Peter Floess
Staff Writer
As the community college basketball season winds down, the women and men’s basketball teams have winning records.
Both Men’s Basketball Head Coach Anthony Figueroa and Women’s Basketball Assistant Coach Bill Dobrik feel that their respective teams are in good shape, but have some room to improve.
“Our overall record is good at this point in the season, though we still have away to go as a team if we want to win our conference/region again and go to the national tournament,” says Figueroa.
Dobrik also feels his team is doing well, but says his team needs work on defense going forward.
“At this moment, I feel we are on the right track,” says Dobrik. “One thing all of our teams have traditionally done is play their best ball down the stretch and I think we are in a position to do that again this year. I think we have found our offensive identity as a team but hope we can continue to shore things up on defense to really get to where we want to be in order to achieve what we want to.”
The team members themselves have similar sentiments.
“I am happy where the team is standing right now. We are playing well but there is always room to get better,” says sophomore point guard on the men’s team Terrion Howard.
Sophomore guards Grant Gibson and Cornelius McIntosh agreed with Howard’s assessment of the current standing of the team.
“We just want to put ourselves at best opportunity to win games” before the postseason starts, says Gibson.
“We feel confident going into the playoffs,” says McIntosh. “We feel we can beat anyone if we play as a team.”
Members of the women’s team also have positive feelings about the season.
“I am very happy with where our team is right now; we are in a great place,” says sophomore center on the women’s team Payton Bieber. “We are ready for the road to nationals, keeping in mind to focus on one game at a time…and building off each game.”
Figueroa’s favorite moment of this season was a game against Southeastern Community College in West Burlington, Iowa. The Cobras won that game 93–82.
“Since I’ve been the head coach we had yet to defeat them so winning on their court was huge,” says Figueroa.
McIntosh’s favorite moment of the season so far was a home game against Rend Lake College of Ina, Illinois on Jan. 16. The Cobras won that game 77–69.
“We lost to Rend Lake by one point in overtime back in November after battling back from a 21 points deficit at half. That win showed that we have improved” over the season, says McIntosh.
Howard’s favorite moment of the season so far was a home game against the number one ranked Triton College of River Grove, Illinois on Dec. 10. The Cobras won that game 80–70. Howard says they lost to Triton last year in nationals so beating them was really rewarding.
Gibson enjoys the time the team spent in Iowa. His favorite moment of the season so far was “when our bus broke down and we had two spend nearly two days at a hotel in Iowa.”
Dobrik’s favorite moment of this season so far was the home game against number four-ranked Kankakee Community College on Jan. 16. The Cobras won that game 71–66.
Kankakee had beaten the Cobras in late December, so it “was a signature win for this group,” says Dobrik. “It was a game where the stats didn’t matter, how it looked didn’t matter. The girls just did whatever it took to get a big win against a team that is likely going to be at Nationals. It again showed how great the potential for this group can be and what they are capable of when they are willing to do whatever it takes.”
Peyton enjoyed the rematch with the Kankakee on Jan. 16. Her other favorite moment was when the team won the 100th win in the career of Mike Lindemann as head coach of the women basketball team.
Lindemann “acted like it wasn’t a big deal and it wasn’t about him, but about us instead, but all in all he’s the man behind the whole operation. We couldn’t do it without him,” says Peyton.
“We need all the fan support we can get so I would encourage everyone to come out and support your Cobras!” says Figueroa.
More information about Parkland basketball can be found at www.parkland.edu/athletics.
