Sat Feb 11 2012
Two seniors are gone, five freshmen and two transfers are in, and six players are back.
That’s the make-up this season for the Kentucky State women’s basketball team, which has already posted a win over a Div. I team with a 65-63 victory over IUPUI last week in an exhibition in Indianapolis.
“That was a program-building game for us to beat a DI team,” KSU coach Stephanie Evans said.
The Thorobrettes are coming off a 19-12 season where they finished third in the SIAC. They were knocked out of the conference tournament in the second round.
KSU lost two seniors off that team, including leading rebounder Mattie Jones, but it has three seniors, a junior and two sophomores returning.
“It’s about half and half,” said senior point guard Latrice Watkins. “We have a lot of newcomers, but we have a core of returning players from last year.”
So far blending the two groups has gone well.
“We’re a very young team,” said junior forward Kiarra Morgan. “We only have three seniors. We have five or six freshmen, so we’re very young. They’re adapting very well. Usually freshmen come in and have a hard time, but these freshmen are adjusting well.”
Freshman Stephanie Harper, a 5-11 guard from Charleston, Ill., hit a late 3-pointer against IUPUI to put KSU ahead 64-63.
“It’s an exciting thing after seeing them play each other for a couple of weeks to see how they’ve improved, on and off the court,” Evans said about the exhibition games.
“Sometimes the off-court part you want to see first,” she added. We’ve been working on chemistry. We’ve done some team building exercises, and they’ve gone well. They get along, and as they play more and get to know each other, that chemistry will improve.
“You can have a team full of stars, but if there’s no chemistry it doesn’t really matter.”
KSU needed that chemistry for the IUPUI game. The Thoborettes had bus trouble on the way to Indianapolis and had just 10 minutes to warm up, but it didn’t seem to bother them.
“I think they underestimated us,” Watkins said. “We had a lot of trouble getting there. We had bus trouble, a lot of things were going against us, but once we were running with the ball and doing the things we’re supposed to do, it shocked them.
“It came down to the wire. It’s a real good confidence boost going into the season.”
As they have in years past, the Thorobrettes are looking for a strong defense to anchor the team.
“This year is no different,” Evans said. “We forced 34 turnovers against IUPUI. Last year we gave up 57 points a game, and that’s a good number. You want your opponents have 60 points or under that.”
Watkins thinks KSU can make defense its trademark again this season.
“We have a lot of good defenders,” she said. “Our defense always picks up our offense, and we have a lot of balance with our scoring. We have a lot of offense-minded players who go out and do their jobs, but we have defenders who go get the job done, stopping the key players that let us win games.”
This year the Thorobrettes are looking to pick up a few more victories.
“Since I’ve been here we haven’t won 20 games (in one season),” Watkins said. “That’s one of the goals we’re shooting for this year, to break 19 and get 20 wins and above and beyond that.”
K-State would also like to win the SIAC. The Thorobrettes reached the tournament championship game two years ago and advanced to the NCAA Div. II tournament.
“That’s our No. 1 goal,” Morgan said. “I think our biggest competition will be Fort Valley State. They won the conference last year. They’ll be our biggest competition, and Tuskegee should be pretty good this year.
“I think as far as goals one big goal is to get back to the NCAA tournament,” she added, “to not only get a championship ring for being SIAC champions but to get to the NCAA and get past the first round.”
Besides Watkins, KSU’s other seniors are guard Jessica Vaughn and forward Jessica Greene. Greene is a senior academically and a junior athletically after taking a medical redshirt year two years ago, and she’s on schedule to graduate in May.
KSU’s first exhibition was against Morehead with the Eagles winning 83-49. The Thorobrettes open their season at home Tuesday against Bellarmine.
“From our first to second game our defensive concept progressed a lot,” Morgan said.
“Our depth is a big strength,” she added. “We have girls who can fill roles that were left from last year. With our bench depth we have players coming in and filling those roles.”
The Bellarmine game is one of just two the Thorobrettes will play at home before the New Year. Their other home game in 2009 is their conference opener Nov. 24 against Claflin.
“I feel good about the team,” Evans said, “and everyone is excited. We’ve played a couple of exhibitions and we’ve done well in both. We saw some things that we can look to build on, and we saw some things we need to improve on.”
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