After some impressive improvements, the Grinnell Women’s Basketball team is half way to matching last year’s win total but it’s still too early to declare success. With a 2-2 record, they have taken some excellent strides, but have also dealt with a few setbacks.
“Early in the season progress does not always happen linearly, we take a step forward, two steps back,” Head Coach Kate Gluckman said.
The team’s successes this year have been in large part due to the youth of the team, including seven first years that have been having some tremendous performances. Elizabeth Burnett ’13 and Michelle Briggs ’13 combined have contributed 65 rebounds and 24 blocks. However, their inexperience has also been a breeding ground for inconsistency.
“As I mentioned before, consistency continues to be a challenge for us,” Coach Gluckman said. “We are young and so this happens, but our athletes are beginning to understand their roles and are starting to ‘get it’.”
Their wins over Cornell College and Martin Luther College were by eight and seven points, respectively, while they lost to Buena Vista University by 32 and Central College by 27. At times, the team experienced offensive letdowns and at times, mental blocks on defense. In their game versus Central they were only able to score 19 points in the first half, and in their game versus Buena Vista they gave up 43 in the second half.
“The big difference in [the wins] was that we were really playing as a team and we came out really strong…we were communicating, we were crashing the boards—we were doing all the little things. In those two games we lost we couldn’t get it going on offense and then we let it take us down in the other aspects of our game.”
“So far each game has been different, and that is a problem. Our defensive intensity needs to be consistent game in and game out. Offensively we have had great shooting performances and very poor ones. Overall, we are improving as a unit and we will become more consistent as the year progresses,” said Coach Gluckman.
But with every game and practice, the team is building unity and technique and the team feels good about the rest of the season.
“This week, because of our last game…our big fallout was we just had horrible shooting percentage and so this week we’ve actually been focusing a lot on shooting. We had individual meetings with [Coach Gluckman] so I think we’re really going to be ready and I think we’re going to be on this weekend.”
The team is excited to return to Darby and possibly matching last year’s victory total this weekend. The Grinnell Women’s Basketball team will face Beloit College on Friday at 5 p.m. and play Ripon College on Saturday at 2 p.m.
“We need to make a statement to the conference this weekend,” Huey said. “Ripon is the returning conference champion, Beloit’s a big competitor in the conference and this weekend we just need to prove ourselves…by showing them we are a force to be reckoned with.”