Opinions Editor, Sports Reporter
After a historic 2012-13 campaign that expired with its first appearance in the NCAA Elite Eight, the women’s basketball team opened its regular season this weekend at the Southwestern Oklahoma State University (SWOSU) Classic. The Mavs continued their success and conquered both Northwestern (69-42) and Southwestern Oklahoma State (82-68).
“There were a lot of girls there (in the Elite Eight game) last year, and they want to get back,” coach Taylor Wagner said. “That has definitely been a huge motivation for us coming into this season, but we are focusing on our own expectations for ourselves. We try not to listen to what anyone else is saying.”
Senior Sharaya Selsor set the bar high for this season as she broke a 19-year school record Saturday night against Southwestern Oklahoma State when she drove home 39 points for the Mavericks.
“The success of last year brought experience to our returners,” Selsor said. “Through that experience, we have learned how hard we have to work to be a championship team.”
Selsor led the Mavs in scoring this weekend, putting up a total of 52 points. She was followed by Aubry Boehme with 22 points.
The women won’t play again until the Holiday Inn-Airport Thanksgiving Classic on Nov. 29-30 when they face Dixie State and Montana Western. Selsor explains that the team is expecting to improve immensely between now and then.
“Our defense and team chemistry are a couple areas where we need to improve,” Selsor said. “We have three weeks before our next game, and we are excited to get back to the gym and get better.”
This is the second straight year that the women have started their season 2-0, and they can only hope that’s a foreshadowing for the way the rest of the season will go.
For the men’s team, the 2013-14 season is one of new beginnings as the squad debuted under the guidance of a new head coach, Andy Shantz. However, Shantz is beginning his 16th season with the Mavs. He was previously the assistant coach to Jim Heaps, who was promoted to Assistant Athletic Director in June.
Junior Landon Vermeer says Shantz has received a lot of support from the team as he steps into the head coach position.
“We are so excited to have him as head coach now, and we are all behind him 100 percent,” Vermeer said. “Our team this year is one of the closest groups I’ve ever been a part of.”
Unfortunately, the men’s team did not have as much to celebrate as the women this weekend, falling short to No. 18 Dixie State (85-81) and California Baptist (89-79) in the Dixie State Classic.
“We faced tough competitors this weekend,” Shantz said. “We didn’t execute our game plan well. If you execute and pay attention to every possession, you’ll be pleased with the scoreboard, and we just didn’t do that as well as we could have.”
Vermeer, who led the team in 3-pointers this weekend, explained that defense is where the weekend got away from the Mavs.
“We definitely need to improve on our defense, which I have no doubt that we will as we continue to practice and sharpen up a few things,” he said. “I think we will be good to go for our next game.”
Vermeer says the men’s team will be watching a lot of film from the weekend and using the losses as motivation before they take on BYU in an exhibition game Nov. 16.
aachambe@mavs.coloradomesa.edu
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