The Heart of the Season – MAC Play!

As the MAC season began, we prepared to defend our West Division title as well as win our first outright league title in a decade. I have always believed conference play is the toughest time of the year. The coaches and players in your own league know your strengths and weaknesses better than anyone. You have to bring it every night in order to succeed. Despite opening up MAC play with a sizable win over Ball State, we struggled through much of the first half of conference play finding our offensive rhythm as a group. Our local media often referred to many of our games as “ugly wins”, but as any coach knows, we will take an ugly win over a pretty loss any day, but it was important for our staff to strive to find better opportunities for our players and continue to practice the basics so we could see a better result as the season continued. In just the second game, we knew it would be a tough road as we would no longer be a surprise.  Western Michigan gave us all we could handle with an overtime win in Kalamazoo. Our game at Central Michigan was a battle of wills. It hurt to fall short, but we learned some valuable lessons about details. We failed to take care of the ball, defend in key stretches, or execute down the stretch offensively. That loss inspired us to reel off nine-straight wins, including a barn burner at Anderson Arena against our arch-rival Bowling Green. One thing neither team takes for granted is the amazing fan support we both receive and this rival game produces. The 3,315 who attended that game got their money’s worth! Yolanda Richardson played tough in the absence of Melissa Goodall, who was in foul trouble, and Naama Shafir was sensational.  Jessica Williams played an outstanding defensive game and hit some big shots in key moments and Melissa made the most of her second-half effort, hitting key shots and pulling down a critical rebound late in the game to preserve the victory.

It was exciting to see 4,500 fans show up on January 9th to support not only our team, but a great cause. The past three years we have supported the Susan G. Komen Foundation and our donations have continued to increase. This year we were proud to present their organization with our highest total yet of $14,000. The crowd also inspired us to beat a scrappy, veteran Kent State team. Big thanks to Chrys Peterson and Kevin Mullan for volunteering their time to make the fundraiser a success! As we continued our journey through MAC play, the snow continued to fall and the trip to DeKalb presented some obstacles. We got permission to take Naama Shafir there early to avoid problems with the storm headed our way and our team slowly made the trip the following day. Although we missed the snow storm, we ran into an inspired NIU team on Senior Night who got the best of us. The trip home was a long one, but we stayed focused on the goal that was still within our grasp, a MAC regular-season championship. To capture the title, we had to win our last game versus Central Michigan. We knew we had to be ready, as they had beaten us in many areas when we visited Mount Pleasant. In the first half, we lost Naama Shafir and Courtney Ingersoll to injuries. It would have been easy for our team to fold or flounder, but I was very proud of the mature reaction they had. In an energized, focused effort they showed what a true “team” they were by pulling together behind an inspired Melissa Goodall.  Melissa certainly saved her best for last (at least we thought it was her last game in Savage). Her 28 point and 10-rebound performance was just what the doctor ordered! Everyone who came off the bench that game gave us all they had. We would not be denied!

As we headed to Cleveland, we knew we would have our work cut out for us. With a NCAA Tournament bid on the line, every team brings their best. Our first test would be against a young, talented Akron team. They have a massive playbook and set a variety of different screens, so you have to be alert defensively if you are going to have a chance to beat them. Despite falling behind early, we pulled together for a victory. Yolanda Richardson played some terrific moments in this game! The next challenge would a scrappy, quick Eastern Michigan team who we had escaped a narrow victory against over at home toward the end of the MAC regular season. From the outset of the game, we weren’t the sharp, focused team we had been most of the MAC season. You have to credit EMU’s defense for that, especially their press. Turnovers plagued us throughout the first half and shots weren’t falling against their tenacious zone. As the buzzer sounded at the end of the game, I can honestly tell you that is the worst any loss has ever affected our team and our staff. Watching our seniors deal with the emotion of that loss at dinner was painful to say the least. We knew we had earned a right to play in the WNIT, but losing the right to play for a NCAA Tournament bid was tough. All of us wanted it badly for our two seniors. We would also learn that the knee injury sustained by Lecretia Smith in the EMU final minutes would be a season-ending injury. Lecretia is our energizer bunny, so to lose her was tough! Despite how badly we felt, we had to regroup quickly as the WNIT Tournament was a great opportunity for us.

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