Women’s hoops exceed expectations

Women’s hoops exceed expectations: Picked to finish sixth in the GLIAC North Division in a preseason poll of the conference’s coaches, not much was expected out of the Wayne State women’s basketball team this season. Despite these low expectations, the 2012-2013 Warriors defied them and finished with the best season in the program’s history.

“I was a little disappointed with that preseason poll,” Warriors head coach Carrie Lohr said. “But I also looked at it as a motivator.”

The Warriors wrapped up the season on March 18 with a 72-63 loss to the 2nd-ranked Ashland Eagles in the NCAA tournament’s Sweet 16. 

It was WSU’s first Sweet 16 appearance in school history. The Warriors finished the season at 22-9, one win shy of tying the school record for wins in a season.

They won a share of the GLIAC North Division title and the program’s first NCAA tournament game.

The season opened up Nov. 2 at Division I Western Michigan. The Warriors didn’t back down to their D-I foe, defeating the Broncos 66-57, giving WSU a boost of confidence heading into the season.

“It definitely gave us confidence in our non-league games,” Lohr said. “Beating Western at Western, it’s like, ‘Okay, we can win these games.’ Had we not done what we did at Western Michigan we could have folded early.”

WSU lost its next two exhibition games, though, and lost its first two regular season games.

Heading into the WSU Holiday Classic, the Warriors posted a 4-3 record. They won the tournament by defeating the University of Missouri- St. Louis and Urbania University.

It wasn’t until mid-January that the Warriors really found their form. A Jan. 19 victory over Northern Michigan started a nine-game winning streak.

“Things just seemed to really click for us,” Lohr said.

The streak ended on Feb. 23 at Grand Valley State, the first leg of a three-game road trip to close the regular season. That road trip cost the Warriors an outright division championship as they lost at GVSU and Walsh University, allowing Michigan Tech to gain ground on WSU. But, in their final regular season game at Lake Superior State, the Warriors clinched a share of the title.

“All of a sudden we started to establish (the team’s identity) and then we were starting to feel it and starting to believe it and we were playing well, and we might have almost went to the other extreme and got ahead of ourselves a little bit wanting to embrace that GLIAC title on our own,” Lohr said.

Having to share the division title may have benefited the Warriors. There was a lesson to be learned in those final three games that carried over into the postseason.

“It didn’t feel good at the time, but maybe there is a time when a loss isn’t so bad and it makes you kind of grow in the long run,” Lohr said. “Had that not happened to us (sharing the title), maybe there were times even in our postseason run we wouldn’t have been able to value each game and value where we were because we knew it could be taken from us.”

Next was the GLIAC tournament in which WSU hosted its first postseason game since 2003. They rebounded from the two-game losing streak and beat the Ferris State Bulldogs.

However, they were ousted by the Findlay Oilers in the next game.

WSU earned a No. 6 seed in the NCAA tournament, where they would meet Findlay for the third time. It won a close matchup to advance.

“You dream about it,” senior forward Talisha Bridges said, “then when it actually happens it’s like, ‘Whoa, this is my reality now’. I told myself after every win I’m dancing. I don’t care how many games it takes, all the games up until we get to San Antonio I’m dancing. And sure enough I danced after every game. It’s just such an amazing feeling.”

Wisconsin-Parkside was WSU’s next opponent, one that it would defeat for a place in the Sweet 16 where it would meet Ashland.

“By beating Findlay in the fashion and the way that we did, I think that energy swung us right through Wisconsin-Parkside,” Lohr said. “We were on such an adrenaline rush that that just swung us through.”

Playing at home, the Eagles - last season’s national runner-up - were a heavy favorite. However, the Warriors held an eight-point lead with just over 10 minutes remaining in the contest. Ashland rallied, though, eliminating WSU.

“I think as a player, as a former player and as a coach, being on that sideline, in that environment, you couldn’t ask to end your career any other way,” Lohr said.

While the Warriors won as a team - this season’s success was truly a team effort - three players stood out as the team’s leaders. Bridges, Juanita Cochran and Phaebre Colbert were WSU’s top three scorers and rebounders. Bridges finished as the team’s leading scorer, averaging 15.5 points per game and 6.9 rebounds per game. Cochran averaged 11.8 ppg and a team-leading 9.8 rpg. Colbert posted 10.1 ppg and 6.9 rpg.

“All three of them have really been ambassadors for us,” Lohr said. “They take care of business on and off the court. They’re going to do it the right way.”

This season served as some sort of redemption for these student-athletes, as each faced adversity in their first three years of playing college basketball. Bridges and Cochran started their careers at the University of New Orleans, but the program was cut after one year. They transferred to Stony Brook University, but family losses would allow them to find their place at WSU.

“It’s a cliché line, but everything happens for a reason,” Bridges said, who was voted to the All-GLIAC First Team, All-GLIAC Defensive Squad, All-Midwest Region Second Team and was a three-time All-GLIAC North Player of the Week. “To get to this point now, it’s just really a truly humbling feeling.”

“I definitely feel like this is a blessing,” Cochran said, an All-GLIAC Second Team and GLIAC All-Tournament team member and GLIAC Player of the Week in February. “Going through adversity you learn there are different life lessons, and so the adversity through going through New Orleans and Stony Brook, there is something I can always have for life. The experience as a whole has been amazing.”

Colbert spent her entire career at WSU and after three losing seasons, coaching changes and player turnover, her patience paid off as the Warriors made it to the NCAA Tournament and she was voted to the All-GLIAC Second Team and was named GLIAC North Player of the Week in February.

“With this team this year, the chemistry was just great,” she said. “We all had the same goal, we all knew what we wanted to do at the end of the season. I just feel like we were more of a family. This is the best group of girls I’ve been around and it was great to do it with them and accomplish all the things we did.”

With the departure of Bridges, Cochran and Colbert, as well as three other seniors, Lohr and the remaining Warriors have a tough road ahead of them next season.

“We have a lot of work to do,” Lohr said. “It’s even going to be tougher now, the second go-around.”