As match-ups go, the Women’s Basketball team is never afraid to go against a worthy opponent. In their last exhibition game, the Loggers faced Seattle University, a newly minted Division I school.
An exhibition game is a like a game with referees, but the outcome does not count against either team. The Loggers knew they would have a tough matchup, but the 39-87 loss is not what they were prepared for.
“The biggest thing when you are down 40-plus points is to make sure your team doesn’t give up,” senior Jocelyn Riordan (Lake Forest Park, Wash.) said. “It’s difficult when you look up at the score and see that, but focusing on the little things that you can improve on, even in those situations, is what makes the team better. Making sure that we still play with heart is key in those situations. Despite the outcome, learning to play through adversity and stay together as a team is what will make us better.”
“I think we can take the game overall as a really big learning experience and recognize a lot of things that Seattle U. did to us that made us really uncomfortable on the floor, like intense ball pressure and defense. If we can learn from that and apply it to our game, it’ll make us a lot stronger,” junior Kelsey McKinnis (Ashland, Ore.) said.
The Loggers led only briefly in the beginning of the match, but then were overpowered by the offense of the Redhawks.
“In the second half we were a much better team. It took us a while to get up to the Division I tempo,” McKinnis said.
Riordan agreed that their second half performance was much improved.
“Being a Division I team, Seattle U was significantly bigger, faster and stronger than our team and had been playing for a few weeks more given the different rules between Division I and III. Since we have such a young team and none of the current members had faced a Division I team before, I think there was some mental intimidation and a lot of nerves going into the game. Once we settled down in the second half we played them close, losing only by 12 in the half, but it took a while to move past the intimidation and jitters,” Riordan said.
The Logger’s next game is Nov. 15 against Northwest.