There’s the old adage, “You can’t tell the
players without a program.”
This year, as the East Carolina women’s
basketball team gets set to open the 2008-09 season, you can’t tell the
coaches without that program.
Well, almost all of them.
Head coach Sharon Baldwin-Tener returns
for her sixth season at the helm, but her entire staff is new.
Chrissy Roberts left to take over the head
coaching job at her alma mater, Eastern Kentucky, and took along
assistant coach Melissa Kolbe as her top aide. Tali Robich, the Pirates’
third assistant, decided that the coaching life was not really what she
wanted.
So Baldwin-Tener rounded up a new crew:
Roger Hodge, head coach at Atlantic Armstrong College for the past eight
years; Adrienne Shuler, head coach at Appalachian State for the last six
years; and Jocelyn Wyatt, for the past two years an assistant coach at
Georgia.
Shuler also played at Georgia, along with
Baldwin-Tener.
“I couldn’t be more pleased,” the Pirate
head coach said of her new staff. “It was a big loss to lose our whole
staff, but I’m happy for Chrissy.
“Our new coaches have blended in well and
the chemistry is good. Having two who have been head coaches before will
make a lot of difference. Their confidence and knowledge and the
enthusiasm they bring is really a plus.”
After winning the Conference USA
tournament championship in 2006, prospects were high for the Pirates
going into last season. But things just didn’t seem to go right for much
of the year, and it resulted in a sixth place finish.
This year, the rest of the league still
has regard for the Pirates, picking them to end up fourth at the end of
the season. What the Pirates need to do is make sure they don’t
underperform as they did last season.
“Last year, we were depending on a very
young post (Lauren Cochran, 6-5 Jr., 6.2 ppg, 2.9 rpg),” Baldwin-Tener
said. “Cheri Mills had graduated and we had freshmen and Lauren as a
sophomore. We depended a lot on them, but it’s hard to have people who
don’t have a lot of minutes to depend on.”
That should improve since the Pirates now
have three sophomores who got a lot of minutes last year. They include
Kim Gay (6-2, 2.5 ppg, 1.5 rpg); Shuanda Ashford (6-1, 2.0, 1.5); and
Tishana Bowens (6-0, 2.3, 2.8).
“They’re a lot different and more physical
and Lauren has really worked hard this summer to get into better shape,”
the coach said.
Jasmine Young, one of the three seniors
(5-5, 14.1 ppg, 148 total assists), echoed the coach.
“I think things are going to be great,”
Young said. “We have a lot of new people who are coming in and will
contribute to this team. They are willing to learn and let the leaders
help them become better players on the court.”
“Jazz and Coya (LaCoya Terry, 5-10, Sr.,
15.4, 5.0) are very vocal leaders,” Baldwin-Tener said. “In preseason
and in practice, they help other people and make sure that our
enthusiasm is there and that our intensity is there.
“Gabby (Gabriela Husarova, 6-1, Sr., 7.0,
3.9) is more of a leader by example. Those three have really set the
tone for what this basketball team can do, and I want them to have a
good year for those seniors.”
“We’ve taken on a bigger role of being
leaders,” Young said, “letting people know when they’re wrong and when
they’re right. We have a post this year who can play with us, running up
and down the court and banging the boards. So that will help us and take
the pressure off Coya and me.”
Cochran is the lone junior on the squad
and Baldwin-Tener is expecting a lot more from her this season.
“She’s very much improved,” she said. “She
is in better shape and can run better and move better. She will be a
better basketball player, but she’s still not anywhere near her
potential.”
The sophomore class is led by 5-10 Allison
Spivey, who proved she can play the game last season, averaging 7.4
points and 4.6 rebounds from her wing position.
“She’s done a great job,” Baldwin-Tener
said. “She’s in much better physical shape than she was last year and is
more aggressive on the drive.”
The Pirates also have their other three
post players, Bowens, Gay and Ashford.
“They are all three tougher both mentally
and physically,” the coach said. “They can go longer than they did last
year, when they tired easily. So our depth is going to be a lot better.”
Baldwin-Tener looks to get good playing
time from some newcomers. They include freshmen Ashley Clark (5-6
guard), Jamie Shaw (5-9 guard) and Crystal Wilson (5-9 guard). One other
freshman, 6-5 center Jean Best, is still awaiting clearance from the
NCAA.
The Lady Pirates open the regular season
on Nov. 14, playing host to Hampton at 5:30 p.m. in Minges Coliseum’s
Williams Arena. It is part of a doubleheader with the men’s team, which
faces Coker at 7:30 p.m.
The women will play an exhibition game on
Saturday at 7 p.m., following the East Carolina-Marshall football game
in Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium.
Their first Conference USA game is set for
2 p.m. on Jan. 3 when the Marshall women pay a visit to Williams Arena.
“Southern Miss is, by far, the favorite,”
Baldwin-Tener said of this year’s league race. “They have five starters
back from a team that went deep into the Women’s NIT last year. They’ve
added some good recruits and on paper appear to be the best team.
“There are a lot of others, too. SMU has a
lot back. There are a lot of strengths in the guards throughout the
league, so it may come down to (whoever has the best) posts.”
Baldwin-Tener said that she will put her
guards up against any in the league.
“But it’s going to come down to how much
better we get as the year goes along,” she added. “With as many
newcomers as we have, it’s going to take us some time to come together
and get experience. I hope our leadership will take us through that.
"We have some players who have won the
conference championship and have gone to the NCAA, so that will be
important for us.”
