10
Friday, November 10, 2000
Barksdale to Show Off Outside Game
Forward LaQuanda Barksdale
has improved her shooting
and ball-handling ability to
get ready for this season.
By James Giza
Assistant SpoftSaturday Editor
The naysayers began their cry last
January, and LaQuanda Barksdale has
had to listen to them ever since.
It was then that point guard Nikki
Teasley took a seven-game leave from
the North Carolina women’s basketball
team, sending UNC into a tail spin and
dropping it out of the top 25.
Barksdale struggled in her absence.
Although she still finished as the ACC
leader in scoring (17.6) and rebounding
(8.6), the dissidents in the stands and
media had the fuel they needed.
Teasley was by far UNC’s best play
er, they said, and the Tar Heels would
go nowhere without her. It is a senti
ment that many continue to believe as
this season approaches. It is a sentiment
that Barksdale continues to ignore.
“That really didn’t bother me
because I don’t want to brag or any
thing, but I was the leading scorer and
rebounder in the league last year,”
Barksdale said. “So it really doesn’t mat
ter to me that people don’t think that I
am (UNC’s best player) when I went
out there, and I got the job done.
“So I’m not going to change anything
or try to prove to people that I’m a bet
ter player. I’m just going to go out there
and do what I’ve been doing.”
Yet there’s no denying that Barksdale
- known as “Q” - was mired in a slump
while Teasley was gone.
Although her production on the
boards stayed steady, Barksdale’s scor
ing output dropped from 20.2 to 15.3
points per game, and her field-goal per
centage fell from 48 percent to 33 per
cent. Barksdale could no longer benefit
from the passes that made Teasley one
of the nation’s best point guards.
“I tried to force some things and do
Lea Goes on Offensive in Off-Season Workouts
By Joe Disney
Staff Writer
When someone thinks about a train
ing program for basketball, sitting in a
chair usually doesn’t come to mind.
Yet, North Carolina guard Cherie Lea
spent a good portion of her summer sit
ting down close to the basket, working
on her shooting form.
Lea’s touch from the floor was a
struggle in 2000.
“I was throwing the ball instead of
lifting my arm up,” Lea said. “By sitting
in a chair, it helped me out a lot to get
the L-shaped form.”
If Lea can add offense to her already
solid defense, she could be UNC’s main
weapon off the bench this season.
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UNC senior forward LaQuanda Barksdale led the ACC in scoring and
rebounding last season and is a preseason first-team All-ACC pick.
some things that I didn’t ordinarily do,”
said Barksdale, a preseason candidate for
the Naismith Player of the Year Award. “I
think I tried to create a little too much.”
“Whoo! She’s a
great defender,”
UNC point guard
Coretta Brown
said. “I think that’s
enough said.”
A great exam
ple of Lea’s impact
on a game came
Feb. 22 against
Florida State. In
the Tar Heels’
78-74 win, Lea
made a key steal
of an inbounds
play late in the
fourth quarter to
Sophomore guard
Cherie Lea
has worked on her
shooting form after
averaging 2.3 points
per game last year.
help seal the victory.
While she had only two points and
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Basketball 2000-01
Teasley is taking this season off. But
Barksdale has been working to make
sure there’s no repeat of last year’s slide.
Instead of settling in the post during
one assist, her impact was definitely felt
on the court. Lea was a workhorse for
the Tar Heels, playing in all 33 of last
year’s games.
Lea models her all-out style of play
off of two other basketball players.
One is teammate Juana Brown. Lea
feels that the senior guard has an impres
sive style of defense.
“She leads by example,” Lea said.
“When she gets up there, she’s all-out
intensity, nonstop going after the ball.
She’s got her game face on when she’s
ready to play defense. I think I’ve adopt
ed that type of style.”
The other is the Portland Trailblazers’
Scottie Pippen. Lea watched him play as
she grew up and said she can relate to
the way he plays the game.
games, Barksdale will have to move out
to the perimeter more to create her own
shot. To make that transition easier,
she’s been working on her ball handling
and outside moves.
