Langston is tough now, but looking to get better with every game

Coming into the February portion of its schedule, Langston is 19-1 and ranked No. 7 in the country. Yes, ‘and one’ now.

After a 17-game winning streak to open the season, including a three-point win over then-No. 1 Oklahoma City, LU suffered its first loss, 85-76, at No. 14 Wiley.

Langston coach Cheryl Miller said she wasn’t too surprised about the team’s lone setback.

“Obviously we got off to a very good start,” Miller said. “I thought when we were 11-0 we were kind of cruising, but probably the last six games until we got to 17 wins, we starting to get sluggish.

Photo courtesy LU Sports Info.

“We weren’t as crisp, or as sharp, and our execution wasn’t there. Our defensive intensity certainly wasn’t the same as how we started the season. And we caught Wiley on a very hot day. Obviously the game meant more to them because we didn’t come out with the intensity or match theirs like we’re capable of and we suffered our first loss.

“I thought it was great timing for us. It stung and the players definitely felt it. And we came back with a couple of wins, the Paul Quinn game was forfeited, but it was a really nice win for us against Texas College.”

Miller said the target was on the backs of her team.

“I just think that the fact that we were undefeated at the time and I’m sure that a lot of teams felt that we were ripe for a loss. Wiley did more than test that theory; they went out and won the game.”

And so a new winning streak starts for a team that is taking care of business on both ends of the court.

The Lady Lions are second in the country in scoring at 86.7 points per game and are outscoring opponents by 29 points each night. But they are also leading the country in defensive rebounds and in the top 15 in both steals and blocks and turning defense into offense.

“We’ve been able to do that because of our defensive intensity,” Miller said. “That’s been our focus and our priority from the beginning of the season was that defensively we wanted to get at it.

“We wanted to make it tough for teams to score. We wanted them to earn it and to use the entire shot clock, if necessary. So we’ve tried to mix things up defensively. But certainly, when you’re able to pressure and make teams speed up a little bit and make some bad choices with the ball, it helps us at the offensive end.”

So Langston prepares to keep up the winning ways as the double round robin Red River Athletic Conference schedule goes around again.  Five of the final eight games are at home in Gayles Fieldhouse.

The Lady Lions host St. Thomas on Friday and the University of the Southwest on Saturday.  Miller said they are not looking past anyone.

“Two tough games. You look at certain teams and say, ‘Well, we beat them by 20 points the last time.’ It’s a whole new season in the second half of conference play. Any team can be beaten, you just have to look at our conference and it stands out like that.

“We know we have our hands full on Friday and Saturday and we have to just get after it. And then we have Our Lady of the Lake and Houston-Tilly again. So we want to just maintain our home court advantage and we’re not going to take anyone lightly.

“And I know it sounds very cliché-ish, but we want to get better with every game and start honing our skills and get ready for the postseason.”