Hawks ready to make significant strides in Boyd’s second season at helm

QUINCY — Learn from the past, but don’t dwell on it.

That’s Courtney Boyd’s approach.

Entering her second season as the Quincy University women’s basketball coach, Boyd saw the Hawks limp to the finish line, losing six of their final seven games to finish with a 10-18 record. Five of those six losses were by eight points or less, but being competitive didn’t diminish the sting of losing.

“Every day I try not to bring it up to this group because it is a different group, but as a coaching staff, we talk about it weekly,” Boyd said. “That happened last year and we can’t have it happen again. We’re going to make sure we’re more prepared in this aspect because we weren’t in the past.

“We’re trying to learn from that and continue to remember everything because that was unacceptable from a staff standpoint, just how we finished. It is a process, so we when we look at it day-by-day, we have to give ourselves a little grace and look at how far we’ve actually come.”

The Hawks see themselves as leaps and bounds more prepared for what lies ahead heading into the season opener at 6 p.m. Friday against Ursuline College in the GMAC/GLVC Regional Crossover in Cedarville, Ohio. 

“We had a rough year last year and it took us a whole to get to where we wanted to be,” junior forward Acheampomaa Danso said. “I feel like we started this year with our culture set. We knew how we wanted to play, and we knew what kind of team we wanted to be. Everyone just has to follow along.”

That hasn’t been an issue.

“From ourselves, the expectations are high. It’s not just from the coaches,” sophomore guard Mariann Blass said. “We want to be very good. We want to be better. We know we have everything to be a great team. So we expect a lot from ourselves.”

The Hawks return their top seven starters, all of whom averaged five or more points per game last season, and should have one of the Great Lakes Valley Conference’s better frontcourts with the 6-foot Danso flanked by 5-foot-11 senior forward Cymirah Williams.

Williams averaged 14.4 points and 9.6 rebounds per game last season, while Danso averaged 8.8 points and 7.9 rebounds and blocked 44 shots.

“It makes us more confident,” Danso said of having Williams up front alongside her.

But they aren’t alone. Boyd and her staff added size in Taylor Haase, a 6-foot graduate transfer, and 6-foot-3 freshman Katrina Stock. Another graduate transfer — 5-foot-7 guard Nicole McDermott — brings depth and experience to the frontcourt.

Add McDermott to a group that includes junior point guard Mikayla Huffine and senior guards Karsyn Stratton, Taya Stevenson and Kealni Neves and depth looks solid, at least it will once everyone is healthy. Several players have been limited in preseason reps because of nagging injuries.

“We have so many great pieces,” said Blass, who averaged 9.2 points and made a team-high 36 3-pointers a season ago. “It’s about bringing it all together to have one great team. It’s so refreshing because we’ve built so much from last year and we’re already so far ahead. We’re confident and that allows us to play freely and have a good time.”

Boyd sees the enjoyment from the Hawks every day.

“It’s their energy to be a different team than we were last year,” Boyd said. “Their mindset of where we need to be and what it’s going to take to get there has definitely changed. At the end of the year last year, they weren’t happy with what they did and how they finished. But there were also days that we didn’t put in the right type of work.

“So far this year, we’ve done a good job of that.”

They’re being unselfish in that approach as well.

“Everybody is good at playing for the team, not just for themselves,” Blass said. “That allows the newcomers to fit into our system really nicely. It’s allowed the transition to be effortless.”

It’s the we-above-me attitude the coaching staff demands.

“We talk every single day about being more excited for your teammate than you are for yourself,” Boyd said. “They’re starting to figure it out.”

That gives rise to the expectations the Hawks will find themselves playing in the GLVC Tournament at the end of the season and moving closer to challenging for a conference crown.

The first six non-conference games should be an indicator how legitimate that is.

“Are we as good as we hope we are? Are we a little further behind than what we think?” Boyd said. “We will be able to find that out early.”