The NEIU Campus Recreation Women’s Basketball team faced a tough defeat against the Loyola’s Ramblers on Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024, losing 9-29 at their home court in the NEIU P.E. Complex.
The story throughout the game revolved around NEIU’s team struggling to keep up with Loyola’s overall fitness levels and conditioning. On one hand, every time Loyola had control of the ball, NEIU struggled to keep up. On the other hand, every time NEIU had control of the ball, Loyola was able to outrun them and take back possession. Loyola scored 20 unanswered points before NEIU broke their cold streak with their first points of the game. NEIU went on to score 9 points, ending the game 9-29.
Humberto Hernandez, an undergraduate criminology student at NEIU and a spectator at the game, shared his thoughts with The Independent on how the sports team could have improved performance. “I think they got to practice more out[side] of practice,” Hernandez said. “Get [their] cardio up and get [their] fitness up.”
“I noticed that they were really only scoring when Loyola [would] make mistakes, which is not a good sign,” Hernandez said.
Aliana Salinas, an undergraduate art education student and NEIU player sporting the number 21 jersey, also shared her thoughts on the loss. When asked what the team could have done better, Salinas said, “Communicating [and] passing more.” Salinas also shared that while the opponents’ speed and passing were difficult to counter, the team is very new, having started training within the last three months.
Derek Ansong, Campus Recreation Facility Coordinator and Basketball Coach, shared his thoughts on the loss. “The game plan was to force turnovers as much as possible because we are a newer team and we don’t have a lot of cohesion,” Ansong said. “But we just did not execute.” Ansong echoed previous sentiments that Loyola had better overall fitness and noted that many of NEIU’s players lack prior high school basketball experience. Ansong shared that going over fundamentals and getting more practice would breed success.
Despite the loss, Ansong found promise in the team’s defensive improvements in the second half. He mentioned that they played a lot better defensively, which resulted in more points for NEIU.
