Lady T-Birds rebound from tough new year
Matt Schaeffer
With a ranking of ninth in the nation entering the season, Mesa coach Kori Stephenson’s goal for her Lady T-Birds basketball team was to win and compete for a regional championship. While much is expected of a Top 10 team Stephenson kept it simple and finds her team in position to reach those goals despite some rough spots.
The Thunderbirds started out on the right foot with a solid 7-2 start highlighted by a 48 point dismantling of Joliet, Il junior college on Nov. 12 thanks to a solid defense that held the opposition to just 23 percent from the field despite poor ball handling that led to 23 turnovers.
Mesa followed the win with a 69-38 blowout over Muskegon CC the following day.
The winter interim showed to be less than stellar for Mesa as the team dropped four of their next six games, two of which were against conference opponents Pima and Central Arizona.
Mesa did show that they weren’t going down without a fight during their poor stretch with a 76-47 win over Northwest College (Powell, Wy.) out-rebounding the Lady Trappers 51-34.
Stephenson’s team has since rebounded from their poor stretch winning three out of four games against Eastern Arizona, Cochise College and Phoenix College in the MLK Classic game. But falling to South Mountain.
As of Jan.20, The Lady Thunderbirds are 12-7 on the season, going 7-5 in conference play, good for the fourth best record in the ACCAC.
Mesa boasts the second best defense statistically and ranks third in field goal and three point percentage.
Guard Christina Buescher is currently leading the team in points, steals and assists while forward Jade Wilson leads in rebounds and blocked shots and forward Alli Gloyd is fifth in the conference in shooting percentage.
Mesa has upcoming conference games on Jan. 26 and 29 against Glendale and Arizona Western where they will attempt to move up in the conference ranks.
