The women’s basketball team will use their loss against Rockford University as motivation as they continue their season.
Photo by MU Athletics
Women’s Basketball Team Starts Season with Game Against Rockford
Wyatt Gatewood
The Manchester women’s basketball team is gearing up for the 2021-2022 season. The Spartans are preranked 7 in the HCAC conference, and they have also already played a non conference team. The Spartans have been working hard to climb the ladder, and get to the top of the conference.
The Spartans did have their first test of the season on Saturday, November 6, when they took on Rockford University. Manchester started off fast getting a 7 point lead very early. But Rockford did not go down without a fight. With a strong offence attack they would take down the Manchester Spartans by one point in the final seconds, with the final score of 83-82. Although the Spartans lost they had a lot of positives to take away. As a team they shot 50.9 percent from the floor (28-55). And from the free throw line the Spartans were almost automatic shooting 91 percent (20-22).
“The first game was a tough loss,” said first year Alicia McMahan. “Although, disappointingly, we could not start the season off with a win, we can use the game as motivation to work on things to get better.”
The Lady Spartans are going to have to work hard, and stay focused, so the next game they play they can come out on top. Although, this doesn’t seem to be a problem for the Spartans. McMahan says that everybody is putting in the time and effort to improve the team. As a matter of fact, that is what she loves the most.
“My favorite thing about our program is how hard everyone works, and the effort put forth both on and off the court,” she said. “The practices are tough but it is what we need to get better.”
So there is no question on where the team’s mindset is for this year. The Spartans seem to have hard work and determination to get where they want to be. They also still have some time before going into conference play. Their first conference opponent is Defiance. Having a little less than a month to prepare, and some games in between the Spartans should be ready to go.
Another exciting thing for the Lady Spartans is that they get to play through the regular season. As the past season was affected by Covid, the players seem to be excited to finally be able to pass that. As long as everyone on the team does their part in wearing masks and keeping a safe distance when possible. They hope to have a full season unaffected by COVID.
“We are eager to be playing through a normal season,” McMahan said. “After having to deal with the burden of Covid restrictions last year, that is hopefully over. We are now focused on improving from last year and reaching our conference goals.”
The Spartans will face off against Kalamazoo tonight, Nov. 12.