By TOMMY REZAC
St. Joseph Post
The Missouri Western basketball season officially gets underway on Thursday evening in St. Joseph, as the Griffon women host Peru State in an exhibition.
Tip-off is set for 6 p.m. with coverage starting at 5:30 on KFEQ Radio (680, 95.3).
The ceiling for this Griffons team is very high. They went 6-16 last season, but Missouri Western returns six of their top eight scorers from last year, while also adding three transfers and four new freshmen.
Third-year head coach Candi Whitaker knows this team is still young, but she also knows they have a lot to prove.
"I'm really excited about the pieces we've added, and I'm really excited about the progress our young players made throughout last year and in this offseason," Whitaker said. "Looking forward to evolving as a unit and a team and seeing how good we can get."
Missouri Western had six freshmen on the team last year. All of them played, and most of them saw significant minutes.
"We relied on them so heavily," Whitaker said of her freshmen last season. "Sometimes, I would look up and there'd be four or five of them on the floor, which was a struggle at times. But, you saw their evolution throughout the year, and by January and February, they were playing at a much higher level."
After a 2-1 start, Missouri Western lost seven straight. In mid-February, the Griffons went on a three-game winning streak, but lost their last five games to end the year.
Those last five losses, however, were all by 10 points or less. Two of those were by single digits against teams ranked in the top 15 nationally.
"We weren't ready early," Whitaker said of last year. "But, we kept getting better. We kept coming to practice. They had great attitudes and because of that, they turned a corner. We didn't win those games late, but we were in all of them, within one possession and a chance to win."
Youth, is still, the name of the game for Missouri Western. Nine of the 16 players on this year's roster are freshmen. Four of them are brand new, but five of them are back from last year, and did not lose a season of eligibility due to COVID-19.
There are five players listed as freshmen, but they're five players who all have significant playing experience.
"We still are a young team," Whitaker admitted. "But, it's been fun to watch progress for our, I don't know what to call them, experienced freshmen."
Sophomore Brionna Budgets is also a key returner. A transfer from Central Arkansas, Budgets led the Griffons last year with 8.4 points per game, including 25 made three-pointers.
Senior Mychaell Gray is also back after contributing 6.9 points and 3.4 rebounds per contest last year. Another senior who's back is Corbyn Cunningham - a first-team all-MIAA forward, who missed all but three games last year due to injury.
Playing in the final three games, Cunningham scored 16 points and managed 12 rebounds after averaging 15.7 points and 8.3 rebounds per game in 2019-20.
"She's just naturally very talented," Whitaker said of Cunningham. "Those games she played in last year, she had maybe three practices prior. She was in terrible shape, but for her to be able to do that in such a short amount of time really speaks to Corbyn's ability."
So, that's who's coming back. But, there are several newcomers looking to make an impact, too. Guard, graduate student and St. Joseph native Jaelyn Haggard, for one.
The Central alum announced last spring that she would use her extra year of eligibility to play at Missouri Western, where she got accepted into the University's Physical Therapist Assistant Program.
Haggard left Northwest Missouri State after four years, making 256 three-pointers - the most in Bearcat women’s history. She's also third all-time at Northwest in free throw percentage, shooting 82.8 percent for her career.
"She's very familiar with this league," Cunningham said. "Tremendous motor, shooter. She's quick. I think she has a lot of basketball left in her. Excited to have her."
The Griffons also added Trinity Knapp - a transfer from Division I Missouri State who played in 12 total games over two seasons there. Also new is Connie Clark - a junior guard who came in after two fruitful years in the junior college ranks.
Clark averaged 9.0 points, 5.3 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 2.7 steals per game in the 2020-21 season at Shelton State Community College in Alabama.
"When you sign and recruit a transfer there needs to be a fit and a need, and all three of them were that," Whitaker noted.
With a core of her 'experienced freshmen,' three veteran transfers, four true freshmen and two new grad assistant coaches, Whitaker can't exactly know how this season will pan out. Heck, no one can.
But, one thing is for sure. This group is confident they can be quite a bit better than their 6-16 mark a season ago.
That confidence, plus a more normal season with non-conference games and fuller arenas, make for better vibes all around.
"We have a lot of returners and some new ones that we've added that we feel really good about," said Whitaker. "More normal this year, which is obviously huge, when you practice and prep and play live and not be quarantined."
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