With the 2022-2023 regular season nearing a close, the University of Indianapolis women’s basketball team is preparing to make a run in the conference tournament, according to Head Coach Marc Mitchell. As of The Reflector press time, the team, which was ranked sixth in the Great Lakes Valley Conference preseason poll, according to UIndy Athletics, is currently ranked fourth in the conference, according to GLVC Sports.
Sophomore guard Elana Wells, who was named to the 2021-22 GLVC All-Freshman team, said that the team is hungry for wins this season after a tough season last year.
“We dropped a couple [games] last year that were definitely winnable for us, so I think that’s just in the back of our head all the time,” Wells said. “We are one of the top teams in the conference, and I think we’re definitely showing that right now.”
Mitchell said that he understands that he has a different coaching style and that the team has a different style of play than in the program’s past and he is not afraid to let the team show their emotions while playing.
“I know my coaching style is a lot different from what’s been here in the past and what people have seen in the past,” Mitchell said. “I show my emotions, and I don’t mind my players showing their emotions…. We want to just play hard and be entertaining as well.”
The Hounds are currently 15-11 on the season and 11-7 in conference play with two games left in the regular season, already surpassing the win total for the past two seasons winning only ten games throughout the 2021-22 season, and eleven games for the 2020-21 season, according to UIndy Athletics. Mitchell said that the reason for the team’s success this season is their work ethic.
“People always ask me, ‘What’s your secret? and I’m like [there] is no secret, you just have to work…” Mitchell said. “I just think putting in the work, the more you put in the more you get out.”
The Greyhounds have had 21 out of their 24 regular-season games with at least two, in many cases more, double-digit scorers, according to UIndy Athletics. The squad also had all 11 players that touched the court, with at least two points each for a 68-58 conference win against Quincy University on Feb. 4.
“You can’t play with a selfish mentality, you have to be selfless,” Mitchell said. “Sharing the ball, whoever has the hot hand should be getting the ball, whoever has the mismatch should be getting the ball, and we just want to play basketball in the right way.”
As the season starts to wind down the team has a goal to go far in the postseason; however, both Mitchell and Wells said that it is vital for the Greyhounds to take the remainder of the season one step at a time.
“We want to stay [focused on] one game at a time, one possession at a time,” Mitchell said. “We know where we are in the conference tournament right now, and we know where we want to end up. We know where we want to be, but none of that happens unless we take care of this next possession that we’re playing. So, each game in itself we want to win one possession at a time, we want to win enough possessions to win a game, if we win enough possessions we will win the game and if we have enough wins we’ll be right where we want to be going into the tournament.”
As for the tournament, the team does have goals to finish at the top of the conference which is well within the team’s reach. According to Mitchell, the team has already exceeded many of the goals they have set for themselves this season already, and the Hounds do not plan on slowing down on exceeding their goals anytime soon.
“I think that we have a really good shot at winning the conference championship and making it to the national championship,” Wells said, “One of my goals was just to do better than last year, and I think we’ve already done that. So, I think that just keeping our heads together, staying focused and locked in and getting ready for the championship.”
