Category: Sports

By Graham Lucas
Transcript Correspondent

Ohio Wesleyan athletics are closing in on DePauw University for first place in the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) All-Sports trophy race.

DePauw leads the race with 52 points, followed by OWU with 50 points and Denison with 45 points. DePauw field hockey captured their first conference title in history, which highlighted their fall sports season. OWU men’s soccer won their fifth consecutive conference title, and football earned their first share of a conference title in 24 years.

Head football coach, Tom Watts, said the team had specific goals this past season.

“Our offseason goals were to win a conference championship and become a complete team,” Watts said.

OWU tallied five top-five finishes during NCAC fall athletics.

Men’s basketball ranks second in the conference, only two games behind Wooster. Men’s indoor track currently ranks second in conference, while the women’s team is in position to win their fourth consecutive title.

“Recruiting is key, and once they arrive, hard work and training takes over,” said Seth McGuffin, assistant track and field coach.
OWU men’s lacrosse, men’s baseball and men’s and women’s outdoor track and field are all favorites to finish in the top three in the conference during the spring.

Athletic Director Roger Ingles said one sport alone cannot win the trophy for the school.

“To win the all-sports program takes a balanced program,” he said. “You have to treat all sports equally. You will annually have different results but the consistency of the programs and the development of staff who buy into a balanced approach are critical.”

OWU has won 135 team championships, amassing nine All-Sports trophies in the conference’s 29-year history. The All-Sports trophy is given to the NCAC School who performs the best in all 22 sports. In 2010, the trophy was re-named the Dennis M. Collins Award, after the late NCAC executive director. Collins was the first and only executive director since the conference’s creation in 1983.
In tribute to Collins, the award also judges academic success, something he saw took priority over athletics. He also served as a member of the NCAA council, NCAA Interpretations Committee and Division III Nominating Committee.

“Well-liked and respected by everyone, he helped start a new league in 1984 and saw it grow into one of the most respected and competitive Division III conferences in the nation,” Ingles said. “It was Dennis’ vision and drive that helped the NCAC as a national leader in Division III.”

OWU won the trophy in 2007 and 2008, and shared the honor with Denison in 2009.

“Success across sports helps us attract talented student athletes in each of our athletic programs,” University President Rock Jones said.

Improved recruiting has resulted in five of the last eight winners of the NCAC Student Athlete Award being Battling Bishops.

By Heather Kuch
Sports Editor

On Saturday, Jan. 26, the Ohio Wesleyan men’s track and field team competed in the Spire Midwest Indoor Track & Field Open meet where seniors Ethan Freet and Silas Jolliff each broke school records.

The meet was hosted by the Spire Institute in Geneva, Ohio, and featured teams from Division I, II, III and National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) universities. Freet and Jolliff competed in the 400-meter dash and finished first and second, respectively. Freet finished with a time of 0:48.36 and Jolliff finished with a time of 0:48.63. Each runner surpassed the previous school record of 0:48.70, set by Tyler Stillman in 2000. Freet and Jolliff then teamed up with senior Matt Martin and sophomore Brian Cook to place first in the 4×400-meter relay with a time of 3:15.37, the second-fastest time in school history.

Head coach Kris Boey said the team performed well given the tough competition, and Freet and Jolliff’s finishes were especially impressive.

“The Spire Midwest Open meet was high quality, with mostly Division I and II programs represented,” Boey said. “The fact that we finished 1-2 in the 400 and first in the 4×400 relay is an indication that our athletes are well-prepared and very competitive. The 4×400 ranks 2nd in DIII and it was the 2nd fastest time in school history.”

Freet said the meet went well overall and he was pleased with his performance, as well as those of his teammates.

“Silas and I had a good meet, as well as Matt and Brian on the 4×400 relay,” he said. “We accomplished the goals we set out to accomplish, and it took a little pressure off.”

Jolliff said breaking the record helped him realize what he was capable of and motivated him to run faster in the future.

