Women’s basketball begins conference play with comeback victory

The women’s basketball team started conference with an exciting game December 5th at Colorado Christian University. The Lady Orediggers came from behind to force the game into overtime. In the end, the Orediggers were victorious with a final game score of 64-63.

“Rebounding was definitely one of the things we talked about at half time because we were getting out rebounded,” Mikayla Moore commented after the game. “We out rebounded them in the second half, and I think that was a major part of the win.”

However, rebounding was not the only thing that made the team successful.

“I think that we just executed the details really well. We really did what we’ve been doing in practice all year long,” sophomore Laura Tyree explained. “I’m just really proud of everyone just sticking with the game plan and doing exactly what coach told us. We had some breakthrough moments where we didn’t do well, but overall we got the job done.”

Before starting conference play, the team lost the first two games of their season (November 13th and 14th).

“After we lost our first two games, we had two weeks before we played our next game. We practiced very hard—a lot harder than we were used to,” Emily Bailey commented about the losses. “Coach really pushed us, and I think that really showed in our next two games.”

The Orediggers responded two weeks later with two back-to-back wins (Nov. 27 and 28).

“I really like the improvement coming off those two losses. We had more energy and more heart working for the team. You could see there was more ‘want’ to win,” stated Bailey.  As the team advances into conference play, the players are all optimistic.

“This is a very talented team this year. I think we definitely have people that can score, but sometimes it’s just moving the ball around and working together that gets the best shot and gets wins. Those are the teams that do really well in college.”