By: Alyson Lawrence, Staff Writer
The women’s basketball team at Newman has just started its season, and it has something going for it that many teams don’t.
Four of the team’s players — seniors Carli Carlson, Jaeden McMillin, Dani Williams and Delainey Wylie — started on the team as freshmen in the 2023 season and have played together their entire college lives. The 2023 season is also when head coach Amy Briggs started with the team.
At MIAA media day in early October, Briggs said that the chemistry of “the core four” would be a big boost this year.
“Our players. . . especially the four that have been with us for four years, they played as freshmen, and they've had to go through the grind to continue to get better and really understand a lot of the pieces of the game that people coming from the outside don't understand if they don't have that playing time,” Briggs said at media day.
The team’s regular season officially began with a home game against Rockhurst on Monday. (The Jets lost 78-70).
Now, members of the core four are reflecting on their years together.
“We’ve experienced all the highs and lows of college basketball together,” Carlson said. “Over time, we’ve become so much more than teammates.”
Looking back on their time together, the four seniors say, they see how much they’ve grown as a group.
“Becoming close off the court has made us closer on the court,” Carlson said. “We learned to trust each other and how to pick each other up when things get tough’’
Briggs also was able to watch that growth firsthand, she said.
“These four all came here as freshmen when I first got here,” Briggs, said “Now we’ve been together for four years, and it’s special because college athletics is crazy with transfers.”
After four seasons together, the seniors have developed an advantage.
“They’ve gotten to know me really well as a coach, what our conference is like and overall college basketball,” Briggs said. “They know exactly what our standards are and what we should or shouldn’t do.”
Beyond the advantage their experience brings them on the court, the four seniors have built real relationships off the court.
“If I had to describe our group in one word, it would be family,” Carlson said. “I know that these friendships will last long after basketball.”
The Jets have set big goals for themselves this season, Briggs said. The biggest: making the conference tournament in March.
The team will play next on Friday against Southern Arkansas University in Fort Smith, Arkansas.
“More than anything, we are trying to enjoy every moment, compete for each other and end our careers knowing we gave it everything we had,” Carlson said.
PHOTO: Courtesy, Newman Athletics
