The Wilbur Wright Lady Rams strong play in the second half of the season has given them a fighting chance to get into the postseason, and potentially raise a banner for the school.
Since the start of the new year the Lady Rams basketball has been on a steady roll. On Jan. 3, the Lady Rams' hard work finally resulted in their first win of the season. Since earning their first win, the Lady Rams have put together two separate three game winning streaks.
The team’s confidence has risen since they were able to pull off their first win, a 74-70 effort against Sauk Valley Community College.
“Seeing the team’s excitement in the locker room after the game is what it is all about, it definitely was the start to something,” said Vaporia Smith, head coach of the Lady Rams.
During this stretch of play, the Lady Rams have had a record of 6-3, which has been good enough to get them into second place in conference play.
In back-to-back weeks, two players on the Rams' strong play earned them player of the week awards.
The first player to receive the reward was forward and team captain Tyler Mayne. Mayne was given the award for her strong play during the week of Jan. 10 through Jan. 16.
In her first game of the week, Tyler was able to score 17 points and pull in 11 rebounds in the team's win against Triton College.
Later on in the week Tyler built off her prior performance, as she scored 20 points and finished the game with ten rebounds, to help the Rams earn a win against Prairie State.
“Winning the player of the week means everything to me because I have been through some hardships in life, and this award just makes me feel as if I have accomplished something important not just for myself, but for my team,” Mayne said.
“My coach’s leadership and my team's support has helped me achieve thi
s goal,” Mayne said. “My recent play has been more about my teammates setting me up when my energy is low.”
Receiving the player of the week award didn’t stop Mayne from continuing to play hard for the team.
In the teams Feb. 7 win against division opponent Olive-Harvey, Mayne exploded for a career high 28 points in an all around effort where she was also able to grab 10 rebounds, and come up with six steals.
“I anticipated their passes to get the steals,” Mayne said. “When going for the rebounds, I looked at the way they shot the ball to see which side of the basket I should be on for the boards.”
To finish the season, Mayne Tyler said her goal for herself and the team is to be able to hang up a banner in the gym for school.
Lady Rams jump ball against Olive-Harvey
Lady Rams working the ball around the perimeter
Daria Jordan, a point guard for the Lady Rams, came back to the team at the start of January and instantly helped the team not only as a scoring threat, but also by playmaking for others. Her strong play since returning has earned her not one, but two player of the week awards.
The first of her awards resulted in her strong play from Jan. 16 to Jan. 23, shortly after she returned to the court.
Asked if she felt any rust from the time off, she said that she wouldn’t call it rust, but that she definitely did have some first game jitters from missing the first half of the season
Jordan believes if she is eligible from the start that her experience and scoring ability, “could’ve helped us get a few more wins,” Jordan said. “This is a young freshman team, full of great potential and was just missing that voice and leader on the court.”
“Winning the player of the week from CCC just simply made me happy because it showed me that I was still capable of being a threat on the court despite missing the first half of the season,” Jordan said.
Jordan doesn’t just get it done on the offensive end, but she also helps anchor their defense. In just nine games Jordan has come up with 40 steals, for a 4.4 steal per game average, to go along with her 19.1 points per game.
“My mentality on defense is that I’m always thinking about forcing turnovers. By being so lengthy and always following the ball, I’m always on my toes to get those steals by playing the passing lanes,” Jordan said. “Our coach always says defense wins games and with those multiple steal games force, we always capitalize on offense.”
Jordan said she’s noticed the connection her and Mayne have on the court.
“I have been noticing when we play other teams, they are more focused on me and where I came from since I didn’t play against them earlier in the season, but Tyler has always been a great threat to the other team in my eyes,” Jordan said. “She’s such a great player, and her IQ is very high, and she just dominates every time she is in the paint. Once I see that she has it going on offense, we try to feed her and look for her immediately, and that’s exactly what happened Tuesday against Olive Harvey when she had a career high 28 points.”
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