By Tony Nelson
The Lady Apaches have yet to pull out a win thus far this season. They are off to a 0-9 start.
In the Danville Classic, this past weekend, they fell to Danville 82-44, the first day and Spoon River 69-45 on the second day.
On December 1, when the Lady Apaches played host to Black Hawk West, the visitors came out on top 77-50.
"There is a definite trend to our games," said Head Coach Joe Conroy "We are always close until late in the first half. Then the other team substitutes fresh players into the game, and due to our six player roster we run out of gas."
"We don’t have a lot of recovery time between games," said Conroy " Sometimes we are done at midnight and have to be up and ready by 8:30 the next morning."
A strength the Lady Apaches bring to the table is their attitude, according to the head coach. "They are always positive and they give a good effort," said Conroy.
The sixth-year head coach did say that his team lacks aggression on the floor.
"One game we only had two fouls in the first half," said Conroy. "You can’t win at the college level by only having two fouls in a half."
Sophomores Shelly Obermiller and Molly Heins are both turning in solid seasons. Obermiller leads the team with a 22 PPG scoring average. Heins averages 15 points and is leading the team with 12.9 rebounds per game.
"Shelly and Molly have been our leaders this season." said Conroy " The others are improving and learning a lot from them."
The Lady Apaches recently added a new player, Emily Sterchi of Mendota to their roster. The 5’6 freshman has been unable to play due to a pulled quadriceps. Also, another player planning on joining the team second semester is Mandy Wilson from Arkansas.
The head coach did say that he wants the team to keep being competitive.
"I want our players to stay competitive for our upcoming games against Waubonsee and Morton." The Lady Apaches play host to Waubonsee on December 10 and travel to Morton on December 12.
12/10/98