(Sioux City) Exira-EHK graduate Sophia Peppers went from playing just 12 minutes per game as a freshman to starting every game this past season with averages of 14.5 points and 5.8 rebounds per game.
The Morningside sophomore attributes the spike in production to staying in Sioux City over the summer to gain confidence and familiarity with the team. “You can definitely tell the difference between last year and this year. I think staying over the summer truly helped gain a lot of confidence and I just felt more comfortable with the team.”
The Mustangs went 23-10 this season and were ranked 10th in the nation. Their year with a first round loss in the NAIA Tournament to West Virginia Tech on March 11th. While they didn’t reach their ultimate goals within the conference and in the national tourney, they were still able to accomplish a lot of positives. “We came together as one and finished as a team. This year was night and day difference from last year in the way we enjoyed the season. One goal we did reach was to build team chemistry.”
The team graduates three seniors including a pair of starters, but the future is bright. Peppers comments on some goals for herself and the team in the upcoming season. “Individually it’s to become a better leader. With losing a couple of seniors and me becoming an upperclassmen I need to make sure that the team continues to build chemistry and understands our goals. We need to focus on our weaknesses while building our strengths. We have a lot of potential and we have a lot of girls that are athletic and a good group coming in. We need to make sure we are pushing ourselves 100% of the time.”
Attacking the weaknesses in her game is something Peppers intends to do to get better. “A lot of athletes repeat the same things over and over that they are good at to make them feel accomplished, because athletes don’t like to fail. So I’m going to work on my weaknesses to make them better in the next year.”
As a sophomore, Peppers was named 2nd Team All-Conference in the Great Plains Athletic Conference.
Sophia Peppers:
