The Keene State College Women’s Basketball team has found themselves in many close games this season. However, they are still looking for that consistency overall as the season winds down.

​According to women’s basketball coach Keith Boucher, the team’s inconsistency this season is the main reason the team’s play has been up and down. In addition, because of it they have lost many close games. “If you want to go on a long winning streak you have to be consistent. We haven’t been,” Boucher said. The coach noted many factors have hurt the team’s consistency. “It’s consistent practice habits, it’s focus,” Boucher said.

Brian Cantore / Photo Editor:
Sophomore guard Kelsey Cognetta said the team can’t feel bad for itself now. “We cannot hang our heads,” Cognetta told The Equinox.

​This season, the Owls are a younger team and at some points the team has lost focus. “It’s not high school season. You’re asked to do a lot more as far as the X’s and O’s part of it [the game]. There’s a lot more practices and there’s a lot more games,” Boucher said.

​Junior guard Christan Wojtas said the Owls do sometimes lose their focus on the court. “I think it is definitely the lack of focus. We need to be tougher. We are just not tough sometimes,” Wojtas said.

​Also, the team has been thinking way too much lately. “I think we definitely over-think. I think we get down on ourselves a lot and it has to do with a lot of our play. We just have to try not to over-think things,” Wojtas said.

​Sophomore guard Laurie Allien agreed with Wojtas about the team’s tendency to think too much. “We over-think a lot because we think, ‘if we did this or that,’ but it shouldn’t happen like that,” Allien said.

​Allien calls the up and down streak frustrating. “It has been frustrating because we know we’re good. We are good enough to play with any team in our conference, so it kind of sucks how we lose games,” Allien said.

In addition, Allien said the team needs to play with everybody on the court. “We need to play with all five of us. We sometimes play individually and that should not happen. We should play as one team,” Allien said.

​Sophomore forward Ryanne Williams also agrees that the team is sometimes too individual-based and said it needs to change. “We need to play together as a team and stop playing individually, Williams said.

​Boucher said for any team, its ability to focus is critical. “Your ability to focus either saves you or it destroys you. At times, we have done a very good job of focusing and other times we haven’t,” Boucher said.

Brian Cantore / Photo Editor: Senior wing Carly Kiernan evades a double team in a home game against Southern Maine on Saturday, Feb. 1.

​The Owls remaining games are made up only of conference games. At the time of the interview, the Owls had five conference games remaining. Boucher is coaching the Owls final regular season games as if it were a tournament. “Conference games are so much more. Familiarity breeds content and there is so much more emphasis on conference games because you play each other twice,” Boucher said.

​To come away with victories in the next conference games the Owls will need to work hard and be focused, Boucher said. “If you are not focused, if you don’t play with great intensity and energy, you know what?  You’re not going to win. Conference games are a war and if you don’t have a warrior’s mentality then you’re going to end up on the short end of the stick,” Boucher said.

​One thing that the Owls have benefited from this season is their depth.

“We’re deep which has resulted in better competition in practice. I mean, there is more competition for playing time at every position,” Boucher said.

He said, “Last year we weren’t deep at all. This year depending on the time and score, you can see different people out there from game to game. So I guess that is a major strength.”

​As of Feb. 10, the Owls are 11-10 overall and 3-7 in the Little Eastern Conference, which ties them for sixth place with the University of Massachusetts Boston. For the Owls to finish higher in the standings, Boucher said the Owls need to be mentally tougher. “You win close games because you are mentally tougher than the other team,” Boucher said.

​In addition, unlike other teams, the Owls do not have that ‘go-to’ scorer. As of Feb. 10, Wojtas is leading the Owls in scoring with 12 points per game. “We don’t have that go-to player like some of the other teams in our conference have. So it has to be that player playing well at that particular time and game who has to seize the moment and we’ve done that a little bit and times we haven’t. Somebody has to step up,” Boucher said.

​According to sophomore point guard Kelsey Cognetta, running an offense without a pure scorer means that she has to find whoever is open.

“I just want to get everyone open looks and I want it to be a team effort and everyone contributes to how much we score,” Cognetta said. Cognetta said the team needs to stay positive. “I think we cannot hang our heads,” she said.

​As the season winds down, Boucher explained the Owls are going to continue to work at it. “Adversity will either make you or break you, and it is how you respond to adversity that shows whether you’re a true competitor or not,” Boucher said.

​Finally, the team’s focus is also very critical, and it is on Boucher whether or not the focus is there. “The bottom line is, that falls on me. I have to find a way as coach to get the players to focus better at the critical junctures of the game,” Boucher said.

Brian Clemmenson can be contacted at bclemmenson@keene-equinox.com