By James Howey
It’s rare for a team to finish the regular season being the number two ranked team in the nation and not even make it to nationals; unfortunately, that is the case for the women’s basketball team.
With a bid to the Women’s National Tournament on the line, the lady Cavaliers played the number four ranked Highland Scotties last Saturday in Wichita for the third time this season, losing by two points.
The first two meetings were highly contested games resulting in both teams winning on one another’s home court. This time, however, the Cavaliers found themselves on the short end of the most important game against their conference rival by a score of 54-52.
The Cavaliers will have to now watch the national tournament be played on their own home court without playing in it.
“We’re obviously just beyond disappointed in how things went down Saturday,” Cavaliers coach Ben Conrad said. “We played more than well enough to win but just didn’t take advantage of the opportunities we had.”
One aspect the ladies struggled mightily at on Saturday was shooting from the free throw line.
“Going 10-27 from the foul line is just hard to believe.” Conrad said.
Despite the loss, the Cavs did have a very successful season with many accolades. Conrad was named coach of the year in the conference. Juanita Robinson, Kariel Hutt, Nieka Wheeler, Sameia Kendall and Timeka O’Neal made first team all-conference and Robinson was named the conference’s most valuable player.
“We had a great year and no single game at the end of the year changes that,” Conrad said. “Winning the league, going 30-2, those are things the kids can be really proud of.”
Contact James Howey, sports editor, at jhowey@jccc.edu.