MACOMB — It was a promising start to the year as the Western Illinois women opened the exhibition portion of the schedule with a 90-56 victory over Columbia College on Tuesday night at Western Hall.
And while getting the win was nice, the Leathernecks had other things on the checklist they wanted to cross off, aside from winning the game.
Getting everyone up to game speed as well as acclimated to playing together was a big point of emphasis on Tuesday as the Leathernecks played all 12 players, with 11 getting at least 11 minutes of game action.
“Honestly, it was super fun, in practice we play together all the time, so it was the same thing on the floor, but there are some timing things we need to get used to,” said Evan Zars, who led WIU with 17 points and nine rebounds. “We have a deep bench, everyone is really capable and there’s not really a drop off.
“It was good to see everyone play and play pretty well. Everyone looked confident and it showed, everybody gave themselves a chance and showed what they can do.”
With starters Elizabeth Lutz, Evan Zars, Carla Flores and Danni Nichols along with fifth-year senior and last year’s sixth man Samantha Pryor back, Western coach JD Gravina knows what he has in his likely starting five.
Tuesday was all about getting that group used to game speed but also getting players who will be key reserves this year valuable minutes as the coach sorts out his rotation.
“We know what we’re going to get out of Elizabeth, Danni, Carla and Evan, it was nice to see some improvements from them, Evan had some good post mosts, Elizabeth continued to show improvement and that’s nice, but now it’s about the newer kids and the kids who last year did not get a lot of experience and are going to play a lot,” Gravina said. “I thought Jada (Thorpe) would be a nice back-up for ‘E’ (Lutz) but those two play well together, they give us a nice two point-guard lineup,” Gravina said. “Addaya (Moore) has been in and out with injuries, she’d be the first to tell you she’s still a little out of shape but she showed people she is a different level athlete.
“I’m excited about that, plus we have three shooters who are interchangeable (Pryor, Mallory McDermott and Anna Deets). It was nice to see Mallory come in and get confidence. With those kids, we’re closer to figuring out our rotation and who can play with our top four.”
Zars led the way with 17 points while Lutz and Pryor each added 11. Nichols chipped in with 10 while McDermott added nine off the bench.
Kennedy Flanagan, Moore and Deets each scored seven for the Leathernecks while Thorpe added five.
Western is now off for close to two weeks before playing its second and final exhibition of the preseason, hosting Illinois-Springfield on November 8.
“That will be the same thing (as the Columbia game), focus on staying aggressive on defense, stay in our gaps, ball pressure,” Zars said of the goals for the UI-S game. “I think everyone was a little amped up for (Tuesday), they wanted to rebound but sometimes were a little jumpy.
“Everyone’s mind is in the right place, we just need to relax, put a body on someone and go get the ball. We’re still feeling that out a bit.”