It was a jolly crowd, that gay and merry throng of lassies that departed from our depot on the morning of Friday, April 7th, flushed with the anticipation of a trip through a neighbor State and a visit to the metropolis of the West. This was one cause of the gaiety and pleasure of that event, but there was another and a deeper reason; one which caused the hearts of our co-eds to thump with a feeling of uncertainty. “Oh! if we could only win,” said one. “Win or die, or give ’em the mumps,” said another. “Well, they’ll know they have been to a ball game when we’re through with them,” were the words of a third.
Thus it was that along with the feeling of jollification there was a feeling of desire for victory when our team should meet Berkeley.
We are sorry to say that we were unable to have a staff representative at the game, but we know this, that our California friends received their money’s worth and a little more. Nevada is proud of the fact that she sent out a team of ladies to play basket-ball on fair terms; nor did we expect them to return, bearing all the appearance of having been through a sausage mill. The Berkeley team have adopted a code of rules of their own, and should be left to practice these rules by themselves until they learn to play fair ball. Perhaps we might present to our friends across the mountains a copy of the rules of basket-ball. Or perhaps we might bring them up here and let them observe; they would learn that basket-ball was not pugilism. Should we send a team to Berkeley again, let us provide them with baseball masks and padded suits.
The game as a whole consisted of a great profusion of fouls on the part of Berkeley desiring to win regardless of the means. In every position Nevada was well represented. The opponents found their match in the centre against Kerby, Montrose and Holmes; while as guards, Ward, Peckham and Sparks, and as forwards, Linscott, Worland and Strosnider maintained their positions in a manner which would do credit to anyone.
California has some individual good players, but possesses no team-work.
The game at the close of the first half stood 3 to 3, but in the second half two field goals were scored by Berkeley and the game ended with a score of 7 to 3 in favor of California.
From all accounts the game between Stanford and our co-eds was a clean and well-contested one. Our teamwork showed up well, and their teamwork has been highly commented on by the newspapers. The close score shows both teams to be well matched and indicated that they played good ball. The score stood 3 to 2, with Nevada on the big end; two of these points go to the credit of Miss Linscott, she having thrown a field goal; the other point is to the credit of Miss Strosnider, she having scored a goal on a foul.
This game brought out the excellence of playing of four of our young ladies, namely: Misses Kerby, Ward, Strosnider and Linscott, and the Record takes the liberty to pronounce them among the star players of the Coast.
This is the first time in which Nevada has defeated a college team, and we feel duly proud of our victorious girls. Let us follow up this victory with others, and the time is not far off when Nevada will be recognized in athletics among the colleges of the West.
From all accounts, the hospitality shown to our young ladies at Stanford deserves the very highest mention. Courtesy and good fellowship greeted them on every hand, so that our co-eds delight in saying, “Long live Stanford.”
The University of Nevada’s first intercollegiate athletics victory did not come on the gridiron or a baseball diamond. It came on a basketball court.
The distinction of the University’s first victory goes to the Women’s Basketball program, which defeated Stanford, 3-2, on April 11, 1899. And while Nevada’s football team had in fact scored prior victories over non-university teams, the Nevada women’s basketball team’s victory over Stanford is recognized as the first official victory over a varsity team for the University of Nevada.
Nevada women’s basketball’s first formally organized team came to be in the spring of 1898. After losses to California in 1898 and 1899, Nevada would go on to record the historic victory over Stanford.
Among the roster of that winning team were: Elizabeth Stubbs (1899), Amelia North (1900), Edith Brownsill (coach), Mary Eugenia Arnot; Mattie McIntyre (1899), Julia Beckman, Louise Ward (1899), Winnie Strosnider, Elizabeth Webster (1902); Ida Holmes (1900), Maude Patterson, Maude Nash (1901), Ruby North (1900).