By: Cheyenne Carder and Taise Thompson
With a 61-55 loss to Illinois State in the Missouri Valley Conference championship, the Bradley women’s basketball team officially starts their offseason.
The team ended the season with a 20-10 overall record. Sophomore, Gabi Haack had the most points with 448, and freshman, Lasha Petree following with 397.
Their average total points went up 83 points since the 2017-2018 season and points per game went up by 5 this season.
Haack says that their success this season came from playing as a team and having depth on the bench. She also says that the team as a whole is very talented and hardworking which led to being able to get work done.
Spring Semester is only half way through, which means players can focus more on their school work and wind down from the season. Offseason training will start in the upcoming months of May and June.
Head coach, Andrea Gorski says, “the NCAA allows eight hours of practice during offseason and preseason. This includes 4 hours of on court work and 4 hours of weights and conditioning.” During the regular season, the team practices 20 hours a week.
Freshman player, Ellie Spelhaug says preseason starts in June. The players have a couple weeks off to relax and prepare for offseason.
Coach Gorski says, “offseason practices are more focused on individual work outs and less team workouts.” She says, the team will practice in groups rather than all together to focus on specific position needs.
Spelhaug says that weight lifting, and conditioning are the focus of offseason and preseason practices. Cardio, such as running is more intensified. The team adds in pool and yoga workouts to build endurance.
During offseason, the players will do on court work in their positions, such as guards and forwards to get a more precise work out tailored for them.
Haack says that to prepare for the season she spent time working with Assistant coach, Kristi Zeller on her shots and finishing at the rim.
For preseason workouts, Haack says “I plan on working on mid range shots and creating my own shots off the dribble.”
Haack also plans on working on her running ability to become a better defender.
Coach Gorski says that many players take May Interim classes, so several of the players stay on campus before preseason begins.
Spelhaug says that not having breaks can become pretty hard sometimes. She says that once preseason begins in June, the rest of the summer is spent on campus preparing for basketball season. Thanksgiving and winter break are also tough because they do not have a lot of time to spend with family.
However, Spelhaug also says “All of that said, it is so worth it and rewarding when you get big wins and all of the relationships and memories you make with teammates.” So, even though having very little time off during season and off season, Spelhaug thinks it is all worth it when she gets to win those games with her teammates.
The team’s offseason has begun and right now they are focusing on school work and getting ready for summer preseason.