Battling injuries with a predominantly new varsity team, the Blazer Basketball team continues to be positive while going into the final stretch of their regular season. With an overall record of 8-8 and a 5-8 MIAC record, the Blazers are in eighth place going into a week of important games.
“The next three are important because they can be winnable games and place us as one of the top six, putting us into the playoffs,” Coach Mike Durbin said. “Every game is important for us, but these next three games could determine our final standing.”
Having both successes and challenges this season, the Blazers are hoping their positive attitude and hard work will show on the scoreboard against Carleton on this Saturday and against St. Kate’s on Monday.
“It’s been a rollercoaster this season,” Senior Captain Cassie Dorschner said. There are times when we have great games and play together as a team, but it seems like after we have a great game, we will have two bad ones. We are improving and that’s the most important thing, but its not always showing.”
After a big win against Augsburg last Wednesday, the team was hopeful that its confidence would carry over to last Saturday’s game against Concordia, but they unfortunately fell short with a score of 52-66.
The team must now put its losses aside and look toward the upcoming games. “These are two teams that we know we can beat,” Dorschner said. “We just have to show up to play.”
In preparation for the approaching games and in an attempt avoid further injuries, the team has focused on fundamentals such as shooting and running through offense and defense rather than full court practice,
“We aren’t able to practice at the speed that I would want to, but we are trying to keep people healthy,” Durbin said. “It’s a balance between how hard you can push and the risk of another injury.”
Starting the season after the loss of six seniors, a combination of players studying abroad and injury, the Blazers have had to call upon younger players to step up and fulfill these spots.
“We had six seniors last year and Morgan (Dale) and Hannah (Hylla), who were two of our next top players, studied abroad in the fall,” Durbin said. “Morgan getting a concussion and being out for the rest of the year was a big setback.”
The open positions have given new players a chance to step up.
“We’re trying to plug holes the best we can,” Durbin said. “Players are still developing and now they have to do it on a pretty big stage. Some players that may have shifted between junior varsity and varsity are now playing most of their minutes on varsity.”
Despite these adversities, the Blazers are confident that they will be able to perform well in these next games as well as in their final nine games of the season. “We do have the potential and athletic ability to make a run now and for the playoffs,” Dorschner said. “We are the underdogs of the MIAC and can really make a statement within the next few weeks by winning a couple of these games and having the urgency to make a comeback the last part of the season.”