As we near the end of this year’s fall semester, men’s and women’s Eagles basketball is only just getting started.
The former unit will open things up with a road game against Centre College on Friday, Nov. 8. The hosting Colonels of Danville finished last season with a 12-14 (7-7) record. While the Eagles are looking to find their footing in a new conference and fresh competitive setting, the Colonels will work to prove themselves in a different way, seeking a marked improvement over last year’s up-and-down campaign.
If the Eagles can survive that one-game road trip, they’ll enter an extended home stretch undefeated, with their next match set in the Luce against the Berea College Mountaineers. Coach Shouse’s squad won’t have to leave home court again until Nov. 26 for a game at Oglethorpe University. Even given their impressive 17-11 (5-4) record last season, it’s hard to imagine even still that they won’t thrive in a new setting with higher stakes.
Regarding the latter, the women’s opened their season four days earlier on Nov. 4 in an away game at Morehead State University. Unlike the men’s team though, the Lady Eagles face a ten-day gap between their first and second games, with the subsequent match keeping them away from home in a road bout at Hanover College.
The Panthers represent the back end of a tough two-game stretch for the Eagles, coming off an 18-8 record last year and setting an above-average bar for visiting opponents, including our very own Eagles. They’ll look to earn a subsequent two-game home stretch.
Following last season’s soaring 19-10 record, including a near-perfect 6-1 conference resume, the women’s basketball team is right in stride with the men’s in leading Asbury Basketball as a whole towards new horizons.
With a new conference comes new, unique opportunities. Both Eagles basketball teams have a chance to start strong and begin to pave an entirely new path at the start of the 2024-25 season. Make sure to get behind them as they do; fill up the stands, wear your purple and white, and cheer both teams on as they lift off into uncharted skies.
