Newspapers / University of North Carolina … / Nov. 21, 2002, edition 1 / Page 5
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November 21,2002 The Blue Banner Page 5 Sports Womens basketball set to begin season Betsy Blose to start rookie season as head coach for UNCA Basketball Jason McGill Sports Reporter channeling our frustration. Some times, you can’t control the fact that you’ re not as fast as your oppo- n official’s call. You have into those roles,” said Blose. “We’re asking a freshman [Hood] to step in and start at the point and lead a that’s not real meshed yet. The UNCA women’s basketball team prepares for the upcoming Big South Conference (BSC) sea son. In a BSC poll, The Bulldogs finish last but could surprise people, according to newly hired Head Coach Betsy Blose. “We’re the underdog, and nobody expects much out of us this year. But you watch. We’re going to sneak up on people. We’re going to do it as a team. We’re going to play hard,” said Blose. “We’re all in this to gether.” This season will mark Blose’s first year as the women’s basketball head coach. Blose coached the previous seven years at Division II Shepherd Col lege. She takes over a UNCA team that went 1-27 last season. “I’m very aware of the program and what it’s been through. I took over a similar situation at Shepherd College. We’re not really talking about winning and losing right now. We’re focusing on becoming better as a team and as individuals in practice, said Blose. “We’re in this transition stage right now. It’s not going to happen over night just because I’ve walked in here. It took me three years to have a winning record at Shepherd. The fourth year, we won the school’s first championship ever,” said Blose. Blose’s personal philosophy em phasizes team chemistry. In preparation for the BSC sea son, she tries to have players learn to get along on and off the court, as well as focus on improvement dur ing practice. “We’re talking about the controllables and the uncontrollables, controlling our work ethic and our attitude and o take a step away from that and That’s a big thing on her shoul ders.” With Hood getting minutes, help ing the team at the point guard position, Blose said she expects and young women committing bright spots and growing pains. ‘She has the ability t( different ways. You’ll i a lot of e her hit- ''We are the under dog, and nobody expects much out of us this year, but you watch.. We are going to sneak wg on people!’ Betsy Blase head women’s basketball coach her,” said Blose. Blose be- 5 the focus on the things that you c control. That’s what I’ve been try ing to get this group to buy into,” said Blose. “I’m really big o themselves to something greater than themselves.” A trio of captains will lead the ting some big shots, but she’ll make Bulldogs; junior Tonisha Jackson, a lot of mistakes too. We’re just senior Gillian Murray and sopho- going to have to go through those more Lindsey Roche. The ‘Dogs mistakes with her, teach her and will play without All- Conference forward Jes sica Guarneri and Ashley Sharpton, who trans ferred. The ‘Dogs roster will be thin at times, and each of the 10 play ers will need to contrib ute, accord ing to Blose. Newconier C r i St i Strickland will be ineli gible this se mester after transferring the must build off of strong de fensive ef forts in or der to progress as She’s had her players practicing every day of the week with one ay “Our bread and butter is going to be University of North Carolina a r defense. We’ve got t( Greensboro. Guard Kristal Hood people. We want to hold people is the only freshman on the team, under 60 points a gaxne. That’s but should make an immediate im pact. “It’s a 27-game schedule. Every body is going to play. They’re all going to start at some time or an other. Everyone’s going to see min utes. We need people to start to buy where we’re going to b.egi: just going to hope to get better every game offensively, ” said Blose. “It’s very demanding. We want our players to demand excellence from each other and from themselves.” Tonisha Jackson (TJ) is coming into the season after missing the last two due to knee injuries. Jackson has the ability to average a double double (double-digit figures in points and rebounds) if she contin ues to work on her conditioning, according to Blose. “She [TJ] can do a lot of things for us. We want to keep her healthy and take it day to day,” said Blose. “Some days, she probably won’t be able to practice, and we’ve given her the freedom to trust that she’s hurt and she needs to sit out. We need her. She has a presence about her. I think the key to our success is that she stays healthy,” Blose tentatively has Hood, Roche, Murray, J ackson and junior Shan tell Waiters starting. However, Blose stresses the importance of team play. “It’s not about one or two people. We need everybody to step up ev ery night, whether it’s for two min utes at a time or 20 minutes at a time. We need everybody to step up and play a role and contribute,” said Blose. “I don’t care who gets the credit. I want to have four or five people in double figures. I want to have balance. We’re trying to catch Liberty University. When you start to worry about making people around you better, then that’s when you excel. I think it I took over a 27- 1 team, I’dbedoingthesamething.” Before the season, the team has been involved in basketball clinics for girls, the Pup Club and working with the United Way. A retreat to Camp Pisgah helped to improve building team chemis- try. “We’re