“Ethan has the record technically now, so obviously I want to run faster to break it, but when I heard we both beat the previous school record I guess it solidified in my mind that we are able to run right up there at the national level,” he said.

Joliff added that he always admired Stillman, and that breaking the record made him more motivated and eager to see how much faster he can go.

Jolliff said he was happy with his finish in the 400, but he has also found some ways that he can improve and finish with even better times in the future.

“I thought the meet went well,” he said. “I was fairly relaxed going into the meet, but also nervous. But I’m usually always nervous before I run. It’s hard to run a perfect race so I think there were some things I could have done differently during the race to run faster, but that’s in the past and it gives me stuff to work on.”

Freet said his mentality going into the meet played a key role in his success.

“It was exciting to finally go out there and focus on running a good race,” he said. “Going into the meet, our mindset was more of a ‘Let’s see what we can do,’ as opposed to ‘We have to run a fast time.’”

Following the meet, Jolliff was named a North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) Men’s Sprinter of the Week last week. He was also ranked second in the NCAA Division III in the 400-meter dash at the time of the meet.

Jolliff said he is pleased with his accomplishments so far, but he also has big plans for the remainder of the season.

“(M)y main goal is to go to nationals and become an All-American in the 400 and the 4×400,” Jolliff said. “I’ve missed out on that four times now, barely, because of injuries and other things; so definitely becoming an All-American is my biggest goal.”

Freet said he has similar goals to Jolliff for the rest of the season.

“Going forward, I am just going to keep practicing and enjoying what I am doing,” Freet said. “My goal right now is to keep working on the 400 and to break the 4×200 record.”

Boey agreed with Jolliff and Freet, saying he does not expect his runners to be happy with where they stand. Boey said he plans for Freet, Jolliff and the team to continue to their success.

“I was pleased with the results,” Boey said. “We are focused on the process at this point, knowing faster time will come as the season progresses, but their efforts were impressive. However, we are not content and satisfied. Our goals are much bigger and we have work that remains unfinished. It’s the day to day details that have brought them this far and that will continue to allow Silas and Ethan to develop. The best is yet to come.”

Jolliff said he thinks the team as a whole will continue to improve, and he expects them to do well both within the conference and in national events.

“As far as the team I think we have a big season ahead of us as long as people stay focused and are practicing hard and doing the right things,” he said. “I think this year we will have a good representation at nationals, and at some of the bigger meets this year we will be tough opponents against other teams.
“I love running with all the people on the team and, I think we are gonna see some big things this year.”

Freet said he expects a lot from his team this season, and he thinks the support among his teammates will help them to be very successful throughout the remainder of the season and in post-season events.

“As a team I think this is the best we’ve been across the board since I have been here,” Freet said. “Everybody is running and competing extremely well at this point, and we are well ahead of where we have been in the past. People seem to be enjoying the atmosphere and being a part of the track team, and I think that that is a huge part of the success. I think that come conference time we should be right there competing for the top spot.”

By Tim Alford and Heather Kuch
News Editor and Sports Editor

After two straight losses against Hiram on Jan. 16 and Wooster on Jan. 19, the men’s basketball team dominated Wabash on Wednesday night, winning by a score of 77-53. This game extended their overall record to 14-4 and conference record to 7-3. Senior Anjuwon Spence said the team was able to move past their losses, and he believes that they are prepared to continue their success.

“We just tried to get past the losses mentally and put them behind us so we could move forward,” Spence said. “The win against Wabash was a sigh of relief, and it put us back on the right track.”

Wabash kept the game close throughout the first half, tying the score at 20 with 7:50 to go before halftime. OWU then went on a drive and outscored Wabash 19-6 to finish off the half ahead 39-26. OWU continued their scoring drive in the second half, expanding the lead to 20 points with just over 10 minutes left in the game.

Senior Vaughn Spaulding said the win was crucial in improving the teams’ mental game.

“We got our confidence back,” Spaulding said. “Not only because we won, but because we blew them out.”

The starters for the Bishops accounted for 69 of 77 points scored for the team. Senior Marshall Morris led the team with 20 points, followed by senior Andy Winters and junior Reuel Rogers with 16 points each.

