Moving on without Wiedie

With just eight games left in the season, the Sycamore women’s basketball team underwent a dramatic change with head coach Jim Wiedie being suspended for the rest of the season.

At the time of the suspension, the Sycamores were 11-10 and were in eighth place in the Missouri Valley Conference standings.

“We used the adversity to refocus on the things that were important,” senior guard Kelsey Luna said. “When you get to an elite level like this, it’s easy to over look the fun aspect. I feel like a lot of people did some soul searching and found why they were passionate about the game.”

The Sycamores did not give up and pulled together behind the remaining three assistant coaches: Clint Weddle, Cammie Campbell and Melanie Boeglin.

“I think just as a team and as a coaching staff, we just pulled together,” junior forward Kelsie Cooley said. “There wasn’t so much of an emphasis on winning but just recommitted ourselves to work hard and do it for each other.”

“The biggest thing is we have all approached everything one day at a time,” Weddle said. “We have daily expectations, and we just do our very best to reach those.”

The Sycamores are now 16-11 and on a five-game winning streak, the second longest streak in the conference. The Sycamores are also now in seventh in MVC standings and only one game behind sixth-place and a first round bye in the MVC tournament.

“Basketball is all about passion for the sport and passion for each other,” Luna said. “If we stick to that and keep that as our mindset, good things will follow.”

After struggling this season, the Sycamores  have found their stride, shooting at least 40 percent from the floor in all but one game while on their winning streak.

The Sycamores have also stepped up their defense and intensity and have not allowed opposing teams to gain momentum throughout entire games.

“Our defense has been very strong,” Weddle said. “We have done a very good job as a team of taking the initiative of if we are guarding someone, that is who we are trying to guard. I think that has worked very well for us the last couple ball games.”

The most important thing Weddle said to come out of the season is the strength and character of the women on the team.

The Sycamores will look to continue their winning streak Thursday when they travel to face the Bulldogs of Drake University. Tipoff is scheduled for 8:05 p.m.