Image: Alecia Westbrook tries to steal the ball back from NSU’s team during the Women’s Basketball game on
February 16th, 2024.
Story by Sam Kunkle | Photos by Kyra Blundell | Translation by Victoria Escobedo
Basketball season has begun to ramp up this month as the Men and Women’s Basketball teams continue to keep their eyes on the ultimate prize of becoming the Southwest Conference Champions. The men’s team’s record of 16-10 and the women’s astonishing feat of 17-7 is proof of their collective drive to win, and in spite of some minor setbacks, both teams have kept their tenacity and drive for victory alive, as well as some impressive improvement since last semester’s season.
For the Women’s Basketball team, Coach Royce Chadwick gave many intriguing hints as to the team’s gameplan for this season. “Does the culture fit my culture” is the question that Coach Chadwick considers when recruiting players, as well as the different techniques implemented in order to perfect teamwork and streamline their efficiency in practice. According to Coach Chadwick, the players all have their own individual skills and personalities and they must learn how to function and meld together in order to create the basketball team that’s needed to get as far as the Islanders historically do in the Southwest Conference. As Coach Chadwick stated after their February 15 victory, “At this stage in the year, everybody has a good scout on your team. So they look at each individual and they take away what that individual does well.” Coach Chadwick also decided to share some unique secrets as to how a game’s performance can improve, stating, “it makes a difference when we play at home”, revealing his and the team’s deep-seated appreciation for the Islander fans who do their best in hyping up the team to do their best.
Number 25 Guard Mireia Aguado explained the evolution of her playing confidence as well as skill level now that she had reached her senior year, stating, “Well, I just keep practicing it over, and my teammates keep giving me great looks. And today, I hit those threes that were open. Just being confident with yourself.” Aguado’s and the rest of the team’s playing capabilities were put on full display, making it clear as to what this team–as well as the fans–want from this season. Aguado further described how her comfortability has drastically changed from her freshman to her senior year.
“Well, one thing I was already doing great at was getting to the meetings,” said Aguado. “I was talking to Coach, and he was like, ‘I didn’t even mention two of our games.’ And I was like, ‘So, okay let me start getting those couple extra hours on the team, y’know shooting more.’”
Aguado’s statements about her journey as an Islander under Coach Chadwick further supports the idea that this team of unique and specialized individuals all can achieve both shared and personal greatness once niche and and keystone places have been found, which can be created through the rigorous dedication and hard work that our basketball program implements for all our athletes.
However, compared to our Islanders Men’s team Coach Jim Shaw was equally as confident in the team’s ability going forward. He did admit that there was at first a couple of minor mishaps during last season, but that it had simply been a matter of becoming acquainted with each other as well as their place on the team. Coach Shaw explained how in spite of last season, the players have begun to operate significantly more smoothly with each other and the flow of the game, and that the biggest motivator for everyone is making it to the conference championship. Coach Shaw stated that they were “looking forward to the push to the Southwest Conference, and then hopefully become SC champions.”
Both of our tenacious basketball teams aim to fly high this year, fueled by our players and fans’ drive for victory and hunger for improvement. And, according to our coaches, no matter what speed bumps or hiccups may come their way, the Islanders will see it through to the end as a team.