Winters said the team went into the game with the mindset of seeing how they could respond after the losses to Hiram and Wooster.

“We wanted to grow from those losses and continue grinding out this tough conference schedule,” Winters said.
Spaulding said the team worked on improving their shooting accuracy and other weaknesses.

“We worked on flaws, picked up our defense, and got a lot of shooting practice in because we couldn’t make anything in the Hiram and Wooster games,” Spaulding said.

Freshman Claude Gray agreed with Spaulding and said the team helped each other to stay motivated and to improve.
“We came together as a team and worked on shooting,” Gray said. “We worked on a lot of shooting. It feels good to be back on the winning side after our win against Wabash, and we want to continue that tradition.”

Coach Mike DeWitt said the game against Wooster was a great game despite the loss.

“We just need to do some little things a little better to win games like that against an outstanding team,” DeWitt said.

Winters said the loss to Wooster will help the team to grow.

“Many tend to be complacent with our success thus far, but playing a good Wooster team gave us an opportunity to grow as a team and continue to work on our weaknesses,” DeWitt said.

DeWitt said several people told him the crowd at the Wooster game was the best crowd they have seen in 25 years.

“The crowd support was absolutely awesome,” DeWitt said. “It’s great to see the community and OWU students support their peers in anything. We hope they come out again for our next big home game against rival Wittenberg next Wednesday.”

Athletic Facilities Director Dustin Rudegeair, 2008 graduate and former OWU basketball player, said there have always been big crowds for the Wittenberg and Wooster games, but the game on Jan. 16 may have been the biggest crowd since the late 1980s when Ohio Wesleyan won the National Championship.

“My sophomore year, which would have been 2006, we played Wooster when they were number one in the country and beat them,” Rudegeair said. “That was probably the closest to how many we had in there on Saturday. I think the fact that OWU got into the top 10 in the national rankings for probably the first time since the 1988 season and that they are an exciting team to watch because of their athleticism, speed and dunking ability helped bring in such a large crowd.”

Winters said it was fun to play in the atmosphere created by the large crowd against Wooster.

“It meant a lot to us to see the support from the student body and community,” Winters said. “We want to continue to give our fans reasons to come watch our games.”

The next game for Ohio Wesleyan is home against Oberlin on Saturday, Feb. 2, at 3 p.m.

The rematch against Wooster is away on Wednesday, Feb. 6, at 8 p.m.

Winter said the team is preparing by taking it one game at a time.

“We are going to continue to work hard in practice and prepare for our next task,” Winters said.

By Heather Kuch
Sports Editor

Despite a loss to Kenyon on Saturday, Jan. 19, the women’s basketball team was able defeat Wooster in the final minutes of the game on Wednesday, Jan. 23, with a score of 76-62.

The Bishops were able to come back from a five-point deficit in the second half to defeat the Wooster Scots in the final minutes of the game. Freshman guard Hanna Fedorka said the win improved the team’s confidence level, and that they plan to learn from this win.
“This game was a good team win for us,” Fedorka said. “The coaches prepared us well, and everyone stepped up when we needed it the most. We were inconsistent in the first half, but the second half we were more aggressive on both ends of the court. We are a very close team and we are really starting to play well.”

The Bishops led the Scots for the majority of the first half, with help from baskets by sophomore guard Sarah McQuade and sophomore wing Caroline Welker. Wooster closed the gap in the final minutes of the first half, bringing the score to 31-27. The Bishops held on to a narrow lead. In the second half, the Bishops were able to pull away and increase their lead to 35-27, but a series of back-to-back baskets from the Scots tied the score at 40-40.

Wooster then pulled away, as the Bishops were unable to stop a Scot guard from scoring several three point shots and pulling five points ahead with eight minutes remaining in the half.

With three minutes to go in the half, the Bishops tied the game back up at 60-60, when Welker was able to knock down a three pointer off an assist from sophomore post Kristin Henning. The Bishops then made a nine point run, putting them ahead for the remainder of the game.

