The Cornell College women’s basketball team continues to climb the national polls. The Rams are ranked 19th in the latest D3hoops.com survey heading into Saturday’s visit to St. Nobert College in Midwest Conference action. Coach Brent Brase’s team is 15-0 on the season and he says team chemistry is a big part of their success.
Brase says the players 11 through 14 are “tremendous for the team in every way” and he says when you have all the players pulling for each other that is important. He says it’s easy for the starters to be happy, but when you have all the players involved, it is “something special.”
Defense and rebounding are strengths as well. Opponents are shooting just 32 percent, including 26 percent from three point range, and the Rams are a plus 13 in rebounding margin. Brase says they are fairly deep and can give their best effort for 40 minutes.
Brase says defense and rebounding give them a chance to win every time out. “Your defense is one of those things that can be consistent and it has been consistent for us game in and game out. As we all know, some shots are gonna fall some days more than others…but our rebounding and defense have been pretty consistent,” Brase says.
St. Norbert is second in the league race and Cornell won the first matchup in convincing fashion in Mount Vernon. He says they play and excellent half-court man-to-man defense and offensively they are methodical and can grind you down.