two minutes of the game with points from McQuade, Welker and freshman Emily Julius.

Julius said the team’s second half play was crucial in securing the win. She said they plan to use the win as motivation for their future competition.

“I think that we fought hard in the second half to pull out a win,” Julius said. “My teammates made plays at the right times and Sarah McQuade was absolutely clutch at the free throw line. I think the win will give us confidence going into our upcoming games.”

Freshman post Logan Breehl agreed with Julius and said the game as a whole went well, but they have learned what they need to improve upon.

“There are still many things we need to work on and improve upon as a team,” Breehl said. “We could have come out much stronger in the first half and blew the game open from the beginning.”

Breehl said the team is looking forward to their future games, and she said she thinks they are showing improvement.

“I think in the end by picking up our defense and hitting a few key baskets along the way we managed to pull out the win,” she said. “I think this win helped us continue to get better both offensively and defensively, which we have been working on all season, which will help us be ready for the conference tournament in the coming weeks”

Head coach Stacey Ungashick Reed said the team took advantage of the final minutes of the game and rebounded from the Wooster lead well.

“We took care of the ball in the second half and continued to beat them on the boards,” Ungaschick Reed said. “When Wooster made their run just under the 10 minute mark, we showed resilience and continued finding a way to get stops and scored.”

Senior Helen Scheblo dives to wrestle a loose ball away from two Wooster guards. The Bishops defeated the Scots 76-62 in the final minutes of the game.

Ungaschick Reed said the team’s shooting clicked in the last minutes of the game when it was crucial for them to hit their shots.

“Down the stretch, we had a few players make big shots and we were able to capitalize on the strategic move of fouling the last four minutes of the game hitting 10-12 free throws,” Ungaschick Reed said.

McCloskey agreed with Ungashick Reed and said they plan to use the Wooster game as a learning experience to improve for their upcoming games.

“I think we will need to fix some things we did not do well last night and build off of what we did well and take steps forward as a team,” McCloskey said.

Ungashick Reed said they will focus on key areas of their game play to improve, with the ultimate goal of performing well in the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) tournament.

“We are focused on taking care of the ball, winning the rebounding battle and executing against each of our upcoming opponents,” Ungashick Reed said.

“We are improving on those areas and will continue to work on them in order to finish the regular season strong and as we prepare for the NCAC tournament beginning Feb. 19.”

The Bishops next game is at home in Branch-Rickey Arena Saturday, Feb. 2, at 5 p.m. They will once again take on the Oberlin College Yeowomen, whom they defeated on Jan. 4, with a score of 59-53.

Men’s basketball hopeful about post-season play

By Graham Lucas
Transcript Correspondent

Sweat drips from the head, sharp echoes of rubber heels cut across polished hardwood, gasps of air after the last suicide; these are sounds of Bishops basketball practice.

Along with blood, sweat and tears, men’s basketball Head Coach Mike DeWitt has an already hot Bishops team poised for postseason success.

Up to this point, the Bishops are second in the conference standings behind Wooster who is still undefeated in conference play. OWU’s success is largely due to their strong senior play and sparks from first year players.

Junior guard and transfer student Taylor Rieger and freshman forward Claude Gray have offered more scoring options to a Bishops squad which ranks first in the conference in points per game.

“They’re both offensively skilled, which gives Andy (Winters) and Eric (Easley) more options to pass to,” DeWitt said.
Although the team does not rank in the top three for shooting percentage, they rank first in blocks and least amount of turnovers. The Bishops also rank second in the conference in assists, rebounds and steals.

“We don’t need to be the best shooting team as long as we play tough defense and take care of the ball,” senior guard Vaughn Spaulding said.

The heap of assist and gentle care of the basketball can be attributed to senior guard Andy Winters who leads the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) with 130 assists, 41 more than the next man.

“Everyone on our team is capable of making plays,” Winters said. “Players have strengths and weaknesses but we are confident in each one of our teammates’ abilities in the post or out on the perimeter. That’s what makes our team unique.”

