The Red Devils have soared in their last seven games, going 6-1 and propelling themselves to the third seed in the Centennial Conference. Defense has fueled Dickinson’s success throughout the year, and is truly one of the best in all of Division III. 

Lindsey Hollenshead ‘24 talked about Dickinson’s outstanding defensive play after one of their recent wins. “I would say the entire way we play is based on our defense; our defense fuels our offense and just everything we try to do. Our whole game plan is just hustle and out hustle [our opponents],” she said 

The Red Devils play with the same grit and hustle every game. They consistently overwhelm  opponents and never take a possession off. When they do give up points, it is never easy for the opposition.  The Dickinson Women’s Basketball team forces opponents to be perfect to score, and this skill makes most teams crumble. Opponents end up taking long possessions that end in forced, tightly contested shots, which shows in the stat lines: Dickinson ranks seventeenth in all of Division III in opponents field goal percentage. 

They rack up steals and turnovers and get a lot of easy baskets from those. The ability of everyone on the team to read the other team’s passes, and jump the lanes for steals is really impressive. The Dickinson defensive unit plays aggressively on the defensive end, and it pays dividends. As Hollenshead said, their defense really does play into their offense and, as their defense goes, so goes the team. 

The Dickinson defense has been historically good this season — they rank fourth in the country in points allowed in Division III this year. It’s a remarkable stat, yet not a surprising one if you watch their games. The Red Devils have an incredible ability to completely nullify the opponents’ best player. Teams go into games with clear plans of attack, often leaning on one player. Very quickly, the Red Devils defense makes it so clear that the opponent will have to look elsewhere to hope to find success scoring. Teams get flustered and can’t get their offense to click. 

Dickinson also has a potent offensive attack. After only starting in three games last year, Clair Marion ‘25 has taken over the team’s offense, leading the team with 14 points per game. Marion tops the conference in 3-point percentage and is fourth in points per game. 

Whenever she gets the ball, you can see the confidence flow through her. Marion always looks ready to shoot, but she often uses that to her advantage, pump faking a shot then driving the lane for an easy layup. Marion also leads the team in steals, fifth overall in the conference, and she  gets many easy layups from her anticipatory defense. 

The Red Devils are clearly a confident bunch. Hollenshead said, “we have the mindset that there is no one that can beat us honestly, we know together we can do anything.”

Mia Kolb 23’ added, “We have played with a lot of confidence the last couple of games and it’s going to continue into future games.” 

Dickinson lost an incredibly well played affair against Johns Hopkins on Feb. 11. It was close until the end but Hopkins, in front of their home crowd, pulled out a victory. The loss means that Dickinson will finish the season with  the conference’s number three spot. The Red Devils will have one home playoff game before likely traveling to Gettysburg and then, hopefully, to Johns Hopkins for the final. Dickinson beat Hopkins comfortably at home earlier in the year and will be ready if they are matched up again. 

The loss didn’t take away from the team’s confidence. Team Captain Kate Montgomery 23’ was assured when she said, “we’re ready to take the conference, we are.”