Griffon women find strength in low numbers

Missouri Western women’s basketball sports the smallest roster in their conference, yet still finds success in a gauntlet of MIAA competition.

10 players have made up the Griffon women’s roster for a majority of the season. Going into the season, the Griffs carried 11 players before the abrupt exit of Tiani Ellison during the season. Fast forward to over three months into their 2024-2025 campaign, the former regular season champs of the MIAA have proven to still be viable given their depth.

In practice, every player is involved in nearly every drill, giving everyone much needed reps. Head coach Ashton Feldhaus says the team is really in shape because players are always on the floor no matter the part of practice they are in. At the same time, Feldhaus and her staff aren’t throwing caution to the wind. She mentions that injuries are an aspect they are mindful of. Luckily for the team, injuries have not been an issue for them as they’ve gone through the season.

“Yes, it has its challenges, but we don’t make it an excuse,” Feldhaus said. “We kind of just make it who we are and go with it.”

In her first year as a head coach, Feldhaus took it upon herself to retool the roster ahead of the season, bringing in multiple international players with prior college experience. Coupling the international players with returning players, the meshing of the two has been beneficial, and part of the success has been the attention paid to team bonding outside campus.

Last Tuesday, Feldhaus and members of the team were able to attend the highly-anticipated rivalry matchup between Benton and Lafayette girls basketball.

“It is fun to get out of the gym and do stuff with them because they get to just be normal humans. We had a blast,” Feldhaus said.

For Western, they enter the final four games of the regular season and currently sit at the four spot in the MIAA rankings.