USI women’s basketball team captured its first Great Lake Valley Conference win of the season Saturday against Saint Joseph College.

The women’s basketball team improves its record to 7-10 for the season and 1-8 in the GLVC.

“This win gives us tons of momentum now,” senior guard Cootie Leeberg said. “We know that it’s possible for us to win. Now, there’s nothing holding us back, and it’s only going to go up from here.”

In previous games, the Eagles have went into half time with the lead, but when it came to the second half, let the lead slip out of their fingers. During the game against the Saint Joseph Pumas, the Eagles held its lead from start to finish.

“We kept the lead the throughout the game, and that’s something that keeps us positive,” Leeberg said. “We were on top throughout the game, and it let us know that we had a chance the whole game.”

The women’s basketball team’s remaining games are all GLVC games.

“Against Saint Joseph, we focused on knowing what we had to do to get the win,” sophomore forward Nicole Hazemi said. “We have to put our everything in the whole 40 minutes not just the first two minutes or the last two minutes.”

Most of the team are newcomers this season, and getting their first conference win puts things into perspective.

“For the new players, I think getting our first win lets them know what it takes to get a win in the conference,” Leeberg said. “Everyone on the team is still pretty new to the conference, even our returners, so I think they now know what it takes to win in conference and are ready to put in that effort to get more wins.”

Tonight at 4:45 p.m. the women’s basketball team travels to play East Division rivals Bellarmine University. Then they take on Northern Kentucky University 1 p.m. Saturday in the Physical Activities Center.

“This team works really hard. There’s no give up in it, and they fight, and they fight hard,” women’s head coach Rick Stein said. “How good did that win feel, I can’t even explain it because we’ve worked so hard. We didn’t accidently beat Saint Joseph’s. We played a lot better, so we have to continue what we did at that game as we move forward.”