Assistant coach Maggie McCloskey said the team came together when they were down and worked as a whole to pull ahead of the Scots.

“I think we showed our perseverance and players stepped up when they needed to,” McCloskey said. “We hit some big shots down the stretch and had some key defensive stops and we hit our free throws towards the end.”

The Bishops outscored the Scots 16-2 in the final two minutes of the game with points from McQuade, Welker and freshman Emily Julius.

Julius said the team’s second half play was crucial in securing the win. She said they plan to use the win as motivation for their future competition.

“I think that we fought hard in the second half to pull out a win,” Julius said. “My teammates made plays at the right times and Sarah McQuade was absolutely clutch at the free throw line. I think the win will give us confidence going into our upcoming games.”

Freshman post Logan Breehl agreed with Julius and said the game as a whole went well, but they have learned what they need to improve upon.

“There are still many things we need to work on and improve upon as a team,” Breehl said. “We could have come out much stronger in the first half and blew the game open from the beginning.”

Breehl said the team is looking forward to their future games, and she said she thinks they are showing improvement.

“I think in the end by picking up our defense and hitting a few key baskets along the way we managed to pull out the win,” she said. “I think this win helped us continue to get better both offensively and defensively, which we have been working on all season, which will help us be ready for the conference tournament in the coming weeks”

Head coach Stacey Ungashick Reed said the team took advantage of the final minutes of the game and rebounded from the Wooster lead well.

“We took care of the ball in the second half and continued to beat them on the boards,” Ungaschick Reed said. “When Wooster made their run just under the 10 minute mark, we showed resilience and continued finding a way to get stops and scored.”

Ungaschick Reed said the team’s shooting clicked in the last minutes of the game when it was crucial for them to hit their shots.

“Down the stretch, we had a few players make big shots and we were able to capitalize on the strategic move of fouling the last four minutes of the game hitting 10-12 free throws,” Ungaschick Reed said.

McCloskey agreed with Ungashick Reed and said they plan to use the Wooster game as a learning experience to improve for their upcoming games.

“I think we will need to fix some things we did not do well last night and build off of what we did well and take steps forward as a team,” McCloskey said.

Ungashick Reed said they will focus on key areas of their game play to improve, with the ultimate goal of performing well in the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) tournament.

“We are focused on taking care of the ball, winning the rebounding battle and executing against each of our upcoming opponents,” Ungashick Reed said.

“We are improving on those areas and will continue to work on them in order to finish the regular season strong and as we prepare for the NCAC tournament beginning Feb. 19.”

The Bishops next game is at home in Branch-Rickey Arena Saturday, Feb. 2, at 5 p.m. They will once again take on the Oberlin College Yeowomen, whom they defeated on Jan. 4, with a score of 59-53.

By Graham Lucas
Transcript Correspondent

Sweat drips from the head, sharp echoes of rubber heels cut across polished hardwood, gasps of air after the last suicide; these are sounds of Bishops basketball practice.

Along with blood, sweat and tears, men’s basketball Head Coach Mike DeWitt has an already hot Bishops team poised for postseason success.

Up to this point, the Bishops are second in the conference standings behind Wooster who is still undefeated in conference play. OWU’s success is largely due to their strong senior play and sparks from first year players.

Junior guard and transfer student Taylor Rieger and freshman forward Claude Gray have offered more scoring options to a Bishops squad which ranks first in the conference in points per game.

“They’re both offensively skilled, which gives Andy (Winters) and Eric (Easley) more options to pass to,” DeWitt said.
Although the team does not rank in the top three for shooting percentage, they rank first in blocks and least amount of turnovers. The Bishops also rank second in the conference in assists, rebounds and steals.

“We don’t need to be the best shooting team as long as we play tough defense and take care of the ball,” senior guard Vaughn Spaulding said.

The heap of assist and gentle care of the basketball can be attributed to senior guard Andy Winters who leads the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) with 130 assists, 41 more than the next man.

