The women’s basketball team played two home matches against Fort Hays (FHSU) Feb. 7 and Nebraska-Kearney (UNK) Feb. 9. The team lost to Fort Hays 53-78 but rebounded with a victory against Nebraska-Kearney 68-42.
Head coach Amanda Davied believes the team made a good come back when they played Nebraska-Kearney.
“Well the Hays game was a tough one for us,” Davied said. “It was not a good day for us, but I think we still battled hard and competed hard as best as we could. I thought we rebounded really well against Kearney as far as just bouncing back. The girls really came out with a pretty intense focus on defense and then of course a lot of our younger kids did a great job scoring in the offense.”
According to Davied, the team came out more focused against Kearney despite losing to Fort Hays a couple of days prior.
“I think sometimes when you lose and you know you did not play your best you come out the next game, not that we are not always focused, but you come out that next game really even more anxious to prove yourself and I think that was kind of the situation with us against Kearney,” Davied said. “We were trying to really bounce back and come out with a vengeance and I think (we) maybe caught Kearney off guard as far as just how ready out girls were… So, I think there was really no drop off between our starters and our reserves.”
Although some players stood out to Davied during both matches against FHSU and UNK, the team as a whole played well during the matches.
“I think Sydnee Crain, Tristan Gegg, and Kaylee DaMitz all really stood out, but I think that there were a lot of players that did a lot of great things,” Davied said. “I think our post players played outstanding defense. Athena Alvarado had a double-double or near a double-double, so I thought she played excellent on both ends of the floor. Athena was really aggressive on the board and (was) a great presence defensively. Megan Scott (and) all of our post players had a great presence defensively… and then I thought our guards just really ran the offense well, pushed the ball extremely well, and got our offense going.”
Davied hopes to see continual improvement from the team leading up to their next matches.
“I hope we can ride this confidence, still remember how much it hurts to get (beaten) but really ride the confidence of this past game and continue to improve and be playing our best basketball (during) these last six games,” Davied said.
The Gorillas are now ranked 18-5 and 10-4 in MIAA.
The team will play in John Lance Arena for a home match against Missouri Southern, Saturday Feb. 16. After that, the team will travel to Joplin Tuesday, Feb. 19 to play against Missouri Southern again.