Women’s Basketball Building Momentum For PSUAC Tournament

Amanda Congialdi

 Athletic department intern

Excitement has surrounded the Brandywine women's basketball team throughout this season. Only recently has that excitement kicked up a notch…or several notches.

Before things fell into place for the Lady Lions, who clinched the PSUAC regular-season title last Tuesday with a win at Schuylkill, the team faced its biggest obstacles in the span of three days.

After starting off the season with 10-straight wins in conference play, the women lost back-to-back league games to Penn State Lehigh Valley and Penn State Hazelton, dropping those contests by a combined six points. It was only the second time the team has lost back-to-back regular season conference games under ninth-year Head Coach Larry Johnson.

First-year assistant coach and former Brandywine standout Bobbi Caprice, a 1,000-point scorer for the Lions, theorized that the team received the wake-up call it needed during the two defeats.

"The first game really hurt us because we got into foul trouble and we didn't play well defensively," said Caprice. "Going into the second game, we didn't step up to produce. I don't know if it was a lack of confidence, but there was definitely a weird energy on the bench. It was the reality check that we needed heading into the tournament this week."

Following its loss to Hazleton, Brandywine returned home for Senior Day where it honored seniors Myeisha Matos and Ebony Ford prior to tip-off against Penn State Scranton. This year's seniors were the prototypical student-athletes that are truly deserving of a day of recognition.

"I think the world of Ebony," said Caprice. "She's a great person overall and a great person to have on our team. She works hard…Ebony is a great shooter. We expect her to come in and hit jump shots and she does that."

Caprice gushed about the positive example Ford and Matos, a three-year captain and four-year starter, bring to the team and the Brandywine image.

"What's cool about those two is that they're great people off the court and work hard in the classroom. They represent us really well off the court."

Caprice feels that Senior Day was the perfect day for a "rebound game" to get the team back on track.

"What worked out in our favor is that we had a big crowd, probably the biggest crowd we've had all season," Caprice said. "The motto for the game was to do it for our seniors, Myeisha and Ebony. I think the environment around us really impacted everyone's hunger to win the game."

And have an impact it did.

The team bounced back with a big, 74-63 Senior Day victory to put it right back in the thick of things and in position to secure the No. 1 seed in the PSUAC Tournament. The spark came from two of the team's top leaders in Matos and junior point guard Cashae Hinton.

"I've always seen leadership in Myeisha," explained Caprice. "She leads by example in everything she does. She impacts the team because she goes hard at practice and doesn't miss a day. When she was injured for two months, she didn't miss a practice."

Caprice feels Matos' presence rubs off on the freshmen and shows them the way of life as a Brandywine student-athlete.

"When freshmen come in, they look at Myeisha and see what it's like to be a Brandywine athlete. Myeisha is very unselfish; She's very humble; She's always there to sacrifice for her teammates".

As for Hinton's impact, her valuable experience has helped gain an edge over opponents and lead by example. Hinton entered Brandywine as a freshman in 2010, but transferred to West Chester after two years, before ultimately returning two years later.

"Cashae has been our biggest spark this year," Caprice said. "I think Cashae was a missing link that we lacked the two years we didn't have her. Having her come back has really pushed the other players back into a comfortable role, instead of everyone having to step in and fill something we've been missing."

"She's our biggest asset and our best defensive player. Offensively, she does everything that's asked."

Guided by the experience and leadership of Matos and Hinton, Brandywine was able to battle back and lock up the PSUAC regular-season title. The Lady Lions secured a tight, back-and-forth game against Penn State Schuylkill 67-58 to earn the top spot. The victory ensured the team home court advantage until the championship game, which is being played at the Bryce Jordan Center on February 24. The victory also gave the Lions extra time to rest before playoffs as the women earned a bye in the through to the semifinals.

As the regular season officially comes to a close, Caprice is very optimistic about where the team will go from here.

"I personally think this is the best team we've had overall in the last six years. We have more depth than we've ever had before…Our biggest challenge right now is keeping everyone healthy. We have three starters banged up and we cannot win with them banged up…I'm 100 percent confident that if we play hard, play smart, and play together, we're unstoppable. We just have to keep it going."

The semifinal game, against either No. 4 Penn State Hazleton or No. 5 Penn State Fayette, is slated to tip-off at 3:00 pm on Saturday. All fans in attendance are encouraged to wear white. The first 300 fans will receive a Brandywine Whiteout t-shirt.