Coach Jeff Allen draws up a play for the Lady Cougars.

Since only one team wins it all, the vast majority of sports teams – professional, collegiate or otherwise – wind up with a loss at the end of the season.

For the Collin College women’s basketball team, their season ended March 7, 77-70 against the South Plains College Texans in the opening round of the Region V tournament.

Several good things can be pointed out: the Lady Cougars had a solid 18-12 overall record with a 10-6 clip in conference; they qualified for the postseason for the second time in college history, both times during head coach Jeff Allen’s tenure; and they battled from a 17-point deficit in the second half against the nation’s ninth-ranked women’s team to just be down two points with 40 seconds left.

But for Allen and his team, it’s still disappointing.

“I thought overall it was a fairly successful season especially with our tough non-conference play,” Allen said. “But our goals will always been the same. We wanted to win the whole thing.”

Collin College’s 10-6 conference mark was due to winning five straight in late-January and early-February and going 6-2 at home.

For Allen, who finished his fourth year at the college, he believes the program is surging toward greater things. Already, the women’s program has had all four of its winning seasons under Allen and its only two postseason appearances. Not that next year will be any easier. The Lady Cougars are losing team MVP Amber Murray and Conference Defensive Player of the Year Nikki Brown due to transfer.

“We’re building toward something,” Allen said. “Our goal is to be like the men’s program (in that having success over a longer period of time), and I think we’re getting close.”

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Men's basketball team.

The men's team also made the post-season and in similar fashion fell in the opening round of the Region V tournament losing 76-58 against Midland College.

But head coach Jim Sigona is proud. Proud that a young team notched an impressive 21-9 overall record and 9-5 in conference. Proud that three of those conference losses came down to one possession. Proud his team preservered through two major injuries (Adam Brown and Eric Lewis) to end the season winning six of seven.

Proud that six or seven of his players will return ... with optimism.

"The kids coming back are focused and want to do better. Some of those players are saying, 'Coach, we're going to do better' and that's good to hear," he said.

Mostly, Sigona is proud of his team's general effort throughout the season.

"It was a good season bcause we had good kids that worked hard. We had a young team and we finished strong in conference. I think we're a good basketball team," Sigona said.
 
However, the year is not without the losses. One sophomore, Craig Stanley, is transferring to Drake University. Two freshman are visiting Division I universities.

But Sigona believes the returning players should bring back the lessons learned and experiences from the 2007-08 campaign.

"The guys coming back, they know how important it is to execute when you need to -- when to make a shot, when to make a stop," Sigona said. "It makes a huge difference at a 2-year college to have that experience and to know the system."