Women’s basketball brings 2020-21 season to a close on Saturday

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Women’s basketball brings 2020-21 season to a close on Saturday
The women’s basketball team practices and prepares for its upcoming season.

The Hillsdale College women’s basketball team brought the season to a close in a game against Cedarville University on Feb. 27. Though the Chargers lost 92-72, the end of the season brought about a chance for reflection and goal-setting for next year.

Head coach Charlie Averkamp said he considers this year to be “100 percent a success,” given the team’s persistent attitude throughout the season. 

“At the beginning of the year, we had no idea if we were gonna be able to play games, practice, or really spend time together,” Averkamp said. “We ended up playing 21 games as a team. We really grew and that, to me, defines a success.”

At first, the team was unsure how COVID-19 restrictions would affect their season. Senior guard Jaycie Burger said she feels the team was lucky to have the opportunities they did.

“We were really grateful to play,” Burger said. “I know that Hillsdale worked really hard this year, especially the administration and the athletic training staff. No team ever had to sacrifice their practice for another team, so we were thankful to be somewhere where people would take our team into account and help us to have a great year.”

Another big change for the team, apart from playing during the pandemic, was playing under a new coach. This year was Averkamp’s first year as head coach at Hillsdale, and he said he couldn’t have asked for a better group of people to lead.

“It was an exciting time and challenging, taking over during the COVID era,” Averkamp said. “We changed a little bit offensively and defensively so I thought the kids did a great job buying into a new system on how to play and I’m really excited for their growth and what they’re going to do in the future.”

Sophomore forward Arianna Sysum said she was grateful for Averkamp’s positive attitude, always seeing the potential in the team, and never giving up.

“You think it would be really hard for someone to come in from a coaching position where he was super successful, and then to come to a program where we’re struggling,” Sysum said. “He has handled it with such grace. Even in the games that weren’t super close, he never hesitated to call a timeout to draw up a play. He cares for each of us individually and understands that we all have different needs.”

Averkamp said many of the players showed improvement this season, including sophomore forward Sydney Mills, who averaged a double double, and junior guard Lauren Daffenberg, who he said played her best basketball. 

“By the end of this year, Lauren was really confident in her shots and moving the basketball,” Averkamp said. “I’m really proud of her.”

Averkamp said Burger’s performance stood out to him, and he enjoyed watching her grow over the course of the season.

“I thought she was playing the best basketball of her college career in the last five or six games,” Averkamp said. “That’s really what you want to see for a senior going out, playing as good as she was. I’m really happy for her that she was able to do that.”

Burger said the highlights of her season were winning against Lake Erie, winning against Trevecca, and scoring a triple double.

“Overall, I’m really thankful for this season as a whole,” Burger said. “I felt like we improved as a team a lot and the coaches really pushed us to be better. Our culture took a huge step in the right direction.”

As a senior, Burger said she still feels like the end of the season hasn’t set in yet.

“It still doesn’t feel like I’m graduating yet,” Burger said. “I’m reflecting on how lucky I am to be a part of this program. I’m looking forward to seeing what the team does in the next couple of years.”

Sysum said although the team’s record this season was similar to last season’s record, she is proud of the team for the ways they’ve grown.

“The improvement, at least to me, has been astronomical,” Sysum said. “What Coach Averkamp has been able to bring to the table has been huge, in how he’s been able to develop us as players and focus on our individual talents.”

Overall, the team enjoys celebrating the day-to-day successes, which Averkamp said make him excited for future seasons.

“Watching each of them succeed is a big thing for me,” Averkamp said. “There’s things we work on in practice and when you watch them do it in a game setting it’s fun to celebrate those successes. A lot of games we were very competitive, so for me that’s very encouraging for the future.”