establishing the founda tion of success and excellence. We want to raise the bar. We want our players to take pride in their aca demics,” said Blose. “We re also trying to create a positive environ ment. It’s a whole new ballgame. We’re not talking about the past. We’re moving forward.” COURTESY OF MIKE GORE Sophomore Lindsey Roche passes the ball to a teammate in a game last season. The Bulldog women’s basketball team expects to do well this season, despite a low-rank in the BSC preseason poll. Mens basketball picks up exhibition win COURTESY OF MIKE GORE Senior Ben McGonagil looks for a shot in a game last season against Big South Conference foe Coastal Carolina University. McGonagil lead the Bulldogs in their exhibition win against Mars Hill College Nov. 13. Julie Stephenson Sports Reporter Joanne Stephenson Sports Reporter The UNCA men’s basketball team claimed their first victory of the season in an exhibition game against the Mars Hill Lions, ^Jov. 13. Se nior center Ben McGonagil led the Bulldogs, scoring 16 points and shooting a perfect six-lFor-six from the free-throw line. “I’m looking forward to playing this season, but I’m not looking forward to it being over,’ ’ McGonagil said about his senior season. The game ended 76-57 in favor of the Bulldogs, who relied on good shooting to seal the win. UNCA shot 57 percent from the field, and made 27 out of 47 atteitnpted shots. The UNCA Bulldogs have seven freshmen this year, an u nusual num ber for many college teams, accord ing to Nick McDevitt, UNCAassis- tant men’s basketball coach. “Our freshmen are doing well,” McDevitt said. “Having four se niors really helps us to be able to bring those guys along. We are rely ing on having a lot of leadership from our seniors.” The Bulldogs managed to stay ahead of the Lions for the entire game. The halftime score w:as 38-26 after UNCA went on al4-3 run to build a good lead to go into the second half. “We played good,” said Omar Collington, a freshman guard from Decatur, Ga. “We didn’t play our best, but we played good enough to win. Team chemistry is pretty good, but it has to get better.” The Lions did not give up, and stayed on the Bulldogs’ tail until midway through the second half. “Mars Hill (players) were a bet ter team this year,” McGonagil said. “They’re running their stuff this year and they’re a lot more orga- “They (Mars Hill) were a litde bit more athletic than we expected,” McDevittsaid. “Wedidagoodjob pressuring them, but they came out with a lot of pressure on our guards, especially Andre Smith. It looked like they had a plan to run two or three different guys at him (Smith). Throughout the whole night, they just tried to wear him down and play him real tight and real tough, but I thought we handled it real well.” Mars Hill came within eight points of the Bulldogs with 8:40 left in the game. UN CA responded with an eight-point run that Mars Hill could not counter. “Overall, our effort was a lot bet ter than it was in our first game against Lenoir-Rhyne,” McDevitt said. “We worked a lot in between those two games on better ball pres sure and our defense. We did a lot better job in the Mars Hill game.” The team seemed excited about the win, but they said they need to work harder to succeed in the Big South Conference. “I’m glad we won, and we shot the ball well again. That’s encour aging,” said Eddie Biedenbach, UNCA men’s head basketball coach. “We’re still a long way from being a good basketball team. We need to play better in all phases of the game. But it’s a win, and we’ll take it.” “In order for us to be good and to finish first (in the Big South Con ference), like we were chosen to be, we’re going to have to do a lot more work,” said Collington. “We have to play better defense. If we play defense, we’ll be a good team this year.” Freshman guard Oliver Holmes is doing a great job for the Bulldogs, according to McDevitt. “He’s playing really well in prac tice and he’s picked up really quickly on our plays,” said McDevitt. KaVoris Bivens, a freshman guard/ forward from Norcross, Ga. is also playing well, according to McDevitt. “Bivens is a real physical and ag gressive guy,” McDevitt said. “He’s strong. He’s powerful, and he’s shooting the ball a lot better.” Collington and Chad Mohn, a freshman guard from Fayetteville, N.C., will add depth to the team this year, according McDevitt. “The game was a good learning experience for the guys who haven’t played before,” McGonagil said. “It’s good to get experience in those kind of games because it’s going to get a lot tougher down the road. We have a lot of potential - we just have to realize it.” Upcoming Games: Friday, November 22 @ Michigan State Sunday, November 24 ^ Minnesota Friday, November 29 Montreat College Monday, December 2 Western Carolina The Target Fitness Challenge returns to UNCA The Target Fitness Challenge is a fun way to teat your fitness levels against the levels of your peers, and it is also lots of fun! Thursday, Nov. 218- 10 p.m. UNCA HFC »Flexibility: V-sit reach 0 Endurance: Biathlon, 500-yard swim, 1.5 mile run Tuesday, Dec. 3 8-10 p.m. UNCA HFC 0 Strength: Bench press. Squat competi tion, Sit-ups, Pull- ups 0Speed/Agility: Ob stacle Course Contact Erin Lesley at 250-3839 or erinlesley@h o tm ail. com or John Bucher at 232-5657 or HFC 202 for more informa tion. All participants will receive prizes. Win ners from UNCA could win a free trip to Florida and will also receive addi tional prizes.
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