“Everyone on our team is capable of making plays,” Winters said. “Players have strengths and weaknesses but we are confident in each one of our teammates’ abilities in the post or out on the perimeter. That’s what makes our team unique.”

The Bishops record currently stands at 14-4, with a 7-3 conference mark.

Last year, in the first 18 games, the Bishops held an identical 14-4 record. They finished with a 20-8 record after losing to Hobart and Smith College in the first round of the NCAA Division III tournament.

Since 2008, DeWitt has guided his teams to two second-place conference finishes and two third-place conference finishes. DeWitt also led the Bishops to win two NCAC championships and an NCAC tournament title.

The team still has meaningful contest against conference foes Wittenberg and Wooster. Their last six games will decide NCAA tournament implications, and their final ranking in the NCAC.

“We have high expectations and aspirations to win out the season, maybe an NCAC title, or NCAA title,” DeWitt said. “If these guys keep playing consistently, we’ll be fine.”

The Bishops’ next contest is against Oberlin at Branch Rickey Arena this Saturday, Feb. 2.

By Taylor McGinnis and Liza Bennett
Transcript Correspondent and Reporter

Ohio Wesleyan women’s basketball lost to North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) rival DePauw 71-48 on Saturday at their home opener.

Top-ranked DePauw started the game with a 7-0 run. The Bishops out-scored DePauw 30-28 in the second half, but it was not enough to secure a win.

Sophomore Mary Corbett said she felt the Bishop’s second half performance was a good showing.

“I think DePauw is a really well coached team and have a lot of players that consistently do their job,” Corbett said. “They play with a bunch of pressure and if you aren’t used to that pressure, you can get beat by thirty or forty.”

A highlight was sophomore Sarah McQuade, who led the Bishops with a career high of 21 points and two assists. McQuade said she didn’t notice she was putting such high numbers on the scoreboard.

“I was trying to keep our team in the best shape to win at the time,” McQuade said. “Afterwards its obviously an accomplishment, but it did not mean as much as if could have if we would have won.”

Assistant Coach Maggie McCloskey said she was proud to see McQuade have such a great game.

“It was great to see Sarah step up with a big game,” McCloskey said. “She has been one of our hardest workers so it is great to see it pay off.”

Despite the slow start, the team still has high expectations for their season.

Senior post Helen Scheblo said she sees many wins in the Bishops’ near future.

“My hopes for the rest of the season are to see that ‘W’ along the winning column, that is not a ‘hope,’ that is the plan,” Scheblo said. “My team is a competitive family and we have a great coaching staff and all of us are ready to start showing our conference that OWU will not expect anything else but a win no matter what our record or our opponents recorded may be.”

McQuade agreed with Scheblo and said she expects the team to step up and improve in the coming weeks.

“The start to our season hasn’t been as well as we would have liked, but we are so close to breaking away,” McQuade said. “We will be very dangerous later on in the season and on a good pace to make a run in the conference tournament.”

McCloskey said the season is going well and the improvements being made in each game are leaving the Bishops optimistic for their chances in the rest of the season.
“We have a great chance of being very competitive in conference play,” McCloskey said. “We played an extremely tough non-conference schedule to prepare for conference play and we know we are capable of putting it all together with our upcoming games.”

The team’s current record is 1-6. Their lone win occured against Colorado College.

Junior post Tamra Londot said the team’s record is not representative of the effort the team puts into each individual game.

“It’s only been seven games, you win some you lose some,” Londot said. “We always play hard most of the game, it’s just those two to five minutes we don’t that we need to work on.”

The Bishops will continue play over the holidays, and Corbett said she is expecting big things to come from the Bishop Classic “Hoops for Hope” as well as their game against Hope College in Michigan.

“We go to Michigan over the holiday break and play ranked Hope which will be another hard test, but if we put all forty minutes together we will a force to be reckoned with,” Corbett said. “My hopes are that we go into Hope and compete with all we have then come around and win our holiday tournament, last year our holiday tournament was a turnaround for the season so I hope that happens again this year.”

