It’s been a back and forth season for the Bulldog women’s basketball team as they sit at 9-8 on the year after splitting weekend games against Michigan Tech and Northern Michigan.
Just a year removed from a five-win season, the Bulldogs jumped out to a tremendous start on the season, winning six of their first seven games after starting the season 5-0. Heading into the Jan. 12-13 games, the Bulldogs were on a bit of a downslope, losers in six of their previous eight, sitting at just 2-5 in Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) play.
After falling to the 16th ranked Huskies 80-77 in a close game on Friday, Jan. 12, the Bulldogs responded with a 62-52 victory over a tough Northern Michigan unit, who sits just ahead of Ferris in the GLIAC standings. The Bulldogs have certainly found a way to win games this year, now it’s a matter of finding that consistency.
“Winning is a habit. Championship behaviors are habits. We don’t have those habits quite yet, but we’re close,” head coach Kendra Faustin said. “We know on any given night we can beat anybody but also on any given night we can lose to anybody.”
The Bulldogs are fourth in the six-team conference with a 3-6 record in conference action, just behind Northern Michigan who fell to 4-5 in conference play with the loss on Saturday, Jan. 13.
The Bulldogs will now look to continue and find that consistency as they play out the remainder of the season. With just over 11 games left in the season, there is still plenty of time for the Bulldogs to start climbing the GLIAC standings as they set out to get some post-season action this year.
“We need to play with more urgency,” Blair said. “At the beginning of the season we were really controlling how we were playing and how the teams against us played.” (who the hell is Blair?!)
The Bulldogs biggest challenge in the final stretch of this season is finding that next level and taking the step. A program that has really struggled in recent years is finally on the verge of becoming a top team and this next month and a half is going to be huge.
“We have a lot to prove still. Are we better? Night and day, we’ve done some awesome things so far, but that’s not it for this group,” Faustin said.
The Bulldogs return to action when they square off on the road against Purdue Northwest University on Thursday, Jan. 18 with tip-off set for 7:30 p.m.
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