The SWOSU women’s basketball team once again is headed to the post season and looking for another chance to play in a national championship. The Lady Bulldogs won their third consecutive regular season title, and entered the Great American Conference Tournament as the No. 3 seed.
I had the opportunity the sit down with head coach Kelsi Musick about how her team has consistently improved every week, and especially this season. This team lost two All-Americans this past season: Hailey Tucker and Hayden Priddy – the Nos. 2 and 3 scoring leaders in SWOSU history, respectively.
Musick’s team has four seniors, four juniors, one sophomore and seven freshman – yes 7.
“I don’t want to rebuild, I want to reload,” Musick remarked. “I’ll play anybody, anywhere. People laugh at that, but it is something I have always said. A lot of people going into this season thought, ‘Why would you play such tough teams? You just lost two All-Americans and 40-plus points?’ I said that if you want to be the best, you have to beat the best.”
Musick is confident in every single one of her players. From the top of the roster to the bottom. She trusts every single one to do the job. The freshman have stepped up and played big minutes this season.
When upperclassmen found themselves in foul trouble, her freshman came in and gave the team exactly what it needed. Maddy North, Makyra Tramble, and Reagan Crawford are two she mentioned and spoke of very highly.
This team has won several games this season by mounting huge comebacks all year long, and Musick discussed how this team’s resiliency has shown itself yet again. Last year the Lady Dawgs went into the NCAA Tournament and continued to find ways to win. Players like Taber Beer and Maddie Sperle stepped up big last year, and have shown themselves as leaders this season.
“Taber Beer got some quality minutes last season, and hit a big shot last against Central Missouri. If Maddie Sperle wouldn’t have cut like we worked on all week, then Beer wouldn’t have been open,” Musick said about her upperclassmen stepping up this season. “Things just always come together when you do things right.”
Her team is now prepared to play in the GAC Tournament. In her 11 seasons, Musick has taken her SWOSU teams to eight straight conference tournaments, going back to 2012. She has also coached in four championship games and won two of them. Musick has taken this team back to where it was back in the day.
“We (assistant coach Cophie Anderson) came in to and try and take over a program that had such amazing history, and SWOSU women’s basketball has always been a big deal here in Weatherford,” Musick said. “Growing pains is probably the best word for it, but those long days and long nights have made winning that much more bittersweet.”
The Lady Dawgs begin their post season run Friday, March 6, against Arkansas-Monticello in the GAC Tournament at 8 p.m. in Bartlesville. Musick asks that Bulldog fans continue to support and the team will be ready to give you a great show.
Be sure to stay tuned as I will have updates on the games during their post season run on my Twitter: @the_GB_show, Instagram: @the_gb_show, and on Facebook: The Greydon Buhlig Show. Along with the updates, listen to my interview with Musick on any major podcast platform, including Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Also, you can follow their run at https://swosuathletics.com/sports/womens-basketballand get live updates, a live video broadcast, along with a live radio broadcast.
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