By KJ Burns, Guest Writer
The Newman Women’s Basketball team will open its season with an exhibition game against Wichita State University on Oct. 29. The game will kickstart what head coach Amy Briggs says should be a good year for the team.
Briggs said the team’s chemistry this year should lead the Jets in a good direction.
“Our connection has been really good,” Briggs said of the players. “They've been very positive and have on-court chemistry. We have a lot of team-first players, and I think that’ll be really good for us.”
The team is oriented around similar goals as previous years, she said.
“We want to have a winning record in our non-conference schedule,” Briggs said. “Something big for us is to make our conference tournament, which is super tough. They only take so many teams.”
Having a winning record at home is also important, particularly because road games can be tough to win, Briggs said.
“If we take care of our home games, that’ll go into conference as well,” she said.
Experience will also play a role in the team's success this year, Briggs said: The Jets lost only one senior to graduation last year.
“We’re more junior-senior heavy, which will be really good to have that experience,” she said. “That’s really important, especially for the MIAA.”
Briggs has implemented a few changes into both the offensive and defensive systems to help with the team’s success in games, she said.
“Defensively, we’re going to press a lot more and try to be more up-tempo on teams in that,” she said. “We haven’t done that before, but we feel like with more experience and depth, we should be able to last a full game by putting a lot more pressure in the full-court on teams.”
Briggs said she’s hopeful that these improvements will lead to a good year for the Jets, who have struggled in recent years with injuries.
“We understand that everyone has to contribute to our success,” she said.
The team will have a slow buildup of practices through October, and Briggs said she believes that the team should be in good shape to start the season, which officially begins Nov. 14 when the Jets take on Southern Arkansas University in Fort Smith, Arkansas.
The October 29 exhibition game against Wichita State will be at Koch Arena on the WSU campus. Newman Athletics will take students on a bus to WSU from campus starting at 6 p.m. Food will be provided. Sign up for a spot at bit.ly/4nSsJp6
PHOTO: Courtesy, Newman Athletics
