BUTTE — No one within Montana Tech's women's basketball program has been with the team longer than redshirt senior Aubrie Rademacher, who first played for Carly Sanon during the covid-altered 2020-21 season.
She can't remember a campaign as a memorable as the one she and the Orediggers are currently enjoying this season.
"This is my fifth year now, and a year hasn't been quite like this one," said Rademacher, a Kalispell Glacier product. "It's been really fun getting a lot of wins under our belt. Having a winning season has been awesome."
Tech (17-9 overall, 8-5 in the Frontier Conference) was picked last in the preseason coaches' poll and has since responded by putting together its best season so far under third-year head coach Jeff Graham.
The eight league wins are the most since the 2016-17 season when the Orediggers went 9-9 in Frontier play.
The success that Tech has found this season — including earning its first victories over Carroll College in eight years — has largely come down to handling game pressure better.
"We handle adversity really well," said Rademacher. "If we get in some kind of a drought in our games we've been able to attack it head on. We do a really good job with keeping it positive, encouraging each other even when it gets a little tough."
"We've been working really hard and I feel like we're finally starting to reach that peak," said junior guard Jaycee Erickson. "So, it's great to see it finally coming together."
The biggest scoring boon for Tech this season has been junior transfer Hadley Humphreys, who has poured in 343 points so far. But Graham noted that the contributions from the younger players have also been crucial in this turnaround season.
"It's been great to see different kids off the bench and contribute to the starters," said Graham. "Being able to play 11 kids is nice, they've stepped up. We're pretty fresh, we think we can defend and when we're scoring we're hard to stop."
With two games remaining in the regular season — and teams vying for seeding in the upcoming Frontier tournament — Tech is tied with Providence in second place while Carroll College and Rocky Mountain College are one game ahead at 9-4.
