Sinclair’s Women’s Basketball team. Sixth in the nation. 28-6 in the regular season and 4-2 in the post-season.
This year, the women’s basketball team had an absolutely outstanding record. Despite the adversity they faced, they finished sixth in the nation. In their six post-season games, they won four of them.
Even their losses were narrow, 68-78 against Lackawanna College and 57-64 against Pima Community College.
Getting to the finals was no easy feat. For starters, the number of women on the team was scarce The average roaster in basketball is 15 players. Sinclair’s team consisted of seven.
The team had a long road ahead of them at the beginning of the year, but they were able to overcome their troubles to make it into some post-season fun.
When asked how the team was finally able to make nationals and what the team’s overall goal was, Coach Trendale Perkins was quick to respond:
“I think what contributed the most to our team’s success was team chemistry and their ability to adjust to adversity and focus on the main objective. Our “Main Objective” was to repeat as OCCAC conference champions and even though we faced a ton adversity this season their focus on that end goal never wavered!”
Clearly, the chemistry between players had a major impact. The women won their first two games but were narrowly defeated in their third game against Owens Community College.
However, after that loss, they went on to win eight straight games. They only had one more loss, over a month after their first loss, before finishing out the season with another 4-game streak.
This season was battle after battle, and next season won’t be any easier. All of the current players will be moving on, so Coach Perkins has to find suitable replacements for the entire team.
Nevertheless, Perkins remains optimistic they can replicate their success.
“What I will say is we have the blueprint for success and we will work harder and use the 6 losses we had last year as motivation,” Perkins said. “First off, I’m super competitive being a former Division 1 athlete but overall I think the season and this team was better than I expected.”
After finishing the season as Interim Head Coach, Perkins is now officially recognized as the 6th head coach in program history.
Dr. Dave Collins (Provost) removed the Interim tag from Perkins’ title on March 9. Perkins had served as the assistant coach and recruiting coordinator during the past four seasons.
Perkins laughed and looked back on the team’s amazing record and just how well they played for all of the hardships they faced.
“If you would have told me at our first practice in August that we would have made it to the National Tournament and finished as the #6 team in the country I would have said you were crazy. I’m comfortable now saying we was pretty good.”
Pretty good is an understatement, Coach Perkins. Excellent job to the hardworking women of Sinclair’s Basketball Team!
Emilee Brewer
Intern