Sophomore forward Kelly Hardeman, left, leads the Cougars in scoring and looks to continue being a key player through the rest of the season like she was against the California Baptist Lancers on Friday, Jan. 24. Photo credit: Kimberly Smith
The 2013-2014 season began with questions for Azusa Pacific’s women’s basketball team. The most important was how quickly the team could jell and what results that would produce.
The Cougars wasted no time answering that question and getting on the same page. They currently hold a 14-5 overall record and an 12-1 Pacific West Conference record. A 2-3 start in the month of November was followed by a seven-game conference winning streak. With 65 percent of the season over, the final stages of the regular season are coming and a heated battle with the Academy of Art (12-1) for the first spot in the conference continues to rage.
Half of the Cougars’ 14-member roster consists of players who were not on the team last season. Head coach T.J. Hardeman said how good the players are is never a question they need answered. The question is how well the team can play together.
“As a coaching staff, we think of what we need to do well, with the players we have, what style suits us best,” Hardeman said. “We’re getting to a place where we figure that out a little bit better as far as what we do well, what our strengths are and it’s nice to see us playing well together and confident in each other.”
Sophomore forward Kelly Hardeman, junior guard Allison Greene and junior forward Sendy Valles lead the way for the Cougars. Hardeman tops the team in scoring with 16.9 points per game and rebounding with 8.3 per game. Valles averages 15.8 points per game and 7.7 rebounds per game while Greene averages 14.4 points per game and leads the team in assists with 5.0 per game and steals with 2.2 per game.
According to coach Hardeman, a solid big three and a good supporting cast off the bench find success through a strong defense and smart, efficient ball movement on offense. This success keeps the Cougars on the hunt for the No. 1 spot in the conference.
“In our starting front line, no one is huge, but we have four or five that all play on our back line defensively who are very long and can play at multiple positions,” coach Hardeman said. “Our versatility ends up being quite a strength with the different players that can play within spots. We’ve had some games where we only had single-digit turnovers and it’s been years [since] that didn’t happen once, and we had that a couple of times.”
Coach Hardeman said taking care of the ball is credited to the team mindset of taking care of each other on and off the court. The bond and synergy between players makes it easier for the Cougars to maintain success down the stretch.
“We’ve had a few games where … almost every basket we had has been assisted, which means that players are looking for each other, setting each other up,” coach Hardeman said. “You see that kind of teamwork and that doesn’t just happen. That comes from work, that comes from players looking for each other and caring about each other. We talk a lot about caring for each other on and off the court and trying to look for each other when we’re on the court is part of that.”
With a tight-knit team comes competitive practices. According to coach Hardeman, the Cougars push each other to get better during practice by battling for playing time and showing each other that they are willing to “compete all the time, not just on game day.”
“That’s kind of the whole ‘iron sharpens iron’ type of idea and that’s something we would like to have happen, spiritually and physically,” he said.
Looking forward to the final seven games of the season, Hardeman stressed the idea that the Cougars cannot grow complacent. If they let up at all, they can easily get caught off guard and lose one they should have won, he said. With the season winding down, each game is equally important.
“It’s a matter of focusing and being ready for each game we play and treating every game as if it’s your last game,” he said. “Each game is obviously the most important game you’re going to play that day.”
Hardeman and the rest of the coaching staff tell the players to do their best, regardless of the performance of other teams.
“We’ve been doing a good job of being the aggressors, playing hard and if we continue to do that, we’ll be fine,” coach Hardeman said.
The Cougars have seven games remaining in the regular season, including a four-game home stand starting Thursday, Feb. 13. Their next matchup is in Riverside against California Baptist on Saturday, Feb. 8. Tip-off begins at 5 p.m.