The Taylor women’s basketball team began their season with a win against Holy Cross College and played back-to-back exhibition games against the University of Cincinnati and Butler, losing both games against their Division I opponents.
In a decisive 90-71 win against Holy Cross, Taylor began 1-0 on the season. Freshman Kaycie Warfel led the team in scoring with 25 points, sophomore Emma Fohl had seven assists and sophomore transfer Celina Blout had 10 of Taylor’s 42 rebounds. Blout almost pulled off a triple-double with 11 points, 10 rebounds, eight blocks, and four assists in the game, earning her Crossroads League Defensive Player of the Week.
Taylor led 71-43 going into the fourth quarter and finished it out with 43 percent from the field and hit 22 out of 26 free throws for 84.6 percent accuracy.
On Monday, October 27, Taylor’s 104-67 loss to Cincinnati was followed by a 95-63 loss against Butler on October 28. Head Coach Cassie Wiseman said that these two games against teams were good to see how the team competed.
“I felt overall that we competed,” she said. “That was the main mentality to go in and compete and get better. And our girls never backed down for a second.”
In the game against the Bulldogs, Taylor shot 36.4 percent from the field and hit five three-point shots. They were down only nine points at the half. The sister duo of junior Whitney Warfel and Kaycie Warfel both reached double figures when scoring.
Kaycie led all scorers with 21 points and held three steals and Whitney reached 12 points and eight rebounds. Additional scores came from Blout, Sietsema, and freshman Kallie Almond. Freshman Emma Ancelet led the team in assists with a total of four on the game.
While neither game ended in a win, Whitney felt that they helped to strengthen the team and encouraged them in their competition. She said that preseason and their first three games have helped them as they worked toward the team’s goals.
“We are finding joy in everything that we are doing together,” Whitney said. “It has been really fun to see our hard work put to the test in these first couple of games.”
After coming off of preseason and heading into regular season play, Wiseman said that the mix of new players, five freshmen and two transfers, and seasoned Taylor players has proved exciting.
She also said senior leaders such as Kendall Sietsema and Quinn Kelly have bought into the culture of the team and led well by example. This has been complimented by the character of the freshmen, she explained, who fit well into the team environment.
“They want to win and they want to contribute to the team,” Wiseman said. “So that is the best thing because they want to serve and be selfless, and they like to play defense.”
Freshman Kallie Almond said these first couple of games have helped to grow her mentality as a player.
Against Holy Cross, Butler and Cincinnati, she said that she has developed in guarding and scoring against taller and stronger players. She also has learned more about her team as well.
“I feel like I’ve grown in learning my teammates and learning a lot about how to play with them,” Almond said.
The Trojans will return to regular season games with their home opener against Indiana University South Bend, set for Nov. 1 at 7:00 p.m.
IUSB, ranked nationally last season, will be good competition, Whitney said.
“I feel like we definitely have a different dynamic than last year, and I feel like we bring skill in some places where we did not have last year,” she said. “So IU South Bend is going to be a good competitor.”
