After last season’s record of 8-20 overall and a conference record of 5-13, the University of Indianapolis women’s basketball team prepares for what they hope to be a more successful season.
Their preparation for the season began this past summer, with the team began practicing. With many underclassmen coming up, the team’s roster is predominately filled with sophomores and juniors. Practices have been used to try to put players in different positions and find the best chemistry within the new team, according to Head Women’s Basketball Coach Kristin Wodrich.
“The preseason [has] been good. The kids have been really coachable,” Wodrich said. “They want to get better. There [are] a lot of players and new faces so [we’re] getting them to play together and putting them in the system offensively and defensively,” Wodrich said. “It’s just being able to trust the process, but the kids have been pretty locked in and are ready to go.”
Photo by Tony Reeves As teammates welcome junior guard Laura Thomas back from the court, she smiled at her personal success. She scored 10 points and had six assists total during the game against Northwood Timberwolves on Nov. 16.
The Hounds lost to No. 13 Grand Valley State University 80-71 on Nov. 18, bringing their overall record to 2-2.
The team’s season officially started with two games as part of the GLIAC/GLVC Challenge. In their game against Hillsdale College on Nov. 10. They earned a close victory with a score of 69-67.
Last season, they lost to Hillsdale College with a score of 76-70. After last year’s 20 point loss to the Northwood University Timberwolves 77-57, the Greyhounds won their game against them on Nov. 16 with a final score of 65-53.
During this game, junior forward Emma Benoit scored 21 points, which was a career high. UIndy also had three total players score in the double digits against the Timberwolves.
They played another game against Northern Michigan University on Nov. 11 and lost 64-61. In the previous season, they lost 59-53 against this team.
The biggest strength this year’s team has is the communication, due to the fact the team has been able to bond for a decent period of time on and off the court, according to senior guard Jordan Cole.
“I think, out of the past couple years that I’ve been here, the team chemistry is the best [we’ve] ever had, whether that was even in high school or anything like that. This is the best team chemistry I’ve ever seen,” Cole said.
Junior guard Claire Carlton said the team is going into each practice trying to make each day better than the last. She said her part on the team is to bring energy, or do the “small things,” such as rebounding and gaining steals. As a team, she said that their bonding is one of their strengths, but they need to work on is their decision making, which includes knowing what to do with the ball and not letting the other team dictate the pace of the game.
As for their motivation this season, Cole and Carlton said they are both going into the season hoping for a better one than last year’s.
“I think we motivate each other, just because the team chemistry is so good. We don’t want to let each other down…,” Cole said. “We had a bad season last year and we really [want to] win, so that kind of drive is really helping us.”
