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Strong Start Has Griffon Women Ready for MIAA Play

By: Justin Sampson

Updated: December 4, 2012

(SAINT JOSEPH, Mo.) Rob Edmisson has made a statement in the first leg of his first season with Griffon Women's Basketball.

The team has already matched last year's win total with the entire MIAAschedule still to play.

But Edmisson will be the first to tell you his team hasn't come close to reaching its potential.

"There's still a lot of growth in this team," he said."I think we've lost a little perspective as coaches and as players. This team's only been together for eight games. Everybody's new, everything's new. To be sitting 7-1 going into conference play is a great accomplishment for what these kids have done.

Through the first eight games of his inaugural season at Missouri Western, Edmisson has caught the eye of the conference he's about to take his first crack at.

But his players aren't letting their strong start dictate their intensity.

"We're 7-1, but we come in here and practice every day like we're the 12th-picked team in the conference. We go hard," guard Alicia Bell said.

That's a reflection of the coaching style Edmisson brings to the table. He makes it a priority to know that winning won't get any easier for the Griffon ladies.

"To have somebody that, when you think you're going your hardest, tells you no, you've got another level to kick it up. That's really what this team's about: Thinking you've reached your limit, then having someone tell you now, you can go more. I think that's one of the best things about our team."

But it's the way western has won games that's shown their resolve early on. Five of their seven wins by no more than six points. Their lone loss came by a single possession.

Players say that defeat shows what the team still must fix.

"Every game, we're not coming out as hard as we should," guard JaQuitta Dever said. "We're not coming out as aggressive on defense as we should. I think that's a big key to how we play."

"We're our own worst enemy," Bell said. "We go through slumps in a game. That's just the biggest thing is to go ahead and try to put the game away instead of letting up and having to fight back for our lead."

With a chance to avenge their lone loss against Truman State Wednesday night, the Griffons feel that fixing their few mistakes can certainly lead to a different result.

That would just be one more step for a head coach that continues to demand more from his new bunch.

"You've got to raise your level of play," Edmisson said. "You've got to raise your intensity, your focus, what we call 'slippage' has got to get smaller in terms of practice and games and mistakes you make because, in conference play, everything gets ratcheted up."

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