The Bishops next home game will take place on Dec. 29 at 6 p.m. during the Bishop Classic against Case Western Reserve University.

By Margaux Erilane
Transcript Correspondent

This Sunday, Phi Gamma Delta (Fiji) will be hosting its first philanthropy event since the unsuccessful lawn mower races it sponsored with Delta Delta Delta sorority at the beginning of the semester.

Fiji’s World Cup will consist of a series of soccer games beginning with pool play. The top team in each pool will then advance on to single elimination bracket play. Bracket play will continue until a winner is determined. Each game will be 5-on-5 with two 10 minute halves.

According to the Facebook event page, “Substitutions can be made on the fly” and there’s to be “no bribing the ref.”

Sophomore Philippe Chauveau, the social co-chair of Fiji, said he expects there to be a great turnout with a variety of participation.

“Often, only other Greek organizations will participate in philanthropy events on campus,” he said. “I know the track team plans to sign and I’m expecting a lot of other clubs to also register.”

It costs $30 to register a team and all proceeds will go towards Fiji’s philanthropy, the American Red Cross, benefitting victims of Hurricane Sandy.

Sophomore Michael Cook, the historian of Fiji, said the Red Cross is already working with Hurricane Sandy victims providing shelter, food and emotional support throughout the Northeast.

“We aren’t splitting the proceeds between the Red Cross and Sandy,” he said. “All of the money is still going to the Red Cross; we just want to specifically help the hurricane victims.”

Sophomore Kyle Hendershot, the social co-chair of Fiji, said the event is designed so non-participants can come and enjoy it.

“It’s an open event and every one is encouraged to come whether or not they’re participating,” he said. “We’ll be accepting donations at the door. Any help for the cause is encouraged and greatly appreciated.”

Chauveau said there are a lot of prizes up for grabs, too.

“Aside from the grand prize that the champions will be awarded, we have gift cards to local restaurants and shops downtown,” he said
Cook said he thinks it’s going to be a worthy event to attend.

“It’s going to be a great competition and a ton of fun,” he said. “Everyone should make an effort to be there.”

The event is this Sunday at 1 p.m. in the Gordon Field House.

Members of Fiji will be tabling in Hamilton William Campus Center tomorrow at noon for people who still wish to register a team.

By Liza Bennett
Transcript Reporter

Ohio Wesleyan University Track and Field kicked off its season at the First Glimpse meet, hosted by Marietta College on Saturday.

The meet, which included competitors from Allegheny, Charleston, Concord, Malone, Marietta, Ohio University and Ohio Wesleyan, was not scored.

Strong performances were made by many OWU track and field members, specifically senior Hannah Benzing.

Benzing won the weight throw with a throw of 51-9½, breaking the school record of 48-4¾ set by Sharon Rymut in 2009.

Benzing said for the first meet she set no expectations, and had in her mind where she wanted to be and was pleased with her personal performance as well as the team’s performance.

“I was hoping for a further distance but I can’t be disappointed with a new personal best starting off in the first meet,” Benzing said. “I imagine I’ll be breaking my own record a few more times this season.”

Junior Sarah Bechtel, who took a first-place finish, winning the pole vault by clearing 11-0, said the meet gave the Bishops an opportunity to gauge how prepared they are for the upcoming season.

“The Marietta meet is mostly just to shake off the dust and prepare for the season ahead,” Bechtel said. “We’ve put in a lot of work so far this year and it’s nice to see where we’re at.”

Bechtel said she is hopeful for a repeat of last year’s successful season.

“We have a lot of work ahead of us but so far all signs say it will be successful season and I’m sure we’ll have a lot of fun along the way,” she said.

Senior Ethan Freet won two events at the meet. He won the 200 and 400-meter dashes in respective times of :22.67 and :49.71. Freet said he was pleased with where he and the team are in their training.

“We are well ahead of where we were at this point last year and this was a very positive start, we still have a lot of work to do, but this was a good meet to show that the time that we have put in thus far is paying off,” Freet said.

