Falling to the Washburn Lady Blues in the first round of post-season play, the Missouri Western women’s basketball team (12-15) season officially ended Thursday, March 6. The closing also brings the end of a great run in the careers of three seniors, Jill Johnson, Yanique Javois and Chemia Woods. Johnson and Javois were tied for the highest scoring game in the MIAA at 39 points. While Woods led the league in steals with 2.62 a game and second in assists diming out 4.65 per contest.
In addition to the senior leadership, the younger freshman players also played a crucial role for the Griffons this season. Griffon freshman Tierra Ford averaged 10.8 points and 5.9 rebounds per contest. Ford led all MIAA freshmen in rebounds. Lauren Nolke was a three-point threat for the opposition as she shot 38.3-percent (36-of-94), which is fourth in the MIAA and first among MIAA freshman.
This year’s Griffons squad lacked in numbers and with the exception of the three seniors came up short in experience. However, what didn’t lack were intensity and the fire to win games. Head Coach Lynn Plett was pleased overall with this year’s squad.
“I felt that with the lack of numbers we had on the team, the girls did a really good job of doing what the coaches were asking them to do. There was an adjustment and a change in the style of play and philosophy, but I felt pretty good about the effort they made as far as really trying to cooperate and work with some of the things we tried to do this year,” Plett commented.
Senior Yanique Javois also felt good about the season, which recently ended.
“In retrospect, I think it went well. We made it to the conference tournament, something some people thought we couldn’t do, so that was a plus. It wasn’t the greatest season ever, but overall it could have been worse,” Javois said.
The Griffons fought hard to make it into post-season play, having to defeat their last two opponents to get the bid. They beat Northwest at home, in probably the best collective team effort of the season, 69-66. At home, they thrashed Missouri Southern, 70-58, and earned the eighth seed in the MIAA tournament in Kansas City, Mo. In the first round, although they played their hearts out, fell short to Washburn, 78-63.
We bid the seniors farewell and wish them much luck in their future endeavors. Their leadership will be missed, but we know they passed their knowledge on to the younger players and look forward to seeing them in action next season.
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