WolfPack women’s basketball coach Jessica Pelzel has been in this position before. In 2010 she helped hoist the WolfPack women’s first basketball national championship trophy. Now, after three seasons of rebuilding, it appears Pelzel is ready to make another run.  When asked about the WolfPack’s goals for this season, Pelzel turned dead serious.

“We want to follow up the volleyball season exactly like that,” Pelzel said, alluding to Madison College’s volleyball team that ended a dream season by winning the national championship.

It seems like a lofty goal but Coach Pelzel believes firmly in her team and has confidence that her players are fully capable of reaching the highest level possible.

“If we can get out of our conference we’ve got a good shot,” Pelzel says. “Typically in the past 4 out of 5 years, our region has won the national championship, us included. We’re not going to just walk through our conference at any stretch of the imagination. But our conference champion usually defines the national champions.”

The reasons for Coach Pelzel’s optimism are obvious if one watches even five minutes of this WolfPack team. They employ a devastating full-court press forcing opponents into turnovers and tiring out opposing guards.

This year’s WolfPack team has young, athletic legs and a whole lot of depth. The constant defensive pressure is deflating for opponents who feel like they don’t have a second with which to catch their breath. Meanwhile, Pelzel is bringing fresh people off the bench in droves and taking advantage of gassed opponents. It helps that in addition to the fresh legs, Pelzel has a treasure trove of talent.

“When teams are getting tired we’re still bringing scorers off the bench,” Pelzel says.

“We have three players coming off the bench who would be starters on other teams.”

Following a 60-point blowout of Olive-Harvey and a come-from-behind victory over Rochester, the Wolfpack returned home to Redsten Gymnasium looking to extend their winning ways against 20th ranked Elgin Community College.

It was a laugher right from the start. The WolfPack blitzed Elgin on defense and scored easy baskets offensively. Freshman guard Gabrielle Hood led the Wolfpack, scoring 20 points and dishing out seven assists. Hood was everywhere all at once driving to the basket for layups or pulling up for jumpers that ripped the net.

While Hood dominated on the perimeter, forwards Bri Hicks and Nicole Hoffman did the dirty work inside. Hicks had 8 points and 12 rebounds, while Hoffman added 11 points all of which were hard earned around the basket.

With the victory, the WolfPack have now won four games in a row. If they can keep winning in the month of December they should be in prime position to make a good run at a conference title. The schedule gets tougher in January with nationally ranked opponents such as Kiswaukee College (No. 4 in Division 2) coming in to Redsten.

After that, conference play begins. As Coach Pelzel noted earlier, getting through the conference will go a long way towards determining the ultimate fate of this WolfPack team. But with the silky play of Gabrielle Hood and the brusing style of the bigs such as Hoffman and Hicks, the WolfPack looks like they have as good a chance as ever.

“We could be pretty good. We just have to play together, focus defensively, and the sky is the limit for this team,” Pelzel said.

Time will tell, but the team looks ready to justify its coaches’ confidence.