The women’s basketball team schedule has been fast-paced since returning to the court after almost two full months. Even with a two-month break, the team has been able to come out and make every game competitive. Coach Jones commented on how the coaching staff was able to prepare the team for the uphill battle they would have to face to get back to the championship game, where they lost 74-70 to Mayville State. Coach Jones compliments the efforts of the players on the team, the coaching staff was not the main reason.
Coach Jones applauds the team for embracing the changes that they have had to endure. The biggest change is wearing masks while they play, which is difficult to do with the style of basketball that this team plays. The players on the team have accepted the system and are determined to win.
Coach Jones and the coaching staff know their style of play is up-tempo and requires a great level of fitness. This is where they had to really look closely and decide if they would practice all out to try and account for the lost time and the new rule that masks are required. The coaching staff decided to go 110% in practice with masks on and have not looked back since.
When asked what normal pregame looks like for Coach Jones and the team, Jones said he stuck to it with walkthroughs, lots of films, and set the game plans. The coaching staff never look ahead of schedule and take the season game by game. The players have fully bought into that mindset and it has shown in their performance each week.
The success of the team is also attributed to the deep roster they have. There is never a primary scorer on the team, which makes them a difficult matchup for many people in the conference.
The women’s team causes a lot of trouble when it comes to conference matchups due to their unique style of play. The teams in this conference are teams that like to slow the pace and set everything up. But Viterbo is an up-tempo team that tends to press on defense about 90% of the time. This gives teams in the conference trouble, which is a large factor in how they were able to go so far last season.
Not many teams have been able to stop this team’s style of play and with the conference tournament closing in this women’s team is picking up steam and are poised to make another run at the championship.
