After a promising start to last year’s season was derailed by injuries, the Bradley women’s basketball team looks to bounce back and climb up the ranks in the Missouri Valley Conference.
Last season’s Braves began the season 4-5, but injuries plagued the team, and they finished with a 6-26 record, ending the year on an 11-game losing streak.
Despite ending the season on a skid, third-year head coach Kate Popovec-Goss is optimistic about this year.
“I’m really excited,” Popovec-Goss said. “I think this has by far been the best preseason we’ve had in my time here. Rebuilds change and take time, and I’m really pleased with how it’s all come together in year three.”
Popovec-Goss has already noticed the key elements of this year’s team.
“We’re big, we’re mobile, we can score at different positions, we can shoot the three. It’s been really great in terms of execution and the type of people that we have,” Popovec-Goss added.
The Braves lost a lot of players this offseason. Of the five starters from their season-ending conference tournament loss to Murray State last year, only one player, fifth-year senior guard Ruba Abo Hashesh, returns.
“I have been so impressed with Ruba,” Popovec-Goss said. “I think she’s grown so much and has shown tremendous resilience. She’s the heart and soul of our team. She’s our point guard and our best defender.”
“She came to me in the offseason and said one of her goals was to be one of the best defenders in the Valley, and I think that she has worked tremendously hard and proven that she’s capable of that,” Popovec-Goss added. “She’s really set the tone for what our culture should be.”
Hashesh is entering her third season with the Braves after transferring during her junior season. With her experience, she has taken on a leadership role, and many new players have since joined the team.
“I’ve played in the Valley for two years now, so I kind of have an idea of what works and what doesn’t work,” Hashesh said. “My leadership is the main thing for me, bringing the team together and build team dynamics off the court as well. I’m very open-minded and I’ve been through a lot, so I’m very understanding of what different players are going through.”
Building relationships has been a large focus for the Braves this offseason. Returning to the team this year is senior guard-forward Kaylen Nelson. Nelson transferred to Bradley last year, averaging 15.6 points per game in her first five games as a Brave before suffering an injury that ended her season. Despite the injury limiting her playing time, she has been working to build chemistry with the team.
“I definitely focused a lot more on building relationships in the summer and having really good conversations about what the Valley can take,” Nelson said. “I’ve only been here for one year and I didn’t get to play in it very much, but I watched a lot of the basketball. I watched a lot of film on it, so I can tell them what I saw and what I think.”
A fresh look
There’s plenty to be excited about with the newcomers to the team. Several players joined through the transfer portal, including seniors Soleil Barnes and Tamia Perryman, as well as juniors Carlie Vick and Amy O’Hara.
Freshman players include Ellie McDermid, Mariam Coulibaly, Caitlin Washington, Lila Posthuma and Inia Jones, though Jones will miss the season after suffering an injury over the summer.
“One of the things that was really important to us as we were recruiting were kids who came from winning programs,” Popovec-Goss said. “Whether they were transfers or whether they were high school students because that competitiveness that you have to have if you’re part of a successful program is going to translate at any level.”
“They really care about winning, and that’s something that I think has helped to expedite the chemistry,” Popovec-Goss added. “The most pleasant surprise for me of the preseason is how quickly our team has come together off the court as a unit, and that’s certainly translating on the court as well.”
A few new players have already begun to make a strong impression on the returners.
“Soleil Barnes is a natural scoring guard, and she’s going to play a lot of minutes,” Hashesh said. “She is very mature and has a lot of leadership. Her and Ellie McDermid are worth mentioning for me.”
Popovec-Goss also mentioned that Barnes is someone who can come in and make an instant impact on the team.
“We were really excited to recruit Soleil because she brings a lot of experience on the court, and she has won three conference championships,” Popovec-Goss said. “She played at a really high-level mid-major program, and she also played competitively. We felt she could take on a large leadership role and she brings a lot of joy into the gym.”
Developing a philosophy
The preseason is a time when coaches work to instill a philosophy in their players and develop a team identity. Popovec-Goss is no different, as the Braves look to improve in one key area this season.
“One thing that’s always been my philosophy in the first two years and hasn’t really translated is we have to defend,” Popovec-Goss said. “I’ve changed a lot of what we’re doing defensively to fit this team, and I’ve kind of changed my philosophy in terms of how we can get stops in order to be successful, and that’s been really fun.”
“In terms of our identity, tactically, I want to be a team that’s known as being a great, defensive team,” Popovec-Goss added. “Offensively, I want our identity to be playing with freedom and confidence. I want to be a great offensive team in the sense that we share the basketball.”
Popovec-Goss’s players have been hard at work adapting her strategies and changing things that haven’t worked.
“We worked a lot on growth, changing a lot that wasn’t working for us the past two years,” Nelson said. “Offensively, as well as defensively, we’re working on pressuring the ball early, just working on a whole new dynamic structure for the team.”
Keeping focus
The Braves were picked to finish 11th in the MVC preseason poll. Like most coaches, Popovec-Goss isn’t caught up over that.
“What I tell my team all the time is, you absolutely can use the fact that we were picked 11th to be motivation, you want to prove people wrong,” Popovec-Goss said. “But if your biggest motivation isn’t the fact that you want to prove yourself and your teammates right, then you shouldn’t be in our gym.”
“It doesn’t matter what other people think of us,” Popovec-Goss added. “It’s what you do and what do you think of you, and what do we think of ourselves. The biggest motivation should be that you love playing basketball and you believe in what you’re capable of.”
There’s plenty of optimism surrounding the Braves, but their success will depend on their ability to stay focused and mature on the court.
“I expect a lot of progress from last year,” Hasesh said. “A lot of the new players are older players, so I expect more maturity and be able to close games better.”
The Braves will host an exhibition against Knox College on Saturday before the season officially begins on Nov. 7 with their home opener against St. Francis.
