Welcome to The Amy Eagan Podcast. Every Saturday Lindenwood University's Head Women's Basketball Coach Amy Eagan talks women's basketball and much, much more. We'll talk about past games, future games, players, the OVC, the NCAA, academics, careers, and many other interesting topics.
TWICV For January 6 2025 (00:02.056)
It's Linwood University Women's Head Basketball Coach Amy Egan, the podcast. And we're back for the start of a new year 2025. Coach, always good to see you, always good to chat with you. How are you doing, ma'am?
Amy Eagan (00:12.934)
Great, thank you. Always glad to be here, you know that. Had a little break from the podcast because of Christmas, but excited to get going here in the second semester. And I was even thinking earlier yesterday, because we didn't have practice yesterday and we were snowed in yesterday about how we really only have about two months left of season this year and then we're through our second year here. So it's crazy how fast that goes.
TWICV For January 6 2025 (00:35.374)
inch. It is and speaking of the season three and one in the Ohio Valley Conference seven and six overall talk about what's happened in the last month or so.
Amy Eagan (00:44.784)
Yeah, so it's been a busy month. You know, I've had, honestly, a lot of people reach out and just talk to us about how well we're doing this year. you know, in my eyes, I see that, but at same time, it's not good enough for us and our program and where we want to be. So I think we've taken some good strides and I'm very proud of our kids and the way that they're working, the way that they're approaching every day, the way that they're handling hard.
But we've got to continue to work to get better and continue to take more steps in our program. you know, I think you talk about the OVC and being three and one in the OVC. think, you know, we protected our home court the first two games against two really good teams. I thought we had a really good outing against Tennessee Tech and then Western Illinois. And then, you know, we had a little break for Christmas and came back and we played Eastern Illinois, who's number one right now in the conference.
I didn't think we played extremely well at their place. It was our first road game of the OVC. But I do not want to take away from them and how well they executed and how well they played and how good they are. So definitely looking forward to getting them back here and seeing if we can make some adjustments and find a way to pull out one here against them. And then on Saturday played at SIUE and picked up the road win. So.
Technically we split, you know, and I think when you're building a program, splitting on the road is something you kind of want to do initially until you get to that point where you feel like you should get both of them. So, not happy in the fact that I would rather be 4-0, but I'm proud of our kids. We've done some really good things and they continue to work and really build this program into something special.
TWICV For January 6 2025 (02:31.31)
We're going talk about stats in a minute, Coach, but I noted Eastern Illinois is now 4-0 in the OVC. They started off 3-6. Did they have a particularly tough early season schedule?
Amy Eagan (02:36.337)
Mm-hmm.
Amy Eagan (02:41.52)
Yeah, they played, I think it was four power fives, but it was three or four. So they played some really tough teams, non-conference wise. You they do have a lot of new players on their team. And so I'm sure they were still trying to figure out some things as well, especially in the guard position. I think when you have a player like Macy McGlone, you always put yourself in a position to win games because she's so talented and so good. And I think they've now kind of meshed.
a lot better after having some time together. yeah, but they played a really tough nine conference schedule.
TWICV For January 6 2025 (03:15.982)
Good, good. And I'm to change the topic a little bit. And many college teams, even pro teams have crowd favorites. And you know, I'm at all your games. think about all your games. Maya Skof, talk about Maya. She's really becoming a crowd favorite.
Amy Eagan (03:23.655)
Mm-hmm.
Amy Eagan (03:28.882)
Yeah, she, mean, I couldn't go on enough about how great she is. You know, I think I told you we called her miss, we call her miss Lindenwood. She's all things Lindenwood. You know, on the floor, off the floor, she loves this place and has really invested in our program and become such a big part of our program and a leader. Her motor is unbelievable. Her will to win is unbelievable. Her work ethic.
She does so many things great for this program and for her teammates and she just keeps getting better. She's still got a lot of growth we got to get her to in the offense, offensive side of things and some defensive stuff, but she's still got a lot of growth in her, but she's taken some really good strides and I think more strides in understanding like what we need on the floor when she's on the floor and really leading in those positions. So just a kid that we're really lucky to have in our program and
You haven't seen seen the best of her even yet.
TWICV For January 6 2025 (04:27.854)
And you know, you've got a data nerd on the other side of the podcast here and here behind the glue college viability microphone. I look at some of those conference stats year to date. And one of the teams coming in this week is University of Tennessee, Martin. They're leading the conference with 76 points per game, but Linwood was third with defense at 61 points and change.
Amy Eagan (04:31.823)
Yeah.
TWICV For January 6 2025 (04:52.462)
And your squad is 55 of 63 on free throws, 86%. What magic do you have going there?
