Playoff push
Women's team gears up for a long Horizon League tournament run
Michael Martinez
Issue date: 3/3/10 Section: Sports
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Even after the pre-season rankings said they would finish eighth in the conference, even after injuries cut their roster to eight and even after they started the season 2-9, the Titans know they have what it takes to win the Horizon League championship.
"That was our goal since last spring," head coach Autumn Rademacher said. "That's what we've been playing for the entire time."
With a 13-4 conference record with one game remaining, Detroit is guaranteed one of the conference's top three seeds entering the tournament. Though many around the Horizon League have labeled Detroit Mercy the surprise team of the year, senior Brigid Mulroy isn't surprised at all.
"Our nonconference schedule was tough but we never lost sight of the Horizon League," she said. "Some teams might have seen our 2-9 record and played down to us, but we knew that we could beat every team in this league."
The Titans have beaten every conference team, except Butler, at least once, giving players and fans hope of a long, rewarding playoff run.
Rademacher knows a thing or two about the playoffs, as she helped lead UDM to its only conference championship in 1997. After being tested by, and overcoming, the grueling every-other-day schedule, Rademacher said she is using her experience to help her current team.
"At this point in the season, it's about the group that just stays together and is focused," she said. "With the team I was a part of in 1997, we were just as mad as a hornet and willing to lay it on the line. We didn't host the tournament, so we just took it one game at a time."
Besides a first round game at Calihan Hall, the Titans's road to the championship would most likely take the team through Green Bay. Rademacher also had to face the Phoenix on the road, and thinks that her current team can defeat the reigning champs.
"It's time for someone else. Right now I think (Green Bay) has a little bit of doubt, and people need to take advantage of that situation," she said. "History is ready to repeat itself, and it can be done on anybody's floor."
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