4 minute read
ATHLETIC LIFE
A bittersweet end to a record-breaking season
The timing of the COVID-19 closures couldn’t come at a worse time for the UMHB women’s basketball team. The need for safety precautions abruptly ended their record-breaking year in which the team had won its third consecutive American Southwest Conference West Division title, won the program’s first-ever ASC tournament championship, finished with the highest national ranking in program history, and made its secondstraight NCAA Sweet 16 appearance.
“Even though we finished the season under unique circumstances, it was a great season,” said Mark Morefield, head women’s basketball coach.
The Cru women went 26-4 this season and had advanced to the sectional round of the NCAA Division III National Championships for the second consecutive year before the tournament was canceled due to COVID-19 concerns. In early March, the NCAA canceled all remaining winter and spring NCAA championships due to the evolving pandemic.
“Once I found out after our Thursday practice that the game was canceled, I thought about our seniors,” said Morefield, who has been at UMHB since 2015. “Hannah Holt had just ended her career with a knee injury the week before, and now our three other seniors were ending their careers in a way they had no control over. It was especially hard for Kendall Rollins and Alicia Blackwell, who had been key
The UMHB women’s basketball team won its first American Southwest Conference Championship by edging out Hardin-Simmons University 60- 58, which earned the team a second straight trip to the NCAA Division III National Championships. After its first tournament win against Austin College, the team was set to play its second game when the season was canceled due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
players since their freshman year. To find the right words to say to those two was very challenging. The whole team was hurting that night. They had worked so hard for this opportunity.”
The team posted the highest final national rankings in the Division III era of the program when polls were released the first week in April. The Cru finished the season ranked ninth in the country in the D3hoops.com Top 25 and 10th in the nation in the WBCA Top 25 Poll. Undefeated Hope College was the pick for the top spot in both polls.
“The one thing that stood out about this season was we had so much experience returning compared to past teams,” Morefield said. “Along with experience, this team had a tremendous amount of grit and determination. To finish the season on an 11-game winning streak and to have only two of those wins at home speaks volumes about the makeup of this season’s team.”
Delivering an electric program
Acrobatics & Tumbling team
has rewarding debut year, despite being cut short
Even though the competitive season was much shorter than planned due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the new UMHB Acrobatics & Tumbling program had a deeply rewarding year. The team, which has been training since late August, got to participate in two meets—the last of which they won against East Texas Baptist University in February.
“Our athletes were ecstatic in recording our first win in program history!” said Acrobatics & Tumbling Head Coach Courtney Pate. “We try to prepare them to expect the unexpected throughout the duration of each meet. With 19-plus heats, a lot can happen during a meet. Our athletes went into the meet ready to compete in all aspects of the word with strong mentalities, and on that day, we were able to clench a win!”
Pate said the acrobatics and tumbling team was brought together from various disciplines of gymnastics, competitive cheerleading, and power tumbling, and each athlete was able to use her unique past experiences in order to create something brand new.
“When 20-plus athletes are brought together, having various athletic backgrounds, there is always an underlying chance that there will be push back as to how well the team will work together,” Pate said. “However, from day one, our athletes were held to very high standards outside of on-the-mat training, with their study hall requirements, weight lifting, and miscellaneous tasks our staff asked of them.”
She said their willingness to believe in a new program also made the year a success.
“Their faith in the overall picture of establishing a new program is personally one of my favorite aspects of this year,” Pate said. “I also believe that the excitement and curiosity of our entire campus for this first season made the atmosphere surrounding our program electric.”
Skill-wise and on the mat, the athletes grew and excelled tremendously in the acro event throughout the year, Pate added, while their execution in the tumbling and team event was impeccably clean.
“I could not be prouder of the work each and every one of them put forth this year,” she said. “They could have chosen to not believe in the process,
but I am so grateful that they had faith in order to see the fruition of the season, even if was shorter than we hoped for!”
She said the team is looking forward to building on the experience they gained from this season.
“We are excited to combine the talent, culture, and pride of our veteran athletes with the potential of our incoming class of student-athletes,” she said.
When the season abruptly ended, the team was devastated, to say the least.
“They were initially shocked, followed by confusion, frustration, and overwhelming disappointment from high hopes,” Pate said. “However, the steps taken this spring were necessary, and as a whole, we trusted our administration at all levels during that time. This situation allows us to be hopeful and be incredibly excited for next season!”
