By the end of the season, we may need to break out our Roget’s International Thesaurus to cover all the appropriate descriptions for Coach Kim Caldwell’s Marshall University Women’s Basketball team. Of course you have the basics like fast, tough, scrappy, and all the other common words you hear on the air or read in print to describe a basketball squad. Our own KD Hudnall at The ThunderCast has been calling them relentless all season, as in “The Most Relentless 40 Minutes in Basketball.” I’m going to add resilient and tell you why that might be the most appropriate term.
This Team Was Not Supposed to be This Good
Now don’t get me wrong, I am not saying anyone expected to be bad or this team does not have good players. In fact, I believe quite the opposite. But any team with a new coach bringing in an entirely new offensive style; and an all new defensive and full court press style; and bringing in new players; etc. is not expected to hit the ground running in year one. Nearly everyone discussing the team said things like, “once the coach gets her players here,” or “once the players learn how to play the system,” or “give it a couple of years” when talking about success.
This team got off to a 2-4 start in their first six games and you could see validation in those quotes above. In those first six games there were losses that seemed winnable and there was an offense that seemed like they had potential that they might not fully achieve this season. Spoiler alert: the offense turned out just fine. The smothering, suffocating press has been just fine too. The constant swapping in and out of players has been handled just fine. Every player seems to have bought into the new system and they are proving it works. Facing monumental changes and playing this well seems pretty resilient to me.
Every Player Bought In?
Well, maybe not. Last year’s leading scorer Roshala Scott (17.4 ppg in 2022-23) started out spectacularly, averaging 24.4 points through the first five games and never scoring lower than the 17 she averaged right at last year. Game six on the road at Morehead saw Scott go 0-8 from the field and score only four points. It would be the last time she played for Marshall as she was not on the bench for a long stretch of games and eventually entered the transfer portal.
It has not been stated specifically that Scott did not buy into the new style of play, but it seems to be quite telling that there was no injury or suspension announced and by all accounts she was still enrolled in school. This is not a knock on Scott as sometimes it just does not work out. But The Herd lost their leading scorer from last year and the first six games of this year, and that is usually a tough thing to overcome.
What has Marshall done in the games since Roshala Scott last played? They’ve gone 15-2 with losses on the road to ACC Wake Forest and at home to near-the-top-of-the-Sun Belt James Madison. Losing a scorer like her and then racking up win after win seems pretty resilient to me.
Dealing with Injury
Roshala Scott was one-fifth of the starting lineup and is no longer on the team. Mahogany Matthews is one-fifth of the starting lineup and has missed the last seven games with an injury that may not let her back on the floor this year. Matthews is the lone true post player amongst the original starting five and one of only a couple on the roster. In 16 games this year, she has averaged 9.1 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 2.2 blocks per game (#1 in the Sun Belt prior to her injury in blocks per game).
Without Matthews in the post, a smaller Herd team is susceptible to being outrebounded and giving up points in the paint. The recent home loss to James Madison is a good example of that. But that game is the only loss in the seven that have seen Matthews on the bench with her crutches, and that is impressive. Six wins and only one loss during a stretch where they played James Madison twice, and some tough athletic defenses without their true post player is resilient.
Aislynn Hayes has been a huge contributor this year as a newcomer to the team, sporting a stat line of 14.4 points, 4.6 rebounds, 1.5 steals and 1.5 assists per game. She took a bad collision/fall in the James Madison loss and sat out the game against Louisiana today. So how did the team respond to being down a couple of starters from the beginning of the year and then being down someone that has started the majority of the year? They ran Louisiana out of the gym 74-42, a 32 point victory where Marshall never trailed.
Losing 40% of your starting lineup to a player leaving and a player dealing with a significant injury? Being short another starter that slid into that starting lineup? That seems pretty resilient to me.
Where They Stand
After the Louisiana win today, The Herd is 17-6 overall and sports an 11-1 conference record. They hold a two game lead over Troy and with six games to go, Marshall is firmly in the driver’s seat to win the regular season conference title.
There are so many contributors and high performers on this team-first style of play squad that it no longer seems like a big deal if someone has to be out. Next lady up is the way it has played out. Even the role players on the team (re: not the top scorers) consistently knock down the big shots; come up with the big steals; aggressively get tie-ups for possession changes; and pick up the team when needed. And look up and down this roster (stats below) at just how deep it is with contributors!
Let’s sing the praises of Abby Beeman, Breanna Campbell, Sydni Scott, CC Mays, Meredith Maier, Peyton Ilderton, Ashley Tudor, Aarionna Redman, Alasia Hayes, Olivia Ziolkowski, Terah Harness, Tamia Lawhorne, and the aforementioned Mahogany Matthews and Aislynn Hayes. This is a team! They play team ball and are well-coached.
If I had to convey in one word what this team is to overcome the obstacles they have faced to have such a command of the conference this early into the new era of Coach Caldwell? I think you know the answer. Resilient.
