Battle-tested UC Merced basketball looks to secure top seed in Cal Pac

The UC Merced women’s basketball team expected the 2015-16 campaign to be a new experience.

With eight players returning from the school’s first California Pacific Conference championship team and Menlo leaving the conference, the Bobcats instantly went from upstart to favorite. Throw in a new coach and a tough nonconference schedule, and everyone involved knew there would be a period of adjustment.

It was all the unforeseen hurdles that tripped up first-year coach Sarah Hopkins-Chery and her squad out of the gate. A string of serious injuries, from concussions to a horrible car accident, left the Bobcats reeling for the better part of two months. UCM lost sophomore stars Christina Castro and Allison Wisdom from mid November until January. More injuries followed with the Bobcats suiting only eight healthy players for a lengthy stretch. The result was an unexpected 1-12 record.

UCM fought through the brutal stretch, finally got healthy, and felt it came out stronger on the other side. It’s hard to argue with a 5-0 Cal Pac record. The Bobcats (6-14) can lock up the first regular-season title in school history and the top seed going into the Cal Pac Tournament with a win at second-place Simpson (9-13, 4-1) on Thursday. The ball tips at 5:30 p.m.

“Winning this game would mean a lot to us, especially with everything we’ve been through,” junior guard Courtney Danna said. “We’ve worked extremely hard to study every opponent and scheme the best way to beat them. People might have thought we’d be content after winning last year, but we can still make history. We’re still hungry. We have something to prove and something to defend, and that’s how we’ve approached it.”

Danna is one of four players to participate in every game this season. She and senior guard Shelby Howard have been the rocks, combining for 27.7 points per game.

While the first two months of the season were difficult to endure, it may prove to be a blessing in disguise in the long run. Hopkins-Chery’s freshman quartet of Deja Jackson, Mia Shannon, Aubrey Hayes and Kimi Sato were thrust into pivotal roles far sooner than they otherwise would have been. Hayes is out for the season due to injury, but the other three are battle tested as the Bobcats prepare to make another tournament run.

“They did a great job of stepping up,” Hopkins-Chery said. “There were times when we’d have all four of them out on the court with just one returner. We threw a lot at them early, but they really responded and have produced for us. Mia had 18 points the other night.

“It wasn’t fun to go through, but our girls continued working extremely hard. I think we’re definitely a better team for having gone through all that adversity.”

The scary thing for the rest of the conference is that the Bobcats are likely to continue improving as players like Wisdom and Castro, the reigning Cal Pac Freshman of the Year, rediscover their form.

“I think this is definitely the most talented team I’ve been a part of in my four years,” senior forward Kayla Polman said. “We’ve never had a freshman class like this. With everyone finally healthy, there’s so many different players that can hurt the other team. There’s no easy way to try and stop us.”

With trips left to Pacific Union and Cal Maritime, the Bobcats would still have two tries to lock up the top seed should they suffer a loss at Simpson. The group would prefer to leave nothing to chance.

“This is an opportunity to take care of business,” Danna said. “We know we’re going to get their best game. It’s going to be a playoff-type atmosphere. We want to get it done now and get rid of the pressure, then use the last two games to get ourselves ready for the conference tournament.”

This story was originally published February 10, 2016 at 5:48 PM with the headline "Battle-tested UC Merced basketball looks to secure top seed in Cal Pac."