This added dimension to Barksdale’s
game would not only-benefit UNC, but
it would also allow her to adapt much
more smoothly to playing in the
WNBA a major goal of hers.
At 5-foot-11, Barksdale can get away
with playing up front on the collegiate
level, but she’ll have to shift up top if
she wants to make it in the WNBA.
“I feel like she’s making the adjust
ment to being an outside player,” first
year UNC assistant coach Sylvia
Crawley said. “And I’ve watched a lot of
players make that adjustment - (former
UNC standouts) Charlotte Smith and
Tracy Reid, for example -and it’s been
a hard transition for them.
“Whereas I think Qhas developed an
outside shot, she can drive, and with those
two things it makes her very dangerous.
You’re not quite sure how to guard her.”
Crawley knows what it takes to play
on the next level. She joined UNC this
year after averaging 11.5 points and 6.0
rebounds per game in her first WNBA
season with the Portland Fire. The
6-5 forward has matched up frequently
with the Tar Heels in practice.
“She can just read the defense well.
And you can’t teach that,” Crawley said.
“You can teach moves, you can teach
shooting, but you can’t teach a natural
reaction to the defense, and she has that.
“And as far as rebounding, she just
has a nose for the ball. She’s one of
those people like Dennis Rodman.”
First things first, though. Barksdale
still has this season in front of her before
she can get paid.
“I think by the end of the season, I
will be ready,” Barksdale said. “But
right now I have this season to focus on,
and I still have some things that I need
to work on that I plan on as the season
goes along - not only to make it to the
next level but to help my team.”
And maybe make a few people eat
their words along the way.
Lea’s brother Deva was one of her
hardest driving influences in her basket
ball career. Deva played basketball him
self at then Elon College.
“My brother always tells me just to
come in and play, never be intimidat
ed,” Lea said. “So that’s what I did last
year. I played how I knew how to play.”
While Lea will be one of UNC’s
biggest threats off the bench, she also
should see considerable playing time
backing up Coretta Brown at point
guard.
Brown said Lea is versatile enough to
play the point and other positions.
“I think Cherie is doing a great job at
the guard spot,” Brown said. “She’s the
point, the 2 and sometimes the 3. She’s
going to be good for us this year.”
Myers Shifts Winter Focus to Basketball
Center Jackie Myers will
skip the indoor track and
field season to help bolster
the Tar Heels' front line.
By Kelly Lusk
Staff Writer
The North Carolina women’s basket
ball team will have Jackie Myers’ undi
vided attention this season for the first
time.
Last year, Myers participated in bas
ketball and indoor track simultaneously.
She plays center for the Tar Heel hoop
sters and throws the shot put and the
discus for the track team.
Myers will participate only in out
door track this year because certain
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Sophomore point guard Coretta Brown (right) will have the ball
in her hands much of the time for the Tar Heels this season.
Brown Takes Over
As Floor General !
By lan Gordon
Staff Writer
Coretta Brown has been in this posi
tion before.
She knows what it’s like to be the
floor general. She understands what it
means to control her team’s offense.
After all, Brown played point guard
throughout her high school career at
Southeast Bulloch High in Statesboro,
Ga. More importantly, she did it last
year when starter Nikki Teasley left the
Tar Heels for seven games.
But it’s one thing to be a replacement
with few expectations. It’s entirely
another .to be the one.
The 5-foot-8 sophomore takes over
the reins of the UNC offense this year
after Teasley, who would have been
back for her senior season, again left the
team for personal reasons. This time,
however, it’s for an entire season.
“I’ve had to step up,” Brown said. “I’ve
had to pick up my game as far as running
the point position. I’ve had to leant a lot,
but I feel comfortable with the position
now. I think everything will be OK.”
Brown will have to display some of
the same dynamic play that Teasley
showed in order for the Tar Heels to suc
ceed this season. Teasley was especially
key to UNC’s scoring last year, when
the team averaged 73.7 points per game
with her and 61.3 without her.
Brown’s teammates hope that she
will learn from last year’s experience at
point guard, when the team struggled to
a 1-6 mark without Teasley.
