At the beginning of this season, head coach Shimmy Gray-Miller said that the women’s basketball team wanted to face the best in order to improve. And this weekend, it will have the opportunity to do just that.
The team will take a trip to the West Coast for the Collier’s International Classic, which will take place in Berkley, Cal.
Saint Louis University takes on Texas Christian University (6-1), which is ranked No. 22 in the nation by the Associated Press, in their tournament opener on Saturday.
The Lady Frogs entered the Associated Press’ Top-25 poll for the first time in more than three years at No. 24 in the Week 1 poll after an upset of then No. 3-ranked Maryland.
“They are very well coached, and they use a lot of zone defense that we haven’t seen in games so far,” Gray-Miller said.
No. 3 California and Princeton are also potential opponents for the team in the tournament.
California (6-0) recently jumped to a third-place ranking in the AP poll after an upset against Rutgers on Nov. 21. The Bears have won the tournament title for the past five years and 16 times in all. If SLU plays Cal, it will be the first time that the two teams have ever met.
If both of the lower-ranked teams pull an upset in the first round of the tournament, then SLU will face Princeton (3-2) in the championship. The only meeting between the two teams was more than 20 years ago in the 1987-1988 season. SLU won the match, 58-56.
Gray-Miller said the possibility of facing two ranked teams is daunting, but the team has embraced it and accepts the challenge.
“The kids knew we had a tough schedule, but they also know we have potential to be a top team,” Gray-Miller said.
This is the first year that Colliers International has been the title sponsor of this tournament. For the previous four years, it was called the Contra Costa Times Classic.
“Everyone at this level is good,” freshman Janisha Gearlds said. “We just need to practice hard and stick together.”
In its most recent contest on Nov. 29 against Missouri State, the Billikens used a smothering defense to force 26 MSU turnovers, cruising to a 68-53 victory at Chaifetz Arena.
The Bills scored 27 or its 68 points off MSU turnovers and had four players finish in double digits.
Junior Theresa Lisch, who is currently ranked 16th in the nation in scoring, posted 20 points and five rebounds in the win. Freshman Alisha Goodwin was 6-of-10 from the floor, including a pair of 3-pointers, and finished with a career-high 14 points.
The victory snapped a three-game losing skid for SLU, which improved to 2-4.
