The weather may be cooling off, but things are just heating up for the Sonoma State Women’s Basketball Team, as they get ready for the upcoming 2022-23 Season. This will be the team’s second season back since the Covid-19 pandemic cut short the 2019-20 season, and wiped out the 2020-21 campaign entirely. After finishing with an overall record of 10-16, while also going 9-10 in California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA), the Seawolves believe this could be a special season.

One of the reasons for this is the hiring of Des Abeyta as Head Coach. Abeyta brings a wealth of experience to the position, having coached for close to 20 years at various levels of competition. Most of her experience was as an assistant at the Division I school UC Davis, where she had the opportunity to work under Head Coach Jennifer Gross, who in her time at Davis, has turned them into a regular championship contender within their conference through her dynamic offense and focus intensity.

Abeyta hopes to have a similar effect for the Seawolves, saying at the time of her hiring “the Seawolves program is primed to make noise in the CCAA.” The team could be poised to do that this season. With a good mix of returning upperclassmen, and exciting new lowerclassmen, the Seawolves may have just the right recipe for success. This was a sentiment shared by one of the team’s senior leaders, Camille Johnson who said, “I have high expectations for our team this season. I think we’ll make it deep into the postseason.” When asked about the specific impact Coach Abeyta has had,  Johnson said, “Our understanding of our goals and the intricacies of our offense have really improved.” She continued by emphasizing “We have a strong culture within the players…Coach Abeyta, she’s brought a new intensity and expectation of success for us.”

These could be the perfect changes needed for the Seawolves to make the jump to contenders. Coming off a season in which the team lost nine of its 16 games by less than ten points. This means the team had a lot of games where only a few possessions were the difference. One less turnover leading to a fastbreak for the other team, and a couple more possessions resulting in quality looks could have turned a few more games in the Seawolves favor. This leaves plenty of optimism that Abeyta’s attention to detail and offensive prowess, mixed with the team’s returning experience, could be the magic touch needed to unlock the squad’s full potential. 

It’s important to be realistic with expectations, but the Seawolves aren’t shying away from the fact they want to compete at the highest level, a point made clear by Johnson when she said “stay on the lookout for us this year! We’re coming up!”. Besides it wouldn’t be the first time a first year coach in basketball has taken over and had a large impact on the team. In the past decade we’ve seen first year coaches Nick Nurse and Steve Kerr win championships in their first years as head coach for the Toronto Raptors and Golden State Warriors, respectively. Students need to get behind this team because they are poised to be good. Johnson made this loud and clear claiming “The men’s and women’s basketball programs want students to come out and watch! We love having our fans there to support and cheer us on as we win.”