Zack Peñalva, Sports Editor
Despite stumbles in their past few games, this has been a noteworthy year women’s basketball team. After beating the seventh ranked College of Saint Mary on December 30, the Eagles earned their highest ever national ranking.
A large part of the success can be chalked up to the consistency the Eagles have had this season. The sophomore trio of Kali Whiteside, Brittany Warren and Savannah Taylor has started every game. During that time, Warren and Taylor have led the team in scoring, while Whiteside leads the team in blocks. Junior guard Kylee Gorby has played over 500 minutes this year, providing 72 assists and a consistent outlet for the offense to run through. Despite playing fewer minutes than her fellow starters, junior Catie Fletcher has averaged 12 points a game.
But a recent run of rocky form has caused the Eagles some problems. After a week at the 21 spot, a loss against Midway dropped their ranking down to 22.
Since then, things haven’t looked a lot brighter. Losses against conference opponents Brescia and Cincinnati Christian could cause them to slip out of the top 25.
Despite all of this, the team has shown it has the tools to bounce back and go on another run to end out the season. Last year’s team ended their season at 25-7 with a loss to Point Park University in the KIAC championship game. If first year head coach Jason Price hopes to approach the same heights, he’ll need to find a way to turn his team around and have them playing like they were at the beginning of this season.