by Taylor Moore (Sophomore – Owasso)
Going into the 2024-2025 basketball season, expectations were set low, with a new coaching staff and a team of almost all new faces. Challenges began to arise before region play had even taken off, with a small roster and injuries happening in preseason, the team turned to picking up players who had experience at basketball, from other on-campus activities such as PLC and cross-country. Take Freshman Harlie Chesser (Warner, Ok) as an example, Chesser began her career at Connors State running for the cross-country team and taking part in PLC activities, but as her first semester carried on, she found herself to be adding Connors State Women’s basketball player to her list of extracurricular activities.
Although Coach Jaylen Thompson didn’t have much time to put together his roster, he has done an excellent job at taking the handful of girls he’s got and turning them into a competing team. When asked about his coaching style, his response was “my coaching style is competitive and honest.” Thompson has a strong passion for the game and likes to convey that into his coaching by selecting players who play hard and are willing to do what it takes to compete at a high level. He describes his team as “adaptive”, stating they’ve had a lot of things happen this season such as injuries, roster changes, and adding an assistant coach mid-preseason, which all were factors in the team taking timescale to come together.
Now with all the pieces coming together, the Cowgirls are starting to buckle down and are looking for a run at postseason play. As Coach Thompson says, “our best basketball is ahead of us.”
Catch the Cowgirls in the NJCAA Region 2 first round this Thursday, as they take on Redlands CC at 8pm in Rougher Village.
