LADY BADGERS OFF TO
ROARING START, 4-1
By John Hales
They've really Got something Special

EPHRAIM—Although she doesn’t say it in so many words, it’s not difficult to tell that Snow College women’s basketball coach Cindy Lindsay sees a good season in front of her, based on what she does say about the team’s first few games.

The team has a 4-1 win-loss record to start the season. How does that compare to previous starts? “It’s incredible,” Lindsay says. “These kids—they’ve really got something special.” How special?
“You‘ve got to come out and see for yourself,” she says.

That’s what five different coaches from four-year colleges and universities have already done in the very early preseason, something Lindsay said had been pretty much unheard of in the past. Those coaches weren’t the only ones.

“Our fan support that we had Saturday was great,” Lindsay said.

That would have been last Saturday, the day the Lady Badgers beat Northeastern Junior College 79-70.

In the week or so before that, they beat Glendale Community College 81-63, Western Wyoming Community College 80-60 and Carroll College 83-61. Their only loss was in their first game, against Montana Tech, 68-76. And in that game there was an excuse.

Returning starter Abbie Beutler missed the game due to muscle spasms in her neck she began experiencing about 15 minutes into the shoot-around before the game. Her absence hurt.
“Not only is she doing great, but her leadership of the team is just incredible,” Lindsay says of Beutler.

Ironically, the loss to Montana Tech wasn’t only due to Beutler’s absence, but the presence of a former Snow player now playing at Montana, Taesha Higbee, who scored 28 points against her old teammates.
But a few current Lady Badgers are having outstanding games too. Foremost among them is freshman Sammie Jensen. In four of the five games, Jensen had double-doubles. In all five games she has an average of 15.6 points and 12.6 rebounds per game.

She isn’t the only one. “We’re getting three and four kids into double figures, and our freshmen are grabbing 15 rebounds, 17 rebounds,” Lindsay says.

One can hear Lindsay forecasting how the team will do in regular-season conference games. She mentions that Western Wyoming played Scenic West Athletic Conference powerhouse College of Southern Idaho, and that it was a 10-point ballgame, whereas Snow had Western Wyoming by 20. The implication is clear: the Lady Badgers are going to compete in the conference this year.
“It’s an exciting style of play,” she says.

The Lady Badgers are at home this weekend in games against Mesa State (Friday) and Team Elite, made up of Snow alumni (Saturday). Both games begin at 7:30 p.m.