USF women’s basketball exceeds expectations with a historic season

“We have the toughest CCAC schedule of any of the teams in our league, so understanding that it won't be an easy road, but if we can be playing good basketball in February we feel we will have a shot at our conference.” 

These are the words that coach John McGinty said prior to the women's basketball season. Coming off their worst season under McGinty, the Fighting Saints were picked to finish eighth in the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference (CCAC). They were not expected to come anywhere near a conference title, much less an appearance in the NAIA national tournament. 

Five months later however, USF earned a bid to the national tournament, and on March 14 it won its first national tournament game since 2022. The Saints finished the season with a 25-8 record, including a third place finish in conference play with a 15-5 record while making it to the championship game in the CCAC tournament. Despite the loss, they still earned an at-large bid to the NAIA tournament. But how did a team who was picked to finish so low make it to the biggest stage? 

Coach McGinty said that the team's road to success began during the preseason.

“A lot of [the players] put in a lot of work, they had a chip on their shoulder with a little bit of something to prove,” he  said.

 The health of the team also played a key role, with all-freshman pick Baylei Johnson and leading scorer Le’Lani Harris both returning from injuries.

During the season, the Saints never lost two games in a row, while having five different streaks in the season winning three games or more in a row. This included a six-game winning streak during the last four regular season games and the quarter and semifinals games in the CCAC tournament. 

Junior guard Laurelei Thormeyer brought up the team's chemistry, which was a large contributing factor to the team's success. 

“You can just tell even in our warmups, we’re trying to keep it light and stay loose, while staying serious obviously going into the game,” Thormeyer said. “Just remembering that we are here to compete and enjoy the sport we’ve been playing for so long.” 

Tykara Harrison, also a junior guard, said that the players’ leadership was  key to the team’s success throughout the year.

“Just holding each other accountable on and off the court. We did a good job having player-led meetings, allowing the underclassmen to come to us and ask us questions,” Harrison said.

McGinty stated that one of the biggest improvements during this season was their response to adversity.

“Anytime that adversity struck, they responded. That to me is the definition of a strong culture, strong character and really the strength of the team,” McGinty said. “To give yourself the confidence not when you’re playing well, but when things aren’t going well, how do you respond? I thought they did a great job with that.”

Harrison and Harris were both selected to the CCAC All-Conference second team, with Thormeyer earning an honorable mention. Freshman Symone Harrell also earned a spot on the All-Freshman Team. 

When talking about her season, Thormeyer felt she grew in many ways both off and on the court. 

“I think this year I’ve grown as a captain and how I talk to my teammates, reading how to respond to constructive criticism, I think I’ve really grown in that way,” Thormeyer said when talking about her off the court growth. 

As for her on-the-court growth, she added “My three point shot has gotten a lot better, being able to handle the ball. We played press a lot last year and I think we did a lot better this year.” 

Despite not winning CCAC Coach of the Year, the 25 wins the Saints had this year were the most under Coach McGinty. This snub did not sit well with Harrison.

“Coach worked really hard this year,” Harrison said. “In my opinion he should have got Coach of the Year for the CCAC. He was snubbed.” 

Thormeyer agreed with Harrison’s statement, adding “He is so committed to all of us. He takes the time. We have meetings once a week or once every two weeks. He takes time to talk to us, but he also holds us accountable and he’s gonna hold us to a standard he knows we can beat.”

Even though McGinty did not receive CCAC Coach of the Year, he was chosen as Co-NAIA Head Coach of the Year by the Illinois Basketball Association on April 10th. 

While McGinty plans on giving the girls a break after a long season, many of them are eager to get back onto the court to further improve on this season. Harrison’s final message to everyone about next season was a confident one. 

“Don’t count us out. We are going to be very successful. It’s going to be a great year for the Saints, and we should be back in that championship game again.”

Hopefully this time with a different result.