Now that the USD women’s basketball team has reached the Elite Eight, the teams become less familiar. The Coyotes first opponent, and hopefully not last, will be the Washburn Lady Blues, who are 26-6 and ranked 24th in the nation. Actually, Washburn isn’t as far away as one might think, since it is just in Topeka, Kansas. These are actually the two teams that have the least about of travel time to Kearney, so each team should be well represented.
By the way, the W logo that Washburn uses is a dead ringer for Wisconsin’s W. Great creativity there, but I don’t know who to blame on that since I don’t know who came up with it first. Granted a lot of teams use the same logos and nicknames. Anyways.
Washburn’s basketball team mostly consists of transfer players. Out of 14 players, 9 are transfers. This isn’t that different from USD since the Hoffman twins, Shannon Daly, and Maggie Youngberg all transfered in as well.
Senior guard Corkey Stiger leads the team in scoring at 17.9 points per game. She has hit 35% of her three, grabs 4.1 rebounds per game, 48 steals, and 3 assists per game. Corkey Stiger is to Washburn what Jeana Hoffman is to USD. The only main difference between the two is one assist per game and Hoffman shoots 6.5% better from three.
Senior forward Amanda Holmes provides the scoring inside for Washburn. Holmes scored 12.4 ppg, 8 rpg, 48 steals, and 45 blocks. Holmes has fouled out of four games this year. This should provide a good battle inside with Bridget Yoerger.
Junior Jessica Mainz is the point guard for Washburn. Mainz only averages 6.8 ppg, but has 3.7 apg, 4.4 rpg, and 59 steals. Also scoring in double figures for Washburn is junior guard Janice Bright at 10.4 ppg.
The Coyotes defense will have to defend this game as if, well, if they were defending themselves maybe. On paper, the two teams do look similar. The two major differences are the Coyotes 343 steals to 249 for Washburn and the Coyotes shoot 37.7% from three compared to 33.4% for Washburn. The Coyotes also have scored 6 more points per game.
The main key for the Coyotes, as it has been all season, is turnovers. Washburn commits 14.5 turnovers per game so if the Coyotes are able to create turnovers and shoot the three, which they have basically down all year, they should be able to win the game again. Washburn will be a great opponent, but the three point shooting and the ability to hold onto the ball and create turnovers so push the Coyotes to the victory, which it has down all season.
————-Justin Rust
