Well, it is not technically the halfway point from a numerical standpoint, but halfway through the season, the ET Women’s Basketball team has shown that have made major improvements from last season, so lets take a deeper look.

This year’s record-4-5 through 9 games.

Last year’s record-3-6 through 9 games.

Now, you may be tempted to look at this and say “this team has only marginally improved, but that could not further from the truth. Let’s examine the schedules with the first 9 games last year and the first 9 games this year.

Last season, two of the 3 wins the Lion Women had were against NAIA and a Division III School, while the third win was a 1 point overtime win against Texas Southern. The 6 losses were to mid major Division I’s and Major programs like Baylor and Arkansas, and those two games were not even close. It was the start of 2-1, it became a 1-5 slide with games that were winnable but could not close the deal in the end.

Now, look at this season. 2-2 to start the season, two blowout wins against a Division II School and an NAIA school, then two losses against an SEC sqaud ranked 5th in the country and a Big 12 school ranked 22nd. Next up was Southeastern, a Southland Conference foe that was a heartbreaking loss, followed by two nasty losses to McNeese and Abilene Christian that were not even close, but in between was a huge win against Louisiana Lafeyette and a big time win over Texas Southern in Commerce to close out the semester.

Looking at the box scores, you see one common denominator in all of the losses, and that is that the ET Women are starting the game slowly and getting outscored and playing behind the entire game. Southeastern Louisiana is probably a win without the slow start and you have an overall winning record with a 1-1 SLC record. That also means you head into the break with a lot of confidence.

That so say, this team is MILES ahead of where they were last year, and I mean miles ahead. It started with Coach Valerie King overhauling the roster, getting some new faces that will help the program both now and in the future including ones that are DI players or DI caliber transfers. The transfer portal was utilized quite effectively and the Ladies have stayed healthy thus far, but the biggest sign of improvement is that they have won games against Division I schools that are roughly the caliber of the teams they will be playing. 4-5 might not look sexy, but its a sign they are doing the right things and if they learn to start fast, something that this program took pride in during the Burton era, you will see a competetive team that continues to improve.

Im looking forward to 2026 and seeing what these ladies are really made of.