Amy Eagan (04:59.28)
I don't even know if I can talk about that. I'm afraid I'm going to jinx this. No, you know, I think, you know, when you talk about the defensive side of things first, I think that's something we've really talked about because we put in a new offense this year. And with the new offense, it just takes time. It takes time to figure out things. It takes time to figure out how kids fit into it. And we're not even close to where we want to be with that. you know, one of the things I talked to you about with the kids is that
TWICV For January 6 2025 (05:01.258)
You
Amy Eagan (05:28.122)
until we get the offensive side of things figured out. We've got to continue to win games and rely on our defense. And really that's the coach I am anyways. I love defense, you know, and I'll probably never get away from that, but we really got to lock in defensively. And I thought we did that our first two games for sure. know, Eastern, just weren't very good defensively and you can tell that by how much they scored.
And then I thought we got back after it on Saturday. And that's been some of our problem this year. And some of the things that we've got to continue to work on is just consistency on both sides of the ball. In practice, you know, we're really big on, you know, how you practice is how you play. And we just haven't been able to find that consistency yet in practice. And some of that still is some youth with it.
We're getting closer and we're getting better at it, but we've got to be able to do that so we can carry it over to games. So when it's hard in games, we can still be consistent and find ways to make some adjustments and to hold people defensively. So we're getting there. I think much better than last year, but not where we need to be yet. Free throws. I mean, the first thing is you got to get to the free throw line, you know, and I think we've done such a better job this year of that, of getting ourselves to the free throw line.
And then you talk about some kids that need to be at the free throw line, know, Ellie Brueggemann and Gracie Warnley. And, you you talk about those kids being able to get to the rim this year and get themselves to the free throw line. You know, that's a big reason why our free throw percentage has been up so much. So, I'm really happy with that. And it's something those kids work on again outside of our practice and invest in and understand the importance of.
TWICV For January 6 2025 (07:11.886)
So we had Coach Gerdeman on yesterday for his men's basketball podcast. He's been dealing with some tough injuries. You'd mentioned the girls took a week off over the holidays. Are they coming back pretty healthy?
Amy Eagan (07:21.938)
Yeah, you know, it's crazy. I thought about this this morning, but it's crazy how sometimes God works with stuff because, you know, we were really banged up after Western Illinois and we really needed a break. And our kids needed an extended break to heal some things. So, you know, we gave them about five and a half, six days off. They went home, came back. We practiced for nine days straight. And we were going to come in on Sunday and watch some film.
and do some shooting and some light stuff, you know, but we were still gonna practice and then take yesterday off. And in the back of my mind, I was like, man, it wouldn't be bad for these kids to have two days off because we've done so much. And here we go, we get this big old snowstorm and we can't practice Sunday or Monday. So it's amazing how sometimes those things work out because it would have been hard for me at this point in the season to give them two days off and it's probably the best thing for our program.
But we're we're I think we're on the uphill in regards to some of the nagging injuries we had We're very lucky and fortunate with that our kids do a really good job of taking care of their bodies We have an amazing strength conditioning coach that is always with them and always working on whether it's range of motion hip flexion any of that kind of stuff to help them stay healthy our athletic trainer Zach has has really helped getting them treatment that they need and
So we're very fortunate with the people around us that help them, but they also do a good job of taking care of themselves.
TWICV For January 6 2025 (08:50.19)
Good. And two games in St. Charles this week on campus. Tennessee State is in on Thursday and UT Martin on Saturday. Talk about both of those games.
Amy Eagan (08:59.942)
Yeah, you know, I told our kids last night because we did do a zoom together, just talk about the week and that kind of stuff. And I told our kids, I felt like this week was going to be a lot of like, as I would call it, separation week in the OVC, you know, and we've got two really good teams coming on campus and different teams. You you talk about Tennessee State, a lot of athletes going to fly around, going to really play at the rim a lot. Just very athletic with stuff.
And then that just want to turn you over and then you talk about Tennessee Martin who mixes some of the athleticism They're also really really skilled. They run a ton of sets And so you're talking about two I think really really good programs Tennessee State has a new coach So, you know, it's always hard different playing somebody like that the first time Tennessee Martin has a coach that's very good and very X's nose. So
So we're gonna have to play well. mean, we're gonna have to play well at home and we wanna protect our home court and win the games at home. So it's gonna be a big week for us and I'm excited to see where we're at.
TWICV For January 6 2025 (10:05.198)
Well, coach, let's call that a wrap for this episode of the Amy Egan podcast, where we talk about Lindonwood University women's basketball, the OVC, the NCAA. We'll talk about careers, jobs, majors and stuff in the coming weeks. Coach, always a pleasure. We'll do it again next week.
Amy Eagan (10:18.78)
Thanks, Gary.