By Kevin Lopez
When the Raiders won the Great Lakes B Tournament over the weekend, it was full of celebration and rejoicing. However, they are now onto a new day and thus brings a new challenge as they now prepare for their new opponent that was announced.
The bracket is set and on Tuesday, March 21, the Raiders will take on the #2 ranked team Community College of Baltimore County-Essex, who is 32-1, at the SC4 Fieldhouse in Port Huron at 3 p.m.
If the Raiders are to win the game they will move onto the second round and play on Thursday at 8 p.m. and if they lose then they play on Wednesday at 9 a.m.
GRCC head coach Dave Glazier was asked about their upcoming opponent and how ready his team is for the monstrous challenge.
“We know a bit about them so far, obviously we will work to learn as much as possible before next Tuesday,” said Glazier. “In the meantime we know they are one of the top scoring teams in the nation, likely to press us for 40 minutes, and their roster is loaded with talent.”
The MVP of the Great Lakes B Tournament Sally Merrill, a sophomore forward, is aware of how strong their opponents are.
“Obviously CCBC Essex has a great team and has been a great women’s basketball program for years getting multiple D1 kickbacks and sending many girls D1,” Merrill said. “ I think we are aware of the challenge and understand they are going to press and pressure us mostly the whole game.”
Glazier maintains that despite it being the first team playing their opponent, they will be prepared.
“We will keep our preparation relatively the same, making sure to focus on the same things we’ve focused on all year in order to be as prepared as possible,” Glazier said. “We might watch a bit more film given it’s a team we’ve not played in the past.”
Merrill reiterated that the Raiders will continue to play hard no matter what happens.
“We want to play as a team and finish out this year strong, even if the first game is not predicted to go our way there are important games after that where we can still prove ourselves”
