Only one win, but WIU women hope to have sent a message

It is only one game and only one win, but for the Western Illinois women’s basketball team, Saturday’s victory 77-65 over a red-hot North Dakota State team may have been a warning shot that the Leathernecks are hoping to contend in the Summit after a slow nonconference session.
“I think this is a big statement we needed to make,” WIU center Evan Zars said. “I know we were picked third in the preseason, but there are probably a lot other people who thought they should be in that spot.
“We wanted to come out and show up on the floor.”
The Leathernecks went 1-7 in the nonconference and were out of most games early, but on Saturday, Western went right at the Bison and took control early.
“I think we were figuring it out with all our new players, who knows what and how can we get everybody involved,” WIU’s Grace Gilmore said after Saturday’s game. “We’re still putting together all the pieces, we did not have everyone together and not have a preseason like normal, so our normal days are coming later than usual.”
Now with one game out of the way, things really get tough as the Bison and Leathernecks adapt for the second game of their back-to-back series in Macomb.
Western led by as many as 28, but NDSU made things tight late, not allowing WIU to rest starters and main reserves.
For Leatherneck coach JD Gravina, this is where things get interesting for everyone around the league.
“It is going to be interesting going on back-to-back games, some coaches will over-adjust, some will under-adjust, I think for us, it will be more of the small things,” Gravina said. “Because things never got super-tight there are some things we never had to pull out like I’m sure there are things they didn’t show too.”
NDSU did make an in-game adjust against Western, switching to a 2-3 zone in the fourth quarter that did have a positive impact.
Despite the extra thing to think about, Gravina does feel upbeat about Sunday.
“They had success with the 2-3 zone, but to me that makes things super exciting because I think it’s easier to have success against a 2-3 when people are not hunting shots,” the coach said. “If they have to play 2-3 zone to beat us, I think that may help us a lot, but really, these second games are more psychological than any adjustment you may physically make.”