Even with back-to-back losses, the Aggie Hoops team captain said the friendship, opportunity for community and exercise all make playing in the competitive intramural league a win for the women’s basketball team.
Community health junior Ainsley Warren said she formed the team with two former high school basketball teammates with remaining members consisting of a mix of mutual friends and strangers. The 35-26 loss to the team “HOOP! There It Is” on Feb. 23 at the Student Rec Center puts the team at 0-2 for the season, but Warren said the team is still looking forward to finishing the season strong, and the friendships made means not all the wins of playing intramural sports are reflected on the scoreboard.
With no scheduled practices, the team shows up bimonthly to compete, general engineering sophomore Chloe Dang said. Since most of the team has never played together, they have really learned how to work together and take one for the team when necessary, Dang added.
Pre-game tradition includes warming up together and just chatting, Warren said. A team tradition is ending on a bucket, Dang added.
“You can’t end on a miss, so in warm ups, you have to end on a make,” Dang said.
Teammates industrial engineering sophomore Grace Abbott and agribusiness junior Courtney Kilburn both agreed that sports are a commitment and time is the biggest sacrifice.
“Even though you give up your time, you make friendships, and it’s an equal payoff if you want to think about it that way,” Abbott said.
While both teams played competitively and the score stayed tight the whole game, Abbott said a lack of subs was a factor in the loss.
“Obviously, I’m sad, but I kind of understand,” Abbott said. “We didn’t really have a lot of subs, so it’s really hard to run a lot, and a lot of us, I think, were a little tired tonight. It was a hard week.”
Team members agreed it was a better experience playing “HOOP! There It Is” versus the first team. Goals are to communicate better on the court, Kilburn said. Slowing play down, sharing the ball and teamwork also are goals for the next game, Warren added.
Aggie Hoops is scheduled to play again the week of March 6. For updated game times for competitive intramural basketball, visit imleagues.com.
Keltzey Gunter is a recreation, park and tourism sciences senior and contributed this article from the course JOUR 359 Reporting Sports to The Battalion.