Now in its third season in the Ohio Valley Conference, it has been a gradual climb for the Western Illinois University women’s basketball team.
The Leathernecks aim to finish their climb to the top this week at the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament in Evansville, Ind.
WIU (24-5, 16-4 OVC) begins play Friday in the semifinals against either No. 8 seed Southeast Missouri (13-17, 8-12 OVC) or No. 4 seed Morehead State (18-13, 13-7 OVC).
Friday’s second semifinal will have No. 2 seed Lindenwood (24-7, 16-4 OVC) facing either No. 3 seed Southern Indiana (20-9, 14-6 OVC) or No. 7 seed SIUE (16-15, 8-12 OVC).
The semifinal victors play for the title and a berth to the NCAA Tournament Saturday at 3 p.m.
“It’s definitely a very exciting time,” said WIU senior guard Addi Brownfield. “I told some of the girls it’s honestly like Christmas morning going down to Evansville. We’re so, so excited for this opportunity.”
From a seventh place finish each of the first two seasons, the Leathernecks battled their way to a share of the regular season title.
“It started with Addi (Brownfield) and Allie (Meadows) and their class coming in,” said WIU coach JD Gravina. “Then obviously the next year adding Raegan (McCowan) and Kaylen’s (Reed) class was big. Then getting Mia (Nicastro) to transfer in. It’s like, we’ve just built it.”
Gravina noted that last year’s effort in the conference tournament provided the team a starting point for this season.
Though seeded seventh, the Leathernecks upset UT-Martin and Eastern Illinois in reaching the semifinals. They saw their tournament run ended by Lindenwood in the semifinals.
“I thought that run we made last year in the conference tournament really helped set the stage for this year,” said Gravina. “It showed we could play at that high level. We had pretty much everyone coming back and would be adding Kaylen back (from injury).”
“That kind of showed us what we could be,” he added. “I think that helped get us going for this year.”
But the team lost two-time OVC First Team selection Raegan McCowan for the season to injury in the conference opener.
“I knew the team was going to have to look a little bit different,” said Brownfield. “We were going to have to adjust because Raegan is such an amazing player. No one could replace her. That was out of the question.”
“Everyone stepped into their new roles, bought into what we were trying to do, what we were trying to accomplish,” she added. “And Raegan was so supportive. Even though she wasn’t on the court, she was on the bench cheering all the time, calling out plays that she noticed on the floor, being a great leader even though she wasn’t in the game.”
“Raegan going down was obviously probably the biggest adversity we faced all season,” added Nicastro. “But I honestly was never really worried in how it would affect our team’s overall success.”
“Obviously, Raegan is a great player,” she added. “But we have so many talented players on this roster, players that were willing to pick up the slack and play their role.”
“Everyone on the team was just more worried about the team's success, contributing and doing what they do best and not better their own success, trying to show off and be something they’re not,” said. “It’s special. I think that everyone’s dedication and everyone buying into what we were trying to build, even without Raegan is how we got to where we are.”
WIU faced Lindenwood in the regular season finale at Western Hall with a chance to clinch an outright OVC title. But the Lions pulled out a 50-49 victory in forcing the Leathernecks to settle for a share of the crown.
“I’ve said all season the adversity we have faced has been good for us,” said Nicastro. “It has been a learning opportunity for us. I think the Lindenwood game was no different.”
“I think, in a way, psychologically, it help set us up better for the conference tournament,” said Gravina. “It’s like, we had it, they took it away from us, and now we need to go back and get it. Not just from Lindenwood, but from the entire league.”
WIU still claimed the No. 1 seed in the tournament by tiebreaker, having split with fourth place Morehead State, while Lindenwood lost twice to the Eagles.
“We’ve slowly made steps each year to get to the point where we’re at now,” said Brownfield. “We know we wanted the two byes as the one or two seed. That plays a huge advantage. Knowing we only need to win two games I think is huge for us.”
“It’s a testament to how hard everyone works and how much of a team we are,” said Nicastro. “We really, I think, just banded together. Our success isn’t tied to one person. Yes, there are really important individual parts, but we’ve worked best all season when we’ve worked as a team. We’ve played as a team and we believe in each other.”
Gravina looks for his experienced players to lead the way.
“Allie Meadows is one of the best communicators I’ve ever coached and she has a phenomenal motor,” said Gravina. “Kaylen Reed is like a coach on the floor.”
“Experience has played a huge part in our success this year,” said Brownfield.
“We have four seniors and a junior in our starting five and that goes a really long way.”
“Me and Allie (Meadows), we’ve kind of seen it all,” she added. “We know the OVC pretty much inside and out. Knowing more so what to expect this year, what to expect from a lot of teams, I think that leadership and experience has really fueled this run that we’ve been having.”
“I’m just really confident in the capabilities of this team and how well we’ve played all season,” said Nicastro. “I think that’s going to translate to the tournament. Nothing’s going to be easy, but it hasn’t been easy for us all season. We’ve fought through a lot of adversity and come out on top.”
While the team does have experience, Gravina noted that another key for the team will be the ability of the players to handle their emotions.
“It’s already so emotional,” he said. “You can’t make it bigger than what it is. I think for us we have to treat it basically like we treat every week we have two games. There won’t be a day in between, but you’re looking at a two-game week and you have to find a way to win both games.”
“We’ve got to keep our emotions under control and handle frustration and I think the biggest thing is to feel like we’re still the hunter, and not the hunted,” he added. “You can’t go in there playing scared to lose.”
“We know what we’re capable of,” said Nicastro. “We’ve proved it the entire season.”
“We are a conference championship team,” she added. “We have to trust ourselves, trust each other and execute.”
Included in that keeping emotions in check is a temptation to look ahead to a possible rematch with Lindenwood.
“I think this team is really good at staying present and staying in the moment,” said Nicastro.
“I think we’ve done a really good job all year of taking it one game at a time, but also at the same time looking ahead at your future goals,” said Brownfield.
“The last six games, JD told us to have a championship mindset,” she added. “ And we went 5-for-6 out of those.”
“I think we do a very good job of balancing looking ahead at our future goals of what we want and staying in the moment and making sure we do what we need to do to get to those future goals.”
“Basketball is a fun game and we’ve been having a lot of fun this year,” said Brownfield. “We need to continue to be locked in and be focused, but remember to not get too high or get too low.”
“This is supposed to be a fun experience,” added Nicastro. “You can’t take any moment for granted. At the end of the day, it’s still a game and we’re lucky to be where we are.”
