Despite disruptions, women offff to strong start
TheWrightState women’s basketball team had a tumultuous preseason because of COVID-19. The majority of the roster had to go into quarantine three separate times, which meant theymissed 42 of the fifirst 70 days of practices and workouts.
But the constant disruptions couldbeworking inthe Raiders’ favor in at least one way: If coach Katrina Merriweather isn’t surewhat to expect fromher players each game, opponents can’t have a good read on them, either.
“It’s a huge challenge,” Merriweather said of trying to get a handle on her personnel with the season in progress. “We have a lot of talent, but it’s really diffifficult with the pandemic and howit’s alteredthe calendar.
“We’re trying to find a group that plays really well together. We’re still experimenting quite a bit, and we’re fortunate that the kids we’re experimenting with are really good.”
The Raiders had two nonleague games before barreling into Horizon League play. They’re doing surprising well with a 5-1 conference record, but the impact of shutting down is evident.
Not everyone is in midseason shape, and the players haven’t developed the same synergy they hadwhile winning two regular-season crowns a conference tourney title in Merriweather’s four seasons.
“I think our chemistry
Angel Baker leadsWSUin scoring, assists and steals and is second in rebounding.
would be better (without the disruptions),” the coach said. “They like each other fifine. And it has carried over into the game as much as it can. But when we start talking about putting in different offffffffffffenses and our execution, our timehas justbeen limited.
“One of the things we’ve always done in our program that’s helped us is we play a lot of fifive- on- fifive in open gyms inthe summer andfall, and we just weren’t able to do that.”
Junior guard Angel Baker, a fifirst- team all-league pick, doesn’t seem to have been affected by the bumps. She leads the team in scoring (13.5), assists (3.1) and steals (2.0) and is second in
rebounding (5.5).
“Angel is one of the best players in the league. What’s been great is we have some perimeter players anddepth to gowith her, some people who have the ability to score and love defense. And she’s picking and choosing her spots and being a tremendous team player,” Merriweather said.
But 6-4 senior Tyler Frierson, who averaged 7.9 points and a league-leading 9.0rebounds last season, has seen a drop in her production because she’s been limited to 15.8 minutes per game. She’s averaging 6.8 points and 8.4 boards.
“Therearejustpeoplewho areaffffffffffffecteddifffffffffffferentlyby the pandemic,” Merriweather said. “Itdoesn’t botherAngel much. She practices for two days, and it’s like she never left. But for other people whereconditioningisalready a struggle, you’ve got them sitting in a roomfor 14 days at a time.
“We also have to be very carefulwedon’texpose them to injuries. Of course, I want to play Tyler for 30minutes, but is that what’s really best for her? Absolutely not.”
Merriweather admits she’s a bit bafflffled by one glaring defificiency. The Raiders are shooting 38.5% from the field, 21.7 on 3’s and 60.5 on foul shots after hitting 40.2%, 30.0 and 66.0 last season.
They’ve been able to overcome that by dominating the boards. They’re 10th in the nation with a plus-13.9 rebound margin per game.
“We’ve always been a defend-and-rebound program. That’s what our identity is. Wedrive the ball a lot, and we crash the boards. But I have to tell you I am surprised, based on how we shoot in practice, that we shoot that poorly in a game,” Merriweather said.
She wonders if fatigue is a factor and whether she might be pushing her players a tad too hard.
“Have I been perfect in my decision-making about practices? Whoknows? In an attempt to get themin some sort of condition to play, maybe that could be impactingour shot andour legs. But I think we’re slowly coming around. We shot a little better last weekend. Hopefully, we’re on theupwardswing.”
The Raiders (5-3 who were picked to finish third in the league, are coming offff a road sweep of Youngstown State, but they’re about 10 days from having to tackle themeat of their schedule.
After playing at Cleveland State on Friday and Saturday, they’ll host defending champ IUPUI (8-1, 6-0) and reigning league player of the yearMaceeWilliams. The 6-2 senior averageda league-best 17.5 points last season along with9.0rebounds (heractual average was 8.97, a shade below Frierson’s mark).
The Jaguars are tied for fifirst in the conference with Milwaukee (9-1, 6- which visits the RaidersonFeb. 5-6.
“I’m not surprised at all that Milwaukee is good,” said Merriweather, whose teams have averaged 23.5 wins per season. “We had trouble with themlast year. They have really good players, and I love the way they play. And IUPUI has Macee Williams and core group thatwonthe league last year.
“Depending on how you look at it, we could be pretty fortunate we’ve not played the upper part of the conference just yet. That’s given us time to grow and start to fifigure
some things out.”