After an impressive rebound last year, the Saint Louis University Women’s Basketball Team is ready to show the Atlantic 10 Conference that it is ready to compete.
Coach Shimmy Gray-Miller, in her third year as head coach, has transformed the team from one that won just four games in 2004-05 to one that captured the program’s first conference tournament win since 2002.
Gray-Miller attributes the success of the program to the focus of the team.
“We don’t want to get outworked,” Gray-Miller said. “We want to score the most points, of course, but we also want to get the rebounds, box out and stay focused. I can handle losing, but I cannot stand beating ourselves. That happened a few times last year.”
The Bills played a pre-season exhibition match against University of Missouri-St. Louis at the Scottrade Center Nov. 2. The women scored the first 11 points of the game and defeated UMSL 81-64.
Sophomore Theresa Lisch led the team with 25 points and contributed six steals to the team’s combined total of 15. Sophomores Maggie Hennegan and Katie Paganelli also posted 12 and 11 points, respectively.
Coach Gray-Miller predicts that a championship is in the future for the women’s program, but she said that her immediate goal is to “improve every day and finish higher than we were picked.”
The team begins regular-season play Nov. 11 against Hampton. Senior guard Jackie Gilbert said that the team is fully aware of the hard work that lies ahead this season.
“I know that every game is a challenge,” Gilbert said. “We will need to stay focused and play hard [against Hampton]. The key will be to get after it and keep the intensity throughout the whole game.”
Coach Gray-Miller said that she has concerns with Hampton, a team that SLU has not faced in recent years.
“We really don’t know anything about them, and that’s a challenge,” Gray-Miller said. “We do know they are very athletic and will push the ball. We [have to] execute.”
Paganelli said that the team hopes to finish fifth or better in A-10 Conference play and to “perform at the highest potential and focus possible.”
The Lady Bills will close down the Bauman-Eberhardt Athletic Center this season with the final regular season game Feb. 27 against Temple.