“As a team, we hope to win the All-Ohio championships as well as the conference title, and to ultimately qualify as many individuals as possible to the national championships as we can, I think this is the strongest team that I have been a part of and there is a lot of potential and we just have to stay focused and keep working hard to turn that potential into success.”

Sophomore Matt Hunter had a notable performance that included first place in the long jump with a leap of 21-7¼ and third place in the 55-meter hurdles. Hunter said it felt great to start the season off with a win the long jump, his favorite event.

“I could not have been happier with my performance at the meet, I competed in four events and set four personal records,” Hunter said. “A lot of returning athletes had the best season opener of their career along with a strong showing from the freshmen class in their collegiate premier.”

The Bishops said they are hopeful for a successful season and Benzing said she thinks many of her teammates will make it to nationals this season.

“We’ve always been a good team, but I know we have what it takes to be national caliber,” Benzing said.

Hunter agreed with Benzing and said the team is most definitely in a position for an impressive post-season performance.

“We are exactly where we want to be right now to set ourselves up for this indoor season where we are looking to defend our All-Ohio Championship and reclaim the conference title,” Hunter said. “After those meets we also expect to have an increasing presence at the national championships.”

The Bishops first home meet will be on Jan. 18 when they host the OWU Triangular at the Gordon Field House.

By Taylor Smith
Transcript Correspondent

The Ohio Wesleyan women’s basketball team is looking to prove coaches and fans wrong as the they plan to upset the season predictions.

The North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) coaches’ poll predicted the Lady Bishops to finish sixth in the conference. Junior wing, Julia Grimsley said she knows the team can finish better.

“We were really young last year and we have matured and grown a lot since last year,” Grimsley said. “Predictions of finishing sixth in the conference doesn’t mean anything to me because it is just a prediction, anything can happen.”

The team is returning all their starters from last year as only one senior, Elyse Wenger, graduated last year. Grimsley said Wenger was very positive and always encouraging others, whether she was on or off the court.

“She was also a really hard worker and never took a rep off,” Grimsley said. “We plan on filling that hole by being loud on the bench and continuing to communicate and encourage each other on the court.”

Senior post Tamra Londot said it is a new year and, as a team, they’re focusing on mental toughness and game mode versus practice mode.

“We have different things that differentiate game mode versus practice,” Londot said.

Sophomore guard Sarah McQuade, an honorable mention all-conference pick for last year’s All-NCAC teams, said the team is looking to improve team communication and team chemistry on and off the court this season.

“This year were going to try and be a more disciplined defensive team and change our attitudes,” McQuade said. “We have been looking to stay positive and encouraging throughout any bumps in the road we may have. The coaches plan to let us loose during games because they will have the trust in us that we will be able to do what needs to be done in order to win.”

Grimsley said the team is continuing to work hard and getting better at the things they struggled with last season.

“We have pretty much the same routine as last year except we are more experienced and more mature from last year,” Grimsley said. “We also have a better understanding of what our intent is as a team, which is to use our opportunities to better ourselves everyday as a basketball player and individual.”

Londot said the freshmen players are fitting in great with the team.

“They really have the will to win and will do anything for the sake of team,” Londot said. “They have been participating in team workouts and leadership since the first week of school so they’ve learned the team dynamics.”

McQuade said all five of the freshmen are looking to contribute right away.

“They are giving us more depth in all positions and have fit in perfectly with our system,” McQuade said. “We all get along with each one of them and each one of them brings a positive attitude everyday to practice.”

Londot said the team to beat right now and always is Denison. She said DePauw and Wittenberg are also tough opponents.

Grimsley said the team plays in a very strong conference and can’t take any other team for granted.

“Our conference is unpredictable in the sense that ‘upsets’ happen all the time,” Grimsely said. “Therefore, we have to watch out for every team in the conference and bring our ‘A’ game every time we step on the court.”

“If one of our teammates struggles to bring their ‘A’ game and they are having an off day, then it is our job as a team and family to step up and help pick them back up.”

The Lady Bishops open their season tomorrow against Baldwin-Wallace College at the Franklin College Tip-Off.