WOMEN'S BASKETBALL PREVIEW: PART ONE

WESTON, Mass.—The 2009-10 women’s basketball season marked one of Regis College’s best seasons in the last three years. Every team dreams of making the conference championship, but only two turn that dream into reality. Last year Regis College women’s basketball did just that. It was the Pride’s first appearance in The Commonwealth Coast Conference Championship since the mid-1990s, and its something that head coach Julie Plant plans on making a reoccurring finish. It is actually one of her four phases, which we will discuss later in this preview.

Finishing last season with a three-year best 20-10 overall record, the Pride entered the TCCC championship in a three-way tie for first place with an 11-2 TCCC record. Regis’ two conference losses came against Salve Regina (01/12/10) and Endicott (02/06/10). The loss to Salve Regina determined Regis’ outright No. 1 seed in TCCC standings, or the eventual tie.

Entering the postseason, Regis traveled to Endicott, defeating the Gulls 73-66 in the conference semifinals. The win over Endicott is important to note because the Pride lost a quarterfinal battle to the Gulls in the 2008-09 season. That win marked the Pride’s first back-to-back appearance in the postseason since 1995-96.

A quarterfinal win over Wentworth, and a milestone win over Endicott placed the Pride on a crash course with the University of New England for the championship. The Pride handed the Nor’easters a 56-54 late game upset earlier in the season at home.

“Each game is a must-win,” Plant says of the upcoming season, “especially the conference games.”

What it takes to win

Coach Plant knows her team worked hard last season, and the stats show that. As a team, Regis College posted 2,062 points in 30 games, a conference leading 68.7 PPG scoring average. It shot better from the field, three-point line, and grabbed more overall rebounds than the 2008-09 season. So what will an improved Regis College team look like in 2009-10?

To Plant, each game is going to be a display of “more energy”, far more than what was on hand for 2009-10 it seems. Many would say that last season’s team worked hard, and displayed a deal of energy, but Plant feels differently.

“We lacked energy last year,” she says. “This year we’re going to have more energy, push the game tempo, and be an attacking offense.”

With 26 regular season games scheduled, it will take energy and endurance to make the year productive. Not to mention the team staying healthy. Senior Brittany White was injured prior to the Salve Regina game, and her loss made a major difference in how the match-ups played out.

Returning Pride and additions

The Pride adds nine new players to the 2010-11 roster, to accompany five returning players, three of whom were starters. Seniors Sarah McNult and White, and junior Stephanie Crawford make up the returnees. Stefanie Wozmak and Alex Chace complete the returning members.

McNult, a captain, averaged 9.8 rebounds per game last season, and tallied conference-high 290 rebounds over 30 games.

“She finds the ball,” said Plant. “With her being undersized, she just has an ability to be where the ball is coming.”

Plant and McNult have spent the early part of the season working on McNult’s ability to score near the basket. She averaged just 7.9 PPG, but her work through the first weeks of practice should land her in double figures in rebounds and points.

Crawford is an explosive guard, one capable of penetrating the lane and scoring. With the team expectation to play with energy and explosion, Crawford’s playing style should work to the teams benefit. She was the second leading scorer in 2009-10 with 11.6 PPG, but could easily boost that number through the first half of the season.

White is an athlete. She has an ability that is not often seen within TCCC play, and surely adds to a number of athletic talent that Plant, and assistant coach Alyssa Whitney have recruited to Regis College.

White’s ability to beat most players with her speed is a hands-down advantage to the Pride. Now mix in the fact that she has been working on her jump shot, driving to the basket under control, and capping it with developing the I.Q. that great players possess, and you have a great problem-great for you, a problem for everyone else.

“Brittany beats players with her first step,” said Plant. “She has been doing the mental work to get better, and it is a benefit.” White scored a last second three-pointer to give Regis a come from behind win late in the season last year, and with her continued development will be more deadly offensively.

Wozmak had the teams best three-point percentage last year making 40 percent of her attempts. Entering this year she could be posed to do the same through the season. A pure shooting guard, but sometimes runs the point position, Wozmak has developed over two exhibition games to become more confident. That confidence, if continued through the season, will assure Regis College stays ahead late in the game, or if she is hitting her three’s, battles back when the Pride is down in points.

Coach Plant says, “Alex is a diamond in the rough.” Agreeably so, Chace could very well be a breakthrough player for the Pride. If she masters the defensive scheme that Plant is putting in place this season, Chace will certainly be a hidden gem for the Pride offense and defense.

Not often a scorer but has the potential to be, and with a sound understanding of the defense, Chace will make her minutes on the court precious to the outcome of the game.

--end of part one--