“Coretta has definitely made
improvements since last year,” senior
guard Leah Sharp said. “Especially
while Nikki was away, she was thrown
in there as a freshman. I know that was
really hard on her. Sjhe’s being more of
a vocal leader, which is what she had
trouble with last year."
Brown continued to gain valuable
experience when the team traveled to
IPm # 9
indoor meets con
flict with basket
ball games. She
missed two regu
lar-season games
last season
because of indoor
track commit
ments.
“Last year was a
little bit too
much,” Myers
said. “It was really
difficult - really,
really difficult - to
go to one practice
from another
Senior center
Jackie Myers
converted 7-of-14
attempts from the
field in 20 games
last season.
every single day. If I didn’t have a bas
ketball game on the weekend, I had a
track meet."
Myers said her busy schedule also
®I|F Baily (Ear Urd
EfTH/KATHERINE R
Australia this summer to play games.
She said that although she she didn’t do
as well as she wanted, playing with her
teammates made her more comfortable.
That comfort level is especially
important for a point guard, who
trols the tempo of the game and Iter
team. Conversely, her team must be
assured that when the shot clock runs
down, Brown will have an answer. -*
More often than not, Teasley pos
sessed that sense of what to do in crunch
time. A drive following.a killer crossover,
a long 3-pointer from the top of the aifc,
or a slick pass to a cutting teammate wei!e
the results of that knowledge.
Brown’s teammates feel that she, too,
has the ability to provide those solutions.
“I think Coretta pretty much has all tile
skills that Nikki had; it’s just she’s not 6-1;”
forward LaQuanda Barksdale said. “That’s
pretty much the difference. She’s prefry
much as good a ball handler as Nikki wak
“With the experience that she gdt,
some last year and just over the summer
in Australia, it’s really helped her bring Iter
game along as far as decision making.” u
As she grasped the mental aspect'of
becoming a starter, Brown also worktetl
on her physical skills. She improved her
shooting, which will help her ke'ep
defenses honest and not allow them to
protect against penetration. ’
Brown hopes her diligence will trans
late into better results than last yedf,
when she averaged 4.1 points and T.B
assists per game. I s
“I think my ball handling has gotteri (a
little better,” Brown said. “(Assistant)
coach (Andrew) Calder did a great job of
working with me on my shot, so I feel h
lot more comfortable with my shot novV.’’
Brown will be a focal point for oppos
ing defenses who used to have to figure
out what Teasley would do next. They
will try to expose the relative inexperi
ence that Brown has at the point.
But don’t expect Brown to wilt undet
the spotlight. She has been there before.
had a negative impact on her
She changed her major from biology to
English because of her time constraints.
Myers’ course load is not the only
thing that changed this semester. She
spent her first three years on a track
scholarship, but now the basketball pro
gram is footing her bill.
During the off-season, Myers played
many pick-up games to improve her
grasp on the game as a whole. She did
not walk on to the basketball team until
last season, the fall of her junior year.
“This season I can be more vocal and
be a leader because I have some expe
rience,” Myers said. “We have a lot off
really talented freshmen that need ti
learn the things that I learned last year*
Myers played in 14 games last season
and averaged 1.2 points and 1.4
rebounds. She saw her peak when she
played 17 minutes in UNC’s season
opener against UCLA and pulled down
a season-high seven rebounds. This
year Myers hopes to see more time o|
the court.
“I’m going to work hard,” Myeij
said. “The team comes first, but I’d del
initely like to see the court more.”
Myers said she will focus her energ
on being consistent in every area. Thi
summer she tried to play against bigge
and faster players to improve her al
around skills.
“I still need to get more familiar wit
just playing again," Myers said. “I’r
working on my offense and my pot
defense.”
Myers could be a valuable weapo
for UNC. She stands at 6-foot-4 and ha
the athleticism in track and field t
launch the shot more than 45 fee
through the air.
However she can contribute, Myer
said she is satisfied with her decision t
focus solely on basketball this winte
season.
Said Myers, “If you have too muc
going on, there’s no focus anywhere.”