Bear Sports

‘Lucky We’ve Got Each Other’
UNC women’s basketball team overcomes a season
of adversity to reach the Big Sky Championship

Before ITS season started this past November, the UNC women’s basketball team was picked to finish last in the Big Sky Conference. With a head coach in her second year and half the team comprised of freshmen, the young team was going to have to overcome some major obstacles if it wanted to be competitive in the Big Sky Conference. So much for predictions!

The team would ultimately face more adversity than anyone could have anticipated yet still secured the No. 5 seed in its first-ever Big Sky Championship in March. Although the team lost to Portland State in the first round, Head Coach Jaime White said she didn’t want one game to take away from what the team did this year. “I felt like we had to play our best game to beat Portland State,” said Coach White. “They’ve been hot lately, and we didn’t hit on all cylinders. I’m proud of our kids for not giving up. We kept coming back and coming back. It wasn’t anything we wanted [to lose], but it was a great year.”

The team finished the regular season 14-16 overall and 8-9 in Big Sky play— quite a contrast to the 2006–07 campaign, which saw them finish 5-22 overall and 2-12 in the Big Sky. Early in the season, the team lost junior guard Whitley Cox to a torn knee ligament, then sophomore forward Alisa Christopherson to tendonitis in her knee. The biggest adversity of the year came when Coach White was diagnosed with uterine cancer and had to take two short leaves of absence to undergo surgery and treatment. White, who was an assistant coach at the universities of Wyoming and Utah and head coach at Snow College in Utah, had battled thyroid cancer two years earlier. The team took the news of White’s cancer hard.

“I think the adversity made us trust ourselves more,” said junior guard Jamie Schroeder. “We couldn’t just roll over and quit. We all had to look within ourselves and find out who we were.”

Freshmen Courtney Stoermer and Kate Kevorken stepped up and developed more quickly than the coaching staff anticipated, White said. Schroeder and senior center Danielle Hagen, who went through a season of adversity of her own the previous year, became leaders on the team. Hagen sat out six months of the 2006–07 season after she suffered a partially collapsed lung and a blood clot in her lung during preseason conditioning. She was later diagnosed with a genetic disorder that increases her risk of blood clotting.

Going into the Big Sky Championship, Hagen had started a school record 112 games, was closing in on 1,000 career points and ranked fourth in career rebounds with 785. With a 4.0 grade-point average, she was also named to ESPN’s Academic All-District VII Second-Team. Hagen surpassed 1,000 points during the Big Sky Championship when she tied a school record with 37 points against Portland State.

During White’s leaves of absence this season, Assistant Coach Paige Sauer took over. On road trips, the players always wanted to call White to include her in what they were doing, Sauer said. “I was just the cheerleader,” Sauer said. “I think the team really played for Coach White. They wanted to win for her.”

White downplays what she went through this season, wanting instead for her players to get the attention she says they deserve.

“Everyone has gone through something hard in their lives where they have to ask, ‘OK, what’s next?’” White said. “Are you going to quit everything and sit on the couch? I knew I couldn’t do that.”

White’s prognosis is good, and the team’s future looks bright after this season’s tremendous success. “It will make us better to have gone through what we did this year,” White said. “I couldn’t have asked for a better group of kids to go through this year with. How lucky are we when we’ve got each other?”

Hopkin Records 100th Win at Wrestling Nationals
Senior Reece Hopkin became only the fourth wrestler in UNC history to record 100 career victories. It happened during the 2008 NCAA Wrestling Championships in St. Louis. Hopkin defeated Zach Sheaffer of Pittsburgh 2-0 in consolation round three. Although Hopkin eventually lost to 18th-ranked John Wise of Illinois in consolation round four, he ended his wrestling career with a 100-32 overall record. In other action, 125-pound sophomore Tony Mustari fell in consolation round three, 5-4, to Eric Morrill of Edinboro. Mustari ended his sophomore season with a 32-8 record, and is now 55-18 for his career.

Advantage Bank Makes Strong Statement to UNC Basketball
During a recent Round ball Club luncheon, the University of Northern Colorado basketball program unveiled locker room improvements that will help the coaching staff attract the best and brightest players to UNC. The recent renovations were made possible through a $20,000 gift from Advantage Bank. “We believe in the University of Northern Colorado and what Coach Boyle is bringing to the community,” said Mike Bond, president of Advantage Bank in Greeley. UNC Men’s Basketball Coach Tad Boyle believes there already is a tremendous amount of pride at Northern Colorado, but that local gifts inspire others to take notice. “Belief is contagious,” Boyle said. “Our goal, as it is each and every season, is to put a team on the floor people can get excited about. Gifts like these help build programs, but more importantly, they build relationships. All of us at UNC are thankful to Advantage Bank for their gift and commitment to the Greeley community.” Financial support is needed now more than ever if the Bears are going to reach their goal of not only being competitive in Division I basketball, but winning the Big Sky Conference. The Roundball Club currently supports men’s basketball programs at UNC. Your generosity helps transform the lives of UNC’s student-athletes. If you would like more information on how you, too, can help the Roundball Club, or the women’s Rebounder Club, please contact Jack Maughan at jack.maughan@unco.edu.