The 2019-2020 Saint Xavier women’s basketball season ended unexpectedly last March. The Cougars made it to the NAIA Division II Women’s Basketball National Championships in Sioux City, Iowa, but COVID-19 canceled their games before they could compete in their first match. Despite the unfinished business in Sioux City and the team losing talented seniors, the 2020-2021 Saint Xavier Women’s Basketball team works hard for the season ahead. “We are preparing as much as we can, so when the time does come, we are ready to go.” Junior Forward and one of last season’s captains, Claire Austin.
When the Cougars rolled up in Sioux City last March, their routine was the usual. They practiced for a few days, worked the Special Olympics camp, and attended opening ceremonies. Finally, the game day arrived. After the team got dressed for their game, they waited in the tunnel as the game before theirs ended. Then, some of them stepped out on the court. Some of them did not. The Cougars got called back to the locker room. The SXU Women’s Basketball coaches and SXU Athletic Director, Allison Kern, broke the news to the team: they would not be playing in the National Championship games because of the COVID-19 pandemic. They finished the season with a 29-4 record.
The team is currently in their regular preseason, unlike most SXU teams, and are preparing for their first game on October 30th against Morningside College in Bourbonnais, Illinois. An essential aspect of this preseason for the women basketball players is adapting to four seniors’ loss from the last season. “We lost four people, so we do have a lot of newcomers as well. It’s just a completely different atmosphere, along with COVID, so we have to adjust to it. All the returners are trying to make it as normal as possible for everyone,” says Austin.
Two of these seniors, Maddie Welter and Chanel Fanter, led the team as captains, along with Austin, last season and made a huge impact. During the 2019-2020 season, Welter received the NAIA All-American Honorable Mention, and the NAIA Champion of Character Award made the All-CCAC Second Team and CCAC All-Academic Team and was three-time CCAC Player of the Week. She was ranked 1st in the NAIA for three-point FG made per game and 1st in the NAIA and CCAC for three-point FG made. Last season, Fanter made the NAIA All-American Second Team, the All-CCAC First Team, and the CCAC All-Academic Team and was a two-time CCAC Player of the Week.
Despite the Cougars losing their senior players and adjusting to the COVID-19 regulations, they do not let these factors diminish their plans for a successful season. Austin states, “Our coach always says we have to control what we can control. We can control being ready for when we do have to start.” The SXU women’s basketball team competes first out of all the SXU teams for the 2020-2021 season, so a great deal of excitement circles around the Cougars kicking off their season next month.
Austin and her teammates’ leadership choices to normalize their basketball environment, amid the pandemic, are early signs that this team wants to secure great wins this season. The team eagerly awaits to secure their first two wins in Bourbonnais, Illinois, on October 30th and 31st in the CCAC-GPAC Challenge. The following weekend, they will travel to Orange City, Iowa, to play in the Northwestern Classic. The Cougars then start conference play in the CCAC against Trinity Christian College on November 11th at the Shannon Center with three more CCAC games to follow. They’ll play at Calumet College of St. Joseph on November 14th, at Indiana University Northwest on November 21st, and at the Shannon Center against Saint Ambrose University on November 24th. The team will wrap up their November games in Hastings, Nebraska, at the Hastings Classic on November 27th and November 28th.
They start December with a CCAC game against Trinity International University on December 2nd. The following day, the Cougars head down to Illinois State University to play the Redbirds in an exhibition match. Next, the team plays three more CCAC games. They will play at the Shannon Center against Lincoln College on December 5th, at Cardinal Stritch University on December 12th, and the Shannon Center against Olivet Nazarene University on the 16th. The Cougars head back down to Bloomington-Normal to play Illinois State again in another exhibition match on December 20th.
After that, the team has almost two weeks off from games until they start their fourteen game-streak of CCAC play, beginning with Cardinal Stritch on January 2nd at the Shannon Center. The Cougars wrap up conference play and their regular-season games on February 13th against Holy Cross College at the Shannon Center. The team will then participate in the CCAC Conference Tournament from February 24th to March 1st. Depending on how the Cougars perform in that tournament, they could advance to play in the NAIA Division II Women’s Basketball National Championship for the second year in a row.
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