The time is finally here and the stakes are high for Ferris State’s women’s basketball team this season.
Colleen Lamoreaux-Tate has entered her second year as head coach at Ferris and plans to create a stronger team to meet her goals of surpassing all the 2012 season achievements.
“Coaching at the level of the athletes at division two, teaching them something seems to work faster and in my advantage, Lamoreaux-Tate said. “So the transition, I don’t want to say it was easy, but they catch on a lot quicker when I am teaching them, so it is more fun for me. This year I expect my players to make simple shots, defend and like always, to compete.”
Ferris had an overall record of 13-13 in their 2012 season, which is partially because of team injuries.
“We only have one major injury this year, which is freshman guard Alex Shermulis’s blown out knee and a sprained ankle,” Lamoreaux-Tate said. “Last year I had four starters out because of injuries, so I hope our season will improve on last year’s just based on injuries.”
The Bulldogs have been preparing for their season ever since the 2013 school year began.
“We all have been working our butts off,” senior guard Sarah DeShone said. “We have been watching film, lifting weights, lots of practicing; pretty much getting work done when we go into the gym.”
Ferris has two seniors this year with two different ways of leading the team to victory.
“I am the type of leader who gets the team pumped and keeps the team together and on the same page,” senior guard Ashley Rando said. “Sarah is our senior who people follow on the court with her actions and I am the senior who people follow with my words.”
Many people would argue division one and division two schools are extremely different, but Ferris begged to differ when they discovered they were matched up with Michigan State University as their first match of the season.
“We want to give them a good run,” Rando said. “We want to challenge them in all aspects of the game and show them D1 and D2 athletes are not that big of a difference.”
Normally when a team plays against a team from a higher level conference, it will frighten the team and freeze them up; however, this isn’t the case for Ferris.
“We will always play hard no matter who we play,” junior forward Kara Hess said. “I think the fact they are not in our conference will make us play even harder because we want to prove to ourselves how good we actually are.”
Ferris’s strategy for their first game is simple if everyone works together on the team.
“We do not really have any real expectations other than to go out there and out work their talent with our team fundamentals and hard work,” Rando said. “They will be bigger, faster and stronger than any other team that we will play this season.”
The Bulldogs will tip off at Michigan State University at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 30.