Iowa Wesleyan College brings 14-game winning streak into NAIA Division II national tournament.

By SUSAN DENK

sdenk@thehawkeye.com

MOUNT PLEASANT -- The Iowa Wesleyan College women's basketball team was coming off of its fourth trip to the NAIA (Division II) national tournament in five years.

And here the Tigers were, 2-6 to start the 2009-10 season.

Were the pre-season prognosticators right? Was IWC only the fourth-best team in the nine-team Midwest Collegiate Conference after losing four starters?

With eight new players, a tough nonconference schedule, and a grueling MCC slate in front of them, things could have looked bleak for the Tigers.

"It was hard on me," said IWC coach Steve Williamson. "I kept telling myself, hey look who you're playing. Keep working. Keep trying to stay positive. Keep their heads up and keep them positive. I guess the good thing about that was we didn't really get blown out by anybody.

"They kept seeing they had the potential, it was there. They just had to take that next step. That first month was very tough. We hadn't lost like that in a long time."

Neither had the new players who all came from winning programs.

"I just remember thinking I've never been on a team with a losing record at the end of the year. I was like this is NOT going to be the first year for this," said Jessi Beachey, who went to the NJCAA national tournament last year with Parkland Community College.

The Tigers came back from the rough start to win nine straight games.

Apparently the team had turned the corner.

But the next game was the season's defining moment.

The Tigers traveled to Mount Mercy, an MCC opponent and lost 58-50, their second game back after the Christmas break.

"After we got beat by Mount Mercy up there, we had a really long talk in the locker room about being coachable and buying into what we're trying to do because we've had success in the past," said Williamson. "If you guys want to have success, you have to buy into what we're doing and buy into the program, what it stands for.

"I think that was a big wakeup call for us. We played very, very poorly up there, probably the worst game we played all year."

Finally something clicked.

Players who had been in different systems last year finally believed in what Williamson was doing and they started to play as a team.

Egos were put aside. Old systems the players knew were discarded. They finally became one unit.

"There were five starters who came from different programs the year before. We all had different ways and different coaches the year before," Beachey said. "Finally after a couple months of trying to get us to do things and trying to get us to work together, it just finally clicked. It finally clicked. We finally bought into it and from then on it was pretty smooth sailing."

IWC has not lost a game since that day. Fourteen games, 14 wins. And very rarely a close contest.

The Tigers found a starting five in Beachey, Sheray Brown, Jill Ginder, Melanie McCreight and Anna Jones.

Only Jones was on the team last season. The other four transferred from junior colleges this season. In addition to Beachey's tournament experience, Brown's Schoolcraft (Mich.) Community College team lost to Kirkwood in the national title game.

That experience and leadership paid off for the Tigers down the stretch.

"It was very scary at first. You were waiting to see who would step up and be a leader," Williamson said. "Anna is a great point guard and she kind of lets her playing do her talking for her. She doesn't really say much. Then Beachey started being vocal. I think that was a big key to what we've done throughout this year. Sheray started.

"When those guys are getting vocal and start taking over the leadership roles in practice, off the court, in games, that's when we really started coming together."

The team without any expectations outside of the program won 25 games, matching a program record. Their No. 13 ranking was the highest ranking in school history.

Williamson was named the MCC's coach of the year. Beachey won player and newcomer of the year honors. Beachey, Jones and McCreight all were named first team all-conference while Brown earned honorable mention accolades.

Not bad at all for a team picked to finish fourth in the MCC without four starters from last year's national tournament team.

"I know these girls aren't going to take it easy and let each other down," said Williamson. "They're not going to be selfish. They're not going to pout about things and drag the team down for selfish reasons. They're going to fight hard for each other. They want to win."