The women’s basketball season tips off at Moody Coliseum on Friday, Nov. 10 against Texas A&M International. For new Coach Julie Goodenough, it will be a good test for her and a competitive Wildcat roster.
“As a team, we have spent countless hours conditioning, shooting, and team bonding and I feel more than prepared going into the season with all we have accomplished and overcome since day one,” freshman Kynzie Newman said.
Coach Goodenough was brought in last spring when then Coach Shawna Lavender stepped down. She has coached for rival Hardin-Simmons, Oklahoma State and Charleston Southern, on top of playing for ACU when she attended.
With her return, she has brought a new atmosphere of intensity that has prepared the girls to play at their highest level.
“We’ve put in a whole new offensive system and had to basically relearn everything,” senior Kelsey Smith said. “But team practices, individual skills work and extra shooting workouts have really gotten us ready for the season.”
Physical strength and endurance has been a focal point in Coach Goodenough’s workouts. She has emphasized the need to be physically excellent in order to compete.
“This preseason has been completely different than our previous ones,” junior Mackenzie Lankford said. “We’ve been doing track workouts, lifting weights, swimming, and basketball workouts. Our coaches pushed us to our limits and it’s made us a lot stronger mentally and physically.”
Because of her desire to win, the team has devoted themselves to her and has welcomed her with open arms into the program.
“Coach Goodenough has already had a huge impact on the team,” Lankford said. “We are already better fundamentally, physically, and mentally. We are a whole new team and we can’t wait to test ourselves on someone other than ourselves.”
Fans can also expect a high-powered offense from the Wildcats this season. In their preseason game against Cisco, the team scored seventy three points in only twenty minutes of play.
“Our biggest strength is that the majority of the team can shoot the three,” Smith said. “Fast paced and high scoring games can be expected.”
“This season we are going to play a style of basketball that ACU has never played. I have a feeling there are going to be a lot of eighty plus point games this season.”
Above all though, the end of season results are what matter to these ladies and their coach. With a 12-14 record last year, the goal is to not only finish with a winning record, but to become legitimate contenders for the LSC title.
“We fully expect to be a contender to win conference this year,” Lankford said.
“We also believe we can go all the way and win the conference tournament. It’s going to take a lot of work; we have some really great competition in our conference, but we all feel that we’re up for the task.”
