Hello fans and basketball enthusiasts, my name is Ashley Hostert and I am a sophomore, captain for the Lady Prairiewolves of Nebraska Wesleyan University. Nebraska Wesleyan is located in Lincoln, NE just a short drive from University of Nebraska-Lincoln and the Cornhuskers. Nebraska Wesleyan University is a wonderful school that attracted me initially through their incredible academic programs, comforting campus, caring professors, and pure excitement of developing student-athletes, who after four years at the institution would leave ready to conquer their goals.
Last year, as a freshman, my teammates and I saw our team undergo many changes. Approximately a month before the official, first day of practice, we did not have a head coach on campus. However, by September 20th Coach Eric Jensen had accepted the job and moved his family to Lincoln to take over the Women’s Basketball program at Wesleyan. Coach Jensen brought his own style of playing and coaching. As with any changes, there are always ups and downs and last season provided its fair share of both. However, no matter how high or how low our team may have gotten Coach continued to instill in us his main philosophy, “TWW: Together We Win.” Nebraska Wesleyan’s Women’s Basketball program may not have been a threat in the past, but together we could accomplish whatever we aspire to and after hearing that day in and out, we began to believe it.
This season holds endless and exciting possibilities for our team. Originally, bringing in 15 new talented freshmen and having no seniors on the team, we look to be young, however with the basis of our core values, we are looking to be an unforeseen threat every time we step on the floor. Building the women’s basketball program at Nebraska Wesleyan to a championship level program has been our team’s motivation since the end of last season. We have set our eyes on reaching the national tournament and nothing will detract us from our vision.
As the first month of practice comes to a close and opening weekend is at the end of this week, the anticipation is high. The unique thing about our team’s situation is that we are a DIII independent team. Meaning our possibilities of making a national tournament birth, are mainly based on the few DIII games that we play during the season because we do not play in a qualifying tournament at the end of the year like most other DIII teams. This year four of our seven DIII games happen in the first two weeks of season, so it is very important for us to come out of the gates firing and ready to prove that we can compete with the best. Our opening tournament is at Cornell College, November 20th and 21st, there we will play Cornell College and Edgewood College. We saw neither team last year in DIII action, but with the help of our coaching staff’s scouting and preparation, we will be more than ready to step on the floor on Friday and Saturday to demonstrate the fruits of our labor from the last month of practice. Not only are our few DIII games very important, but we also play in the most competitive NAIA Division II Conference, the GPAC. Ranked very low in the preseason, our team has been fired up about the lack of people taking our team seriously and it is in the back of our minds every day that we will be the surprise underdog this year. Teams will regret not taking us seriously.
As a team we chose core values to exemplify us and what we want from our program. Every day that our team practices, every day that we stand side by side sweating and grinding out even the worst drills those values shine through everyone just a little more. Right now I am very proud of the effort and commitment our team has shown so far and cannot wait to get the season rolling so we can prove what we are capable of. Nebraska Wesleyan’s Women’s Basketball will be turning heads. Good luck to all the other DIII teams starting their seasons, we wish you the best!
God Bless, Ashley Hostert