In their 2018-2019 season, the Rhodes College Women’s Basketball team brought home the Conference Championship after the SAA tournament on Feb. 22-24. 

   This was the first Conference title the team has been able to clinch since Head Women’s Basketball Coach Lauren Sumski and Assistant Women’s Basketball Coach Chris Sumski took over in 2017. After persevering through injuries and keeping high spirits throughout the season, this squad of eleven was able to accomplish all they wanted to.             

   “I don’t know if anyone on the outside expected us to win, but everyone inside of our locker room knew what we were capable of,” Chris Sumski said about winning the Conference title. 

   In the SAA tournament, the team had to play three games in three days, but it wasn’t until their matchup against Millsaps College that they knew this title would be theirs. The Millsaps game was the toughest, after being down nine points in the last two minutes, every team member stepped up and led them into overtime. Allie Young ended up going six for six in overtime, leading them to reach the finals.

   “We had multiple people step up and make huge plays. Then in overtime, our senior Allie Young completely took over. That’s what you need in games like that… it’s more about players stepping up and making big plays, and less about x’s and o’s,” Chris Sumski said. 

   Young ’19 is proud of her team’s performance this season, and knows that they truly left everything out on the court. 

   “We all knew Saturday’s game against Millsaps would feel like the championship… [but] I remember having this feeling that I was not going to let that game be the last time I played in a Rhodes jersey,” Young said.            

   Coming off of such a successful year, the team is already preparing to take it even farther. Captain Lindsey Whiteside ‘21, feels confident that her team will continue to dominate in the upcoming season, and believes that the best way to do this is by increasing the team’s ability to work together.

   “We had a great end to the season and I don’t want to take away from any of that, but we got a taste of what the NCAA tournament is like and we are all in agreement that we want so much more… I want to be able to create an atmosphere of accountability where we develop as a team… [where] no individual, captain, freshman, et cetera, is held to a different standard than the person sitting next to them,” Whiteside said.