The Justice

Media Credit: David Sheppard-Brick Guard Jessica Chapin '10 looks to pass during last Saturday's home win.

With 8 minutes, 34 seconds left in the women's basketball team's 79-52 win over Mount Saint Mary's College in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, guard Jessica Chapin '10 was substituted out of the game for the first time all night. It was a rare rest for Chapin, who was a few seconds shy of playing the entire 40 minutes of last Friday's first-round game against Western Connecticut State University.

"I love basketball, and I want the ball in my hands," Chapin said. "If [coach Carol Simon] needs me to play 40 minutes a game, I'll do that. Whatever our team needs I'm willing to do."

Chapin's efforts helped the women's basketball team advance to the third round of the tournament for the first time in school history. She had 18 points in last Saturday's game and 12 points last Friday.

This season, Chapin leads the team in points, rebounds, assists and steals and also averages a team-high 32.3 minutes per contest.

Chapin has taken a bigger offensive role this season with the departure of forward Jaime Capra '08, last year's leading scorer. Then, since starting point guard Lauren Rashford '10 suffered a season-ending knee injury during a Feb. 3 practice, Chapin has taken on more of the point guard duties.

"I have the responsibility of getting our teammates the ball now a little more and focusing on getting all my teammates involved and not so much looking to score," she said.

Chapin was also named a team captain at the start of the season.

"A team needs to looks toward people sometimes, and we get down, and we're not playing well," she said. "My role is to pick everybody up and be like, 'We can do this; we're still in this,'" she said. "We rely on each other a lot as captains to put this team on our back and hold each other together to get through the season."

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