Detroit Mercy women’s basketball is in the thick of the season and things are starting to heat up.
The team has quietly put up a solid performance so far into this season.
Heading into this Friday’s contest against Wright State, the Titans are 10-9 overall, in the midst of a three-game winning streak, and boasting a great conference record of 6-2.
The Varsity News was able to sit down with head women’s basketball coach Bernard Scott to get some perspective on where the team is so far and goals for the rest of the season.
“We feel pretty good,” said Scott. “We’re only a game out of second and two games out of first, so we’re still in the hunt.”
The Titans are hanging around the top half of the conference, which is right where they want to be as the conference season progresses.
Still, Scott sees areas where the team can get better.
“We need to improve on our free throw shooting,” he noted. “We’re shooting about 64 percent as a team.”
Scott believes the team is better than that stat indicates.
They also need to be more effective at boxing out, he said. Teams are scoring about 45 percent of their points on offensive put-backs. Better rebounding would help.
The team can make these improvements by relying on some of the players who have stepped up this season, said Scott.
Rosie Reynolds is leader of this team. She was named preseason player of the year, and is playing good basketball right now.
“She’s scoring the ball very well, but also getting her teammates involved,” the coach said.
Reynolds has moved into second place for career assists at Detroit Mercy while scoring over 1500 career points.
Nicole Urbanick is another player who has performed for this team.
She’s showing consistency with her jump shot, connecting on half from beyond the arc so far in conference play.
Scott also highlighted the play of Kelsey Mitchell and Brianna Cohen, who are doing a good job in the post finishing at the hoop and rebounding.
The Titans are hoping to finish strong in the Horizon League, and set themselves up nicely to have a high seed in the league tournament.
“We hope to be one of the top teams in the league,” said Scott. “We want to compete for a championship.”
The ultimate goal is to be invited to the NCAA tournament at the end of the year.
If the team continues to perform as it has, coach Scott believes that goal can become a reality.