The Bishops record currently stands at 14-4, with a 7-3 conference mark.

Last year, in the first 18 games, the Bishops held an identical 14-4 record. They finished with a 20-8 record after losing to Hobart and Smith College in the first round of the NCAA Division III tournament.

Since 2008, DeWitt has guided his teams to two second-place conference finishes and two third-place conference finishes. DeWitt also led the Bishops to win two NCAC championships and an NCAC tournament title.

The team still has meaningful contest against conference foes Wittenberg and Wooster. Their last six games will decide NCAA tournament implications, and their final ranking in the NCAC.

“We have high expectations and aspirations to win out the season, maybe an NCAC title, or NCAA title,” DeWitt said. “If these guys keep playing consistently, we’ll be fine.”

The Bishops’ next contest is against Oberlin at Branch Rickey Arena this Saturday, Feb. 2.

Women’s basketball optimistic about upcoming conference play

By Taylor McGinnis and Liza Bennett
Transcript Correspondent and Reporter

Ohio Wesleyan women’s basketball lost to North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) rival DePauw 71-48 on Saturday at their home opener.

Top-ranked DePauw started the game with a 7-0 run. The Bishops out-scored DePauw 30-28 in the second half, but it was not enough to secure a win.

Sophomore Mary Corbett said she felt the Bishop’s second half performance was a good showing.

“I think DePauw is a really well coached team and have a lot of players that consistently do their job,” Corbett said. “They play with a bunch of pressure and if you aren’t used to that pressure, you can get beat by thirty or forty.”

A highlight was sophomore Sarah McQuade, who led the Bishops with a career high of 21 points and two assists. McQuade said she didn’t notice she was putting such high numbers on the scoreboard.

“I was trying to keep our team in the best shape to win at the time,” McQuade said. “Afterwards its obviously an accomplishment, but it did not mean as much as if could have if we would have won.”

Assistant Coach Maggie McCloskey said she was proud to see McQuade have such a great game.

“It was great to see Sarah step up with a big game,” McCloskey said. “She has been one of our hardest workers so it is great to see it pay off.”

Despite the slow start, the team still has high expectations for their season.

Senior post Helen Scheblo said she sees many wins in the Bishops’ near future.

“My hopes for the rest of the season are to see that ‘W’ along the winning column, that is not a ‘hope,’ that is the plan,” Scheblo said. “My team is a competitive family and we have a great coaching staff and all of us are ready to start showing our conference that OWU will not expect anything else but a win no matter what our record or our opponents recorded may be.”

McQuade agreed with Scheblo and said she expects the team to step up and improve in the coming weeks.

“The start to our season hasn’t been as well as we would have liked, but we are so close to breaking away,” McQuade said. “We will be very dangerous later on in the season and on a good pace to make a run in the conference tournament.”

McCloskey said the season is going well and the improvements being made in each game are leaving the Bishops optimistic for their chances in the rest of the season.
“We have a great chance of being very competitive in conference play,” McCloskey said. “We played an extremely tough non-conference schedule to prepare for conference play and we know we are capable of putting it all together with our upcoming games.”

The team’s current record is 1-6. Their lone win occured against Colorado College.

Junior post Tamra Londot said the team’s record is not representative of the effort the team puts into each individual game.

“It’s only been seven games, you win some you lose some,” Londot said. “We always play hard most of the game, it’s just those two to five minutes we don’t that we need to work on.”

The Bishops will continue play over the holidays, and Corbett said she is expecting big things to come from the Bishop Classic “Hoops for Hope” as well as their game against Hope College in Michigan.

“We go to Michigan over the holiday break and play ranked Hope which will be another hard test, but if we put all forty minutes together we will a force to be reckoned with,” Corbett said. “My hopes are that we go into Hope and compete with all we have then come around and win our holiday tournament, last year our holiday tournament was a turnaround for the season so I hope that happens again this year.”

The Bishops next home game will take place on Dec. 29 at 6 p.m. during the Bishop Classic against Case Western Reserve University.