The UIC Flames women's basketball program finds themselves in uncharted territory early in the season. Currently sitting at 8-1, the team has more wins than they accumulated over the last three years. Going through tough seasons in the past, returning players like Kristian Young have grown to appreciate the journey they have begun this year.

"We lost so much in my first two seasons that I understand the game at a way better pace now," the junior guard said. "I'm so grateful for those first two seasons because now it's showing up in the season we have now."

Making history, the Flames tied with the 1976-1977 and 2013-2014 for the best start in nine games. They now have a chance to tie the 76-77 team for the best start in program history with a victory against the Northwestern Wildcats tonight.

Coach Comes Home
First-year head coach Ashleen Bracey has spent most of her life around a basketball court. After a successful collegiate career at Illinois State, she found herself back on the bench with clipboard in hand. Finishing up over a decade as an assistant, six years as an assistant for Robin Pingeton at Missouri, Bracey saw the opening for the head coaching position at UIC. For the Oak Park native, seeing the chance to come home she knew she had to throw her name in the conversation.

"This is home for me," Bracey said. "It's seven miles down the road from where I grew up. My sister is here, my mom is here, my nieces and nephews are here. My fiancé is from Chicago. It's just a place that I am naturally passionate about."

After a stream of interviews, in March of 2022 UIC officially announced Bracey as the new head coach of the program, readied to usher in a new chapter of Flames basketball. During the offseason, with the help of her brand-new coaching staff, Bracey began to focus on needed changes. Her biggest focus was the culture.

"Building a relationship with these young ladies in order so we can build a trust," Bracey said. "Making myself available to them, building relationships with them and setting a standard about how we go about our daily business," Bracey said.

Entering the offseason, Bracey had nine players set to return for another season. Amidst a transition of leadership, Bracey saw no qualms in these players buying into her system.

"There has always been a desire for change," Bracey said.

Being so new, Young admits it took a second to adjust to the coaching staff, but she was happily ready to.

"At first I was a little skeptical but then I was like it couldn't get any worse," Young said. "So, you might as well buy in and see where it goes. Honestly, I'm glad that I did that."

Recruiting through the transfer portal
The second biggest element of Bracey's offseason was through the work of recruitment. Three out of their five new players came from the transfer portal. They brought in the sharpshooting guard Sara Zabrecky from St. Johns, the physical wing player who calls Chicago home in Danyel Middleton from Marquette, and a grad transfer forward in Josie Filer.

After a strong career at Omaha University, Filer knew that she wanted to finish her collegiate career with the Flames.

"When the coaches reached out to me, I was immediately interested," Filer said. "Once I did come on my visit, it just felt right."

Bracey immediately saw the transfers alongside Junior college transfer Dylan Fleet and freshman Nora Ahram ready to change the narrative of this program alongside the returnees.

"We made sure they (transfers) were agenda-less and made sure they were committed to the vision we shared with our program and the team. They were going to buy into that with no disruptions and they have done a wonderful job at that."

Celebrate the Wins, Learn from the Losses
The Flames started off the season with three wins in a row, two of them in which came at a one possession game. Proud of the wins against IUPUI (52-50) and Chicago State (87-62), Young considers their win against Milwaukee (44-43) in which they broke a 15-game losing streak to the Panthers back on November 16^th extra special.
 

"We played them a lot in the past and in my career, we haven't beat them," Young said. "Beating them was satisfactory because it was like we did it finally."

Proud of her teams' efforts, the high point for Bracey came at the hands of their first loss. Losing in their first game at the Hostilo Hoops Classic in Savannah, Georgia right before Thanksgiving to Fairleigh Dickinson, 63-51. She saw this as an opportunity for her players response to adversity.

"That was a very defining moment for us," Bracey said. "It was very much an opportunity to put our money where our mouth was. It was an opportunity for us to say, hey, we are going to take what we learned from this loss, and we are going to be resilient, and we are going to take it out on the next opponent."

Since then, the Flames have embarked on a five-game win streak, the longest win streak for the program since 2013-2014 season when they won 11. The last time the Flames where on the hardwood, they defeated the Cincinnati Bearcats on the road 66-58. Filer was proud of her and her team for connecting the pieces to beat the prominent program.

"I really trust our team to get together and to figure it out," Filer said. "We don't really waver with our mindset when we get down in the game."

A Family-like Bond
The common thread among each game is the love each member of the Flames had for every one of their teammates. Something that is a priority for Bracey and her staff, she knew that her team was going to look out for one another.

"They are incredibly resilient, and they stick together," Bracey said. "They don't go on their own islands. They don't separate when things get hard."
 

Filer recognizes that this bond has put her and her teammates in a position to celebrate one another. It also means they can hold each other accountable when they need to.
 
"She (Bracey) kind of harps on putting us in situations where we are uncomfortable and have to have hard conversations with each other," Filer said.

Recognizing that they are in it together, Young says, builds their bond to be even stronger on the court.

"It's not how good we are on the court, it's how we bounce back and play together," Young said.

First things First
Proud of her team and what they have strived for early in the season, Bracey has remained steadfast on keeping them centered and what they can control. A motto that she pushes in her coaching style comes from British writer C.S. Lewis.

"Put first things first and second things are thrown in. Put second things first and you lose both first and second things," Lewis wrote.

"It's something I hold true to myself for many, many years," Bracey said. "First things first are relationships, the way you treat people, it's how hard you work, it's your focus. First things first is everything but the end result."

This quote continues to transform the narrative for members of the Flames, recognizing what matters most is sticking together the whole 40 minutes.

"It's like forgetting the outcome of things, forgetting the end goal and going along with the process," Young said. "Just do things the right way, no matter what the outcome is. So, if we have a good play and the shot doesn't go in, we still had a good play. It's just little things like that, helping each other up and really having each other's back."