(Game Forfeited): BASKETBALL: Green, Lady Chaps ready for WJCAC play

GAME FORFEITED

By Forrest Allen
Midland College Athletics Director

Midland College Women's Basketball
December 1, 2021
Midland, Texas

Last night at 9:22 p.m. I received a text message from Mike Yeater, Director of Athletics at Howard College.  A member of the Howard College women's basketball team has been tested positive for COVID-19.  Obviously the entire team, including coaches, have been exposed via close contact.  The entire Howard women's basketball team is currently in quarantine and will not be available to play tonight at 5:45 p.m.

 WJCAC COVID-19 protocols which were introduced, voted in and adopted in September of this year considers this as a forfeited game.  The game will not be made up or rescheduled. 

 The men's basketball game, Howard at Midland, scheduled for 7:30 p.m. will proceed as usual.

We will open door #2 at 6:30 p.m.  Game operations personnel, including stats and ticket seller should be at the Chap Center by 6:45 p.m. for the men's game.

We apologize for any inconvenience this creates and look forward to seeing you all at the 7:30 p.m. contest.    

By Oscar LeRoy
Midland Reporter-Telegram

MIDLAND, TEXAS - Bella Green knows that it's time for the Midland College women's basketball team to turn it up a notch.

The Lady Chaparrals (6-2) open Western Junior College Athletic Conference play at 5:45 p.m. Wednesday with a game against rival Howard College (5-6) at Chaparral Center.

"It's exciting going into conference," said the 6-foot sophomore guard/forward from Perth, Australia. "We had a pretty good preseason, but it's exciting to get down to business. These are the games that really count. (Non-conference) was practice."

The Lady Chaps have not played a game since Nov. 20 in a 93-69 loss to Weatherford College on the last day of the Women's National Invitation Tournament. It was a game that head coach Ron Jones would rather forget. The longtime MC coach is also ready to get conference going.

"We're ready to go," he said. "We still haven't been able to scrimmage enough in practice because of injuries. You can't worry about what we can't control. Like any other team, I just think the longer we play, the better that's going to help us. At times, we've played really well, and at other times we've had some bad possessions, both offensively and defensively. Repetition helps, watching video helps and we've been doing more of that as well"

Bella Green

Green is off to a good year as she's averaging a double-double with 13.9 points and 11.4 rebounds per game.

Green also believes that her best basketball is still to come.

"I definitely have a lot to improve on," she said. "I'm not playing quite to my full potential just yet. I'm looking to build on what I've been doing. One of my main focuses has been rebounding and I think I've been doing that well."

Green said she's not the most vocal person but being one of seven sophomores, she knows that the best way for her to lead is by her example on the court.

"Being a sophomore, I feel like I have more of a responsibility to perform to the best of my abilities," she said. "I definitely feel more comfortable around my team and the competition in general this year."

Jones said the Hawks are similar to last year in that they're going to run a bunch of ball screens, mix up their defenses and shoot a bunch of 3s.

Green said it was good to get some non-conference games in before starting WJCAC play. That was different from last year when the Lady Chaps were limited to just league games because of a COVID-shortened season.

"We didn't have any practice games," said Green about last season. "I know what it's all about and how important these games are. These are must-win games and we need to win as many games as we can."

CLICK HERE for 2021-22 Season Schedule
CLICK HERE for Live-Streaming of Games

2021-22 WJCAC women's basketball standings

                                     Conf.                   Overall

                                 W           L              W           L

Clarendon College 0            0              10         1

New Mexico JC      0            0              10         1

Midland College     0            0              6          2

Frank Phillips        0             0              7          4

South Plains         0             0              5          3

Howard College    0             0              5          6

Odessa College    0             0              2           4

Western Texas     0             0              3           6

Wednesday's games

Howard College at Midland College; New Mexico JC at Odessa College; Clarendon College at Western Texas College; Frank Phillips College and South Plains College are open