Seattle University Women’s Basketball opened their season this weekend with two games at home. The first was on Friday, Nov. 10 against Idaho State followed by a non-conference game on Sunday against Hawaii.

The Redhawks were up 23-19 by the first quarter against Idaho State, trailing by one at the end of a high-scoring half, 46-45. Seattle U was able to shut down Idaho State’s three point shots in the second half, but fouled more than needed to and continuously sent their opponent to the line.

“We’re going to make mistakes, the way we made mistakes in the final three minutes of the game, and it’s going to cost you the game,” head coach Suzy Barcomb said. Mistakes noted were fouling in the backcourt more than 50 feet from the basket, with about two minutes left.

Beginning her second season as head coach, Barcomb hopes to improve upon their impressive second place finish last year in the WAC regular season by sorting out team dynamics and finding a strong post presence.

“The same thing I talked about last year, is we have to have an inside post presence. People will start taking away our guard play if we don’t have a big post to throw it in to score,” Barcomb said.

Finding that offensive presence and the right dynamic on the floor has been difficult since the injuries of preseason, and it’s still a struggle as the team gears up for regular season play.

Despite the loss to Idaho State, senior Alexis Montgomery scored a career high 31-points. Montgomery was recently awarded Preseason Player of the Year, coming off an All- WAC First Team honor last season, leading Seattle U in points, rebounds and assists.

In addition, sophomore Kamira Sanders tied a career high of nine rebounds on Friday. She was awarded Freshman of the Year during her rookie season, becoming the first Redhawk to win a major WAC award.

Sanders is part of the young talent on the team, along with six newcomers this season, with five freshmen and one junior transfer joining the roster.

“We’re really young, so we’re trying to get our freshman and sophomores that didn’t play a lot last year up to speed to compete at this level. We’ve been trying to find who is going to be able to step up and who is going to contribute,” Barcomb said.

On Sunday, the team could not come together for the win against Hawai’i, losing 73-58. With a close score at the half, Hawaii pulled away with a ten-point lead by the third quarter. Towards the end of the fourth, Seattle U displayed the effort but could not get shots to go down, allowing Hawaii to pull away with a secure win.

Jacqueline may be reached at
[email protected]