The Waynesburg women’s basketball team hasn’t played in a game in over 11 months. The Lady Jackets normally would be in the middle of their Presidents’ Athletic Conference schedule, but the COVID-19 pandemic had other plans by delaying the season to the beginning of 2021. Instead of playing a 16-game conference schedule, Waynesburg will play nine PAC games and no non-conference games. 

Last season, the Lady Jackets finished with a record of 8-19 overall and 6-10 in PAC play, good for sixth place in the conference and hosting a first round PAC tournament game. They defeated Bethany in the first round of the PAC tournament and lost to Westminster in the quarterfinals.

Sam Jones enters his 13th season as the head coach of the Lady Jackets. He is excited to get the season started.

“It’s fantastic, it brings some sense of a normal schedule back into our lives,” Jones said. “It’s just an opportunity to go out and do what we love to do which is play basketball in a game situation.”

Playing basketball during a pandemic will make practice and game day routines abnormal. The Lady Jackets are following the protocols to remain safe.

“It will look different than before. The bench will be all spread out,” Jones said. “Anytime you’re not actively involved in the game or practice you’re wearing a mask. That’s really the two main things, we sanitize the balls every day.”

During practices, Jones wants his team to focus on two main things to get ready for the shortened season.

“We’re trying just to be grateful for the opportunity. That’s been the message we’ve been putting in their minds since day one when we did get to practice in the fall,” Jones said. “We’re really just focused on the fundamentals of basketball. Throwing good passes, taking the good shot, setting good screens, defensively jumping to the ball, having our hands in the right place guarding screens the way we want to guard them.”

Waynesburg returns three starters from last season: senior Andrea Orlosky, junior Brooke Fuller, who was the team’s leading scorer at 16.1 points per game, and sophomore Anika Dansby. Waynesburg has a total of nine players on its roster.

Orlosky averaged 11.1 points per game which was third on the team. Orlosky realizes how vital it is to get off to a good start.

“It’s really important just because back in the past we knew that we would be playing each team twice. Even if we didn’t do too well the first time, we knew we had the second time,” Orlosky said. “Knowing that it’s so short and we only have one team, we are just really wanting to do well the first time. We don’t want to make any mistakes; we really want to focus.”

Orlosky and Elena McDermott are the only two seniors on the team. Jones made them co-captains and will look to Orlosky and McDermott for their leadership.

“Since we’re seniors, we do have a lot of pressure on us to lead the team by example,” Orlosky said. “I know what the right thing is to do so it’s not a big deal to me. I know what I need to say to the girls; I know how to pump them up. They know they can come to me for anything.”

“We’re going to lean on them a lot. They need to make sure we are staying focused on the task at hand,” Jones said of Orlosky and McDermott. “Obviously they’re both hard workers, good players, that’s helpful. We’re going to lean on them with the experience.”

Orlosky has a goal for the team. She also has a personal goal as she hopes to reach a certain milestone this season.

“My individual goal is to reach 1,000 points. Also, to just have a good season, do better than I did last season,” Orlosky said. “For the team goal I would say just really connecting and doing well on the court. I would also say just having more wins and having a better winning season than we did.”

Orlosky is 125 points away from scoring 1,000.

Waynesburg’s first game is Wednesday, Feb. 3, when they journey to battle the defending PAC champion Grove City Wolverines. Tip-off is at 5:30 p.m.