In the preseason, Wayne State women’s basketball coach Gloria Bradley stated this year’s team will be able to play with a much faster tempo by having more athletes and more depth. When her team came out in the second half of the season opener looking flat, she put that speed on display.
In the end, the Warriors couldn’t create one more scoring opportunity on their final possession and lost their home opener to Southern Indiana, 69-68, Sunday afternoon.
Facing a 12-point deficit, the Warriors used a full court press on defense to speed up the game’s tempo. That coaching call resulted in a 17-2 run in favor of the home team.
The increased tempo took the visiting Southern Indiana Screaming Eagles out of their game and created better scoring opportunities for the Warriors. It also took a lot of energy out of the Warriors as they had to claw their way back in the game.
“I think we did some good things with our press. I think it gave them some difficulty,” Bradley said. “We’re a young team, its early, it’s the first time we’ve tried the press in a game situation. So I think the more we work on it and the more games they get under their belt, they can really work on some of these things that’s going to get a little better for them.”
The close loss is just another lesson in facing adversity for this young team. After two exhibition games facing superior talent, this game saw Wayne State get out to a quick start, twice playing with eight point leads (10-2, 15-7).
But the offense soon went to sleep as it didn’t hit another field goal for nearly nine minutes. Sophomore Felicia Thomas woke the offense back up with a nifty behind the back dish to junior Chelsea Kouri on a fast break. Kouri followed that up with her first of three triples en route to a game high 15 points.
“I think a lot of teams are going to focus on [guard] Brooke [Bowers], which gives me some more openings,” Kouri said. “When Brooke started hitting her shots, they had to worry about both of us.”
Bowers bounced back from a scoreless first half to finish with eight points, all within the final eight minutes of the game.
Thomas made another great play, this time on the defensive end, swiping a dribble away from the Eagles, and taking it in for an uncontested layup.
The Warriors also had their depth tested. They had seven players finish the game with at least three fouls each. One player — freshman Deanna Crumpton — fouled out. By comparison, such a stat would have sent this team to defeat much faster last season. The depth of this team, even while dealing with two early injuries to freshmen Tyler Hardy and Latosha Beasley, is already paying dividends.
“It helps a lot. We don’t have a lot of post, so we had to put some guards in position where they had to be in the post,” Bowers said. “So we need to work on not fouling so we can keep our post in the game.”
Kouri agreed that though the depth is good, it shouldn’t be just because of too many fouls.
“It’s good to have people to bring it, but the fouls really hurt us,” Kouri said.
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