Margie Olivares

The gym sat still with the lights turned off when the University of the Incarnate Word women’s basketball team returned from what would have been the Southland Conference Tournament in Katy, Texas, on March 12. The parking lot in front of the McDermott Convocation Center had just a handful of cars and there were few, if any, students on campus.

The season had come to an end in an unexpected way when sports around the nation came to a grinding halt due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

First-year head coach Jeff Dow led the team on a historic run – that included the team making it to the SLC Tournament for the first time in program history – throughout the 2019-20 season. It was a long, hard season that included highlights like wins over top-ranked teams in the league, such as Stephen F. Austin and Abilene Christian.

When the team first started training in the summer of 2019, Dow was focused on building the foundation for the program and the upcoming season. Each drill, each point, each competition was treated with the intent of fostering a competitive spirit in the team.

“As far back as July, we discussed the one overarching goal that we had was to qualify for the Southland Conference Tournament, something that had yet to happen since UIW became Division I in 2013-14,” Dow said. “I often joked that I was ‘cautiously optimistic’ about our chances to finish in the top eight in the conference and possibly win a lot more games than anyone ever predicted.”

The Cardinals struggled on a three-game road stretch early in the season against tough non-conference opponents at Ohio, Colorado State and Kansas State. UIW then returned to San Antonio for a five-game home stand where they narrowly lost to Central Arkansas to begin conference play.

“I am as proud of this team as any I’ve ever coached,” said Dow. “Given that we were picked to finish a distant last in the preseason coach’s poll, it would have been easy for this group to give in to what the naysayers were saying, especially after some tough losses in the non-conference part of our schedule. But they bought in and continued to work hard.”

“As coaches you obviously ask a lot of your student-athletes. But on the court, all that you can really ask is that they’re coachable, they’re great teammates and they play hard. This group personified that, not just in victory, but more importantly, in defeat.”

For the following six games, UIW was hot and cold, winning a game and losing another; during that stretch, the Cardinals picked up two road wins against Northwestern State and Lamar, while winning at home against McNeese. Despite picking up those two road wins, it was the loss to Houston Baptist at home that was the turning point for the team.

“We were obviously extremely disappointed,” Dow said. “First, a ton of credit should go to HBU for outplaying us and outcoaching us, but it was a huge reminder that on any given night you can be beaten, and that we were in no position to overlook anyone.”

A few days later, the Cardinals shocked the conference when they took down the top-ranked and SLC defending champion, Abilene Christian, on the road.

“The two practices after [the HBU loss] admittedly were tough,” said Dow. “I’m not really a big fan in ‘learning something from a loss’ if you can help it, but I think all of us would have to admit that we probably wouldn’t have beaten Abilene Christian on the road in our very next game if we didn’t suffer from the disappointment in the loss to HBU.”

“I told the team after the game [against ACU], when you have a lead for over 37 minutes and have a 12-point lead in the second half, it’s not a fluke, or luck, that we won this game. Winning that game probably gave us the confidence that we could compete with anyone in the Southland, and we showed that by going on the road for our next game and knocking off another first-place team in Sam Houston State.”

After taking down Sam Houston on the road, the Cardinals were a new team. The warmups leading up to games had a new vibe from a team that radiated hunger and resilience.

After facing the Bearkats, the Cardinals won four of their next six games. The biggest win of the bunch came against SFA, another team ranked first in the league at the time. The victory was the first time in 12 encounters that a UIW women’s basketball team defeated SFA.

“Beating SFA is undoubtedly the most significant win in our program’s history since UIW made the transition to Division I,” Dow said. “For over 30 years, they have been the class of the Southland Conference, and deservedly so.”

“Again, it was another team that was in first place at the time that we played them,” said Dow as he looked back on the win. “What really impressed me the most about that game was that we overcame a really slow start offensively with only 22 points at halftime. All season long we continually stressed ‘if we defend and rebound, we’ll give ourselves a chance.’ At the half we were definitely struggling on offense, but because we were defending as well as we were, we were only down one at the half and we felt good about our chances. And in the second half we erupted for 38 points and pulled away to win by 8. It might not have been as ‘pretty’ as some of our other huge wins, but it really was the essence of what we wanted to be all about.”

The Cardinals took the confidence from the win against the Ladyjacks on the road to face another tough opponent in Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. Despite a tough loss to the Islanders at home earlier in the season, the Cardinals kept it a close game, ultimately falling in the final minutes. Despite the loss, results from the other games in the conference resulted in a favorable outcome for UIW and the team clinched a spot in the conference tournament.

“We were elated and yet, probably subdued at the same time. Unfortunately, we had just lost to the regular season champion, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, on the road in a hard-fought game when we found out,” Dow said. “Shortly after our game ended, we heard the results of a few of the other games within the conference, so we knew we had clinched a spot in the tournament right before we addressed the team in the locker room. I think the general vibe in the locker room was that while we were excited to make it, we also were going in with the mindset that we were going there to compete, not just show up.”

The Cardinals closed out the season with losses against HBU on the road and in overtime against ACU on Senior Day, but they were now getting ready for their first postseason appearance in program history and were prepared to take on Nicholls in the first round.

“We felt good and we definitely felt like we were ready,” said Dow. “Considering Nicholls finished the regular season on a 7-game winning streak, and we had a narrow victory over them at our place, by no means were we overlooking them. Ironically, the way the bracket set up, we had beaten the three teams we would have had to face to make the championship game. We also felt battle-tested after going 6-0 in one-possession games, so we had a confidence about us that we could execute down the stretch of a close game if it came to that.”

On the morning of March 12, student-athletes were in their hotel rooms getting ready for the first-round game against Nicholls when they received a text message from the coaching staff to come downstairs; the student-athletes got in the elevator, asking each other if they thought the tournament would be cancelled due to the growing COVID-19 pandemic.

Around 11:45 a.m., Dow held a team meeting and delivered the news that the Southland office had indeed canceled the remainder of the tournament, shortly after multiple Power 5 conferences announced the cancelation of theirs. There was not a dry eye in the room as student-athletes and coaches said goodbye to the season, the team and especially those who would not be returning the following season.

“I was heartbroken for our players, our staff and everyone who supported us,” Dow said. “The decision that was made was understandable, and it was the right decision. The sudden, abrupt ending to our season was difficult to process after more than 100 practices, 29 games and 20 conference games. In that meeting room we had six players who just found out their college playing careers were over, so that was very tough.”

“We spent some time reflecting on the season, and even going all way back to July when we first started working out as a team. And obviously we thanked all of the players for what they had given to the program and how hard they had worked for us. As a first-year staff, I’m really not sure we could have scripted this season any better.”

Despite the heartbreaking end to the season, the Cardinals did what they set out to do when they earned a spot in the SLC Tournament, shocking the league in the process. Although they didn’t get to show their grit again this season, they have a lot to be hopeful for and a bright future ahead.

“Hopefully down the line, all of us will be able to reflect on this season with a great deal of pride and remember what a thrilling ride it was,” Dow said. “I know I will.”