Women’s basketball returns from Mexico

Coach Finkbeiner looked tired.

He sat in his office Tuesday, a few shades darker after a week in the Mexico sun, already working out logistics for the coming semester.

“One reason I like Mexico is it’s only an hour difference in time zones,” Finkbeiner said.

The Utah State Women’s Basketball team’s seven-day trip to Mexico was by all accounts a massive success. In addition to playing four games together and running several clinics for local children, the young squad bonded with team chemistry specialist Kandy Newton to get a leg up on the coming season.

“More than half our team came to Utah State this summer,” Finkbeiner said. “So that was that initial case of ‘who are you?’ But once you get on the road in the same bus, on the airplane, in the hotel, you really have to come together or you do have problems.”

Finkbeiner said USU first basketball’s trip went as smoothly as any of his many excursions to foreign countries in his time as head coach at Oral Roberts University.

“In that short period of time we got lots of experience,” Finkbeiner said. “The girls got better and better at playing together.”

The Aggies’ schedule was packed full of early mornings and hours of travel, but the busy itinerary didn’t distract incoming freshman Rachel Brewster from the trip’s many positives.

“The week actually went really long,” Brewster said. “We were getting up so early and getting back so late, but we’re glad it went so long. The clinics were really good. All the little kids were so happy we were there, we loved it. They’d walk by us twice to make sure they got photos with us.”

Both on and off the court, Brewster feels Mexico aided in bringing a team with nine brand new faces together quickly.

“We have a better idea of how everyone plays,” Brewster said. “We have a better knowledge of each other in general as people.”

Brewster added the team had about a week to recover before the start of its fall weightlifting regimen.

“I think they matured a lot this week,” Finkbeiner said. “I really like this team’s character and how they carry themselves.”

Now with a clearer image of what the coming season holds for his new-look team, Finkbeiner hopes his players remember the trip as more than just a basketball experience, but a cultural one, as well. According to Brewster, many of Mexico’s highlights included the children at the basketball clinics, the game experience and the food. However, the week’s best memory may not have been related to basketball at all.

“It was just a good life experience,” Brewster said. “Probably me and most of the other girls would say swimming with the dolphins was the best part of the trip.”

— logantjones@aggiemail.usu.edu

Twitter: @logantj