Big News for Women's Basketball!

By Brittany Jones

As I mentioned in my first post, Women’s basketball on campus had one loss to St. Francis University of Illinois. Back then, the lady Cougs were 17-1. And five games later, we are 22-1! The Cougars could have had a perfect season at the end of this tunnel if it weren’t for the St. Francis setback. The good news is we have a chance at redemption! This Saturday, Feb. 6 at 1pm we play them on OUR court this time!

Currently, the Lady Cougars are #3 in the nation and #2 in conference! It has been a long time since we have gone into a conference match up as the underdog with a first place in conference title on the line. St. Francis is undefeated in conference and if they win on Saturday, the Cougs will be out of the running for first and will therefore lose home-court advantage going into the conference tournament!

I cannot overemphasize how important Saturday’s game is! You are probably thinking if we win, then we will tie for first. You are correct; each of us having one loss will have us tied. However, the tie-breaker is a comparison of “common opponents” and since we are undefeated outside of the conference we will win the tie-breaker and therefore earn a first place seed for the tournament and home-court.

Good news on the national spectrum for the Lady Cougars is #5 ranked Vanguard (California) upset #2 ranked Point Loma (California) Tuesday night! This puts Union Tennessee in the #1 place with one loss (which was against SXU!), Point Loma at #2 with two losses and SXU at #3 with only one loss. The next rankings do not come out until Feb. 8, which is after our Saturday match up. It is absolutely crucial for us to win Saturday’s game to go into the rankings with a better record than Point Loma. This is the only chance we have at moving back into the #2 spot.

What does this all mean?? In a nutshell, Saturday’s game is a huge one on many different levels for the Lady Cougars and we are begging you to come out and support us! If you have been putting off coming to a game and things keep coming up, make it a necessity that you show your support on Saturday. Even if this is the only game you come to all year, we will be very appreciative for the support and encouragement!

I hope to see you all there at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 6 in the Shannon Center! Go Cougs!

Brittany Jones is a sophomore I/O psychology major from Tinley Park, IL. She is a Student Government Association senator, Vice President of the American Red Cross Club, and a forward on the Women's basketball team. Consideration for the student bloggers is provided by Saint Xavier University.