The Southern Vermont College Women’s Basketball team had a record breaking season this year. Predicted to finish 9th out of 10 teams for the 2014-15 season, the Women’s Basketball team shocked everyone when they finished 3rd in the New England Collegiate Conference.
Following the regular season, The Mountaineers were given a post-season berth where they played the Newbury Nighthawks (6th seed) in the first round of playoffs. They defeated the Nighthawks by 39 points, which led them to face off against the Blazers of Elms College (2nd seed) in the semi-finals.
During the semi-finals the Mountaineers pulled out a 75 to 65 win to advance to the Championship game against the Regis Pride (1st Seed). They fell to the top seeded team 69 to 56.
Women’s basketball junior captain, Amber Flagg was named to the All-NECC First Team selection.This is the second time in her career she has been chosen for this award. Amber Flagg had a lot to say about her team this season. When asked what made this year’s team so special, she replied, “We were predicted to finish 9th in the conference and we got a 3rd place slot and beat teams we never thought possible. We played in the championship game and competed with a team who hasn’t lost a game in years. So I guess it was doing what others deemed impossible for us.”
Next, when asked what difficulties the team faced, Amber stated, “We had to overcome many things like injuries, attitudes, people getting into slumps and losing confidence but we all stayed together and worked through those things to build a better team.”
Sarah McDonald, who is also a junior, was named All-NECC Honorable Mention. When asked how she felt after finding out she had received an award for honorable mention, Sarah said, “I was shocked and so happy to finally feel like all my hard work and dedication finally paid off.”
After being asked what made this season different than last season, Sarah told us, “All the hard work everyone put in before the season even started. We dedicated ourselves to becoming a better team and we didn’t want to be ranked 9th in the conference. We always kept that thought in the back of our minds before we played teams and we let other teams know that we were not going to be taken lightly.”
Despite falling short of an NECC championship, the Southern Vermont Women’s Basketball team has a lot to be proud of this season. It is for certain, that next season, the Mountaineers will come back hungrier than ever.