Team strives toward regional tournament
By: Ashley Biundo, Editor-In-Chief
The STLCC Lady Archers basketball team is more than halfway through the season with a record of 5-11. Head coach Jacob Yorg said that the team is becoming more whole while preparing for the Regional Tournament at the end of February.
“The biggest thing for us is just coming together. With the amount of kids we have to play and the experience, they’re just coming together more as a whole, to be more cohesive, and that team mentality is going to be a thing, especially in the end of February when it starts with the Regional Tournament,” Yorg said. “If we can come together, we should do really well, but it’s just getting that mindset of getting through these tough games.”
With the season soon to be coming to an end, there are still tough teams to play, including Lincoln Land Community College, Metropolitan Community College, and North Central Missouri College, according to Yorg. “The Lincoln Land game, just because we didn’t play well. It was the first game right before break. Then we came back and we had a hard overtime game and we played really well. And, anytime you can play a top three team in the nation and go into overtime and have a chance to win, that just amps you up to want to play better,” he said. “So, I would say [Lincoln Land] right now since we haven’t played Metro or Central who are in our region. I think those inevitably will be tough because they matter more in the sense of Division Two versus all the other teams.”
The Lady Archers began their weekend games the weekend of Jan. 24. Yorg said that they are the rivals they are ready to play against. “We had Metro [last] weekend, which [was] our first weekend game. And then [next] weekend, we have North Central. So those are road games and they’ll be really big for us,” he said.
“And then in February, we just play non stop more conference games, but I would say anytime we’re coming up to North Central or Metro is going to be the biggest games we have because we only got four games to make a difference in seeding.”
As the season is coming along the players have evolved more and have become closer as a team, working through different plays and styles, according to Yorg. “We are starting to grow and work on our ability, as we get to know each other, to be open and honest,” he said. “We, as coaches, need to continue to get better at teaching them how to communicate better, and just try to help them understand how to truly work together because it’s so new to each other to an extent still, but also their styles of play are so different. So I think that trying to teach them to be dynamic and to be a cohesive unit on the team is something we’re going to try to do.”
Although the season had a rocky start, the Lady Archers have the strength to win more games and get into the Regional Tournament, said Yorg. “I think our strength is our ability to win,” he said. “When we play our style and we play what’s in ourselves, we can be a really good team.”
