Ending abruptly
The women’s basketball team represented the University of Indianapolis well this regular season by setting a new record for consecutive wins with 24. However, mounting injuries and strong competition resulted in a 52-51 Greyhounds’ loss in the opening round of the NCAA Midwest Regional March 12 against the Wildcats of Northern Michigan University.
“Toward the end of the season, we started getting very banged up with five players experiencing different injuries. With a roster of only 10, it was hard to have the practices we needed to continue to improve,” said head coach LeAnn Freeland. “Other teams continued to improve and we did not.”
Junior forward Samantha Meissel said the difference between the regular and postseasons was mental.
“Our mentality in the regular season was fearless. We went into every game ready to beat someone,” Meissel said. “As the season progressed, however, we didn’t seem as focused like we were in the beginning. By not focusing we eventually became our own enemy, the only thing that stopped us from winning was ourselves.”
The team enjoyed a 24-game winning streak to begin the season, with victories against Northern Kentucky and Drury. Those victories were the first against those two schools in four years.
“The most decisive moment of the season was our home game against NKU,” Meissel said. “We were down 11 and realized the only thing holding us back were ourselves, so we pulled it together and made a run from there on.”
That win pushed their record to 6-0. The Greyhounds were on their way.
“The entire season was very memorable with the highs and the lows. However, our wins against NKU and Drury were the highlighted wins for our program this season,” Freeland said.
Meissel agreed with her coach about the impact of defeating Drury.
“My most memorable moment of the season was beating Drury for the first time since they’ve joined our conference,” Meissel said. “It was at home and we had a good crowd. Beating them was exciting for us because we had fun and played together.”
A career moment occurred for two players this past season.
“This past season was full of great memories, but I would say Sam and I scoring our 1,000th point in the same game [Nov. 21 vs. Saginaw Valley State] was special,” said senior guard Jessica Canary.
Both Canary and Meissel received All-America Honorable Mention from the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association on March 22.
The loss of four seniors will not go unnoticed.
“It will be hard to replace our four seniors. They have done great things for UIndy women’s basketball,” Freeland said.
Meissel acknowledged the impact of losing four seniors.
“Every year we lose someone who is important to our team and this year we are losing an exceptional group of girls,” Meissel said. “We all looked up to the seniors and seeing them go is sad, but yet we know next year isn’t far away and we’re determined to start it off right.”
Canary believes next year’s team will be successful.
“I think the team will be able to build on the momentum we had this past year. The team is losing experience and leadership from us seniors, but I have no doubt returning players will be able to step up and fill those roles,” Canary said. “Next year’s seniors have had a lot of experience as underclassmen which will be a huge factor for them next season.”
The Greyhounds have seven returning players next season, as well as seven incoming freshmen.
“[Hopefully they’ll] be ready to contribute as freshmen,” Freeland said.
The season ended earlier than the team would have liked, they know what needs to be improved upon for next season.
“The most challenging moment of the season was getting back to how we can play after our back-to-back losses,” Meissel said. “We never fully got our togetherness back to finish out our season.”
