Women’s basketball team fires off to the playoffs with a five win hot streak

Juan Castillo, Staff Writer|February 23, 2019

lance lagoni

The lady Spartan own the women of Oakton in basketball.

The Elgin Community College women’s basketball team played their last regular season game on Feb. 14 against Waubonsee Community College. The team ended with a win, beating Waubonsee 66-43 adding on the fifth game to their current win streak.

“The season has been going very well,” said Kiera Guerrero-Gay, a second-year student and co-captain of the team. “There have been some ups and downs but we definitely did better than other teams expected.” 

The team is now headed off to the playoffs where they will play against Madison College on Saturday, Feb. 23. If they clinch a win there they will move on to the Region IV championship game.

The team has faced some obstacles on their journey to these playoffs. Due to the bad weather brought on by the polar vortex, they faced multiple games and practice cancellations. This forced the team to play three games in one week causing difficulty in scheduling practice during that week and even some fatigue among the players.

“A lot of the starters and the rest of the team were getting tired due to so many games in one week, but all we needed was a bit of rest to recuperate,” said Mariel Franco, a first-year student and point guard for the team.

As the team moves forward with their voyage into the playoffs, multiple individuals are also moving forward with their educational voyage as well. Six of the ten players currently on the roster are set to graduate from ECC and move on to four-year schools, leaving the team to search for other talents.

“We are in the process of recruiting players from the local high schools in the ECC District #509 area to come here next year,” said Head Coach Gerald McLaughlin. “Our goal is to get players that will come here to ECC next year and be impact players on our team that will help us win and be competitive again next year.”

For now, the current team is focused on the postseason and hopes to continue their win streak. If they are able to keep it going, they move on to play at the NJCAA D-III tournament that will be held in Bethlehem, PA on March 14-16.