Women's Basketball team looking forward to upcoming season
Rob Harris REPORTER
Issue date: 11/10/09 Section: Sports
The Youngstown State University Women's Basketball team experienced a lot of adversity last season. The Penguins finished the year only 3-27, the first losing season at any level for first -year head coach Cindy Martin. The Penguins return only five players from last season's team but the five are an integral part of the success of this year's team.
"It's great to have five returners who all understand the program so well. Rachel [Manuel], Kaitlyn March, Makala [Gasparek], Macey [Nortey], and Kenya [Middlebrooks]. Having all five of them who know what we expect in practice, the effort level in preseason or what to expect with film. They've really helped all the newcomers with the little things. Whenever you have returners, it makes a big difference on how well you can communicate and get things done," Martin explained.
The season's team is experiencing a large turnover to their roster. The Penguins will be among the youngest teams in the county with only six players on the roster having Division I experience. The top five scorers from last season are gone, as is 74.4 percent of the scoring, 75.3 percent of the rebounding and 62.9 percent of the minutes played. Three junior college transfers and four freshmen in Martin's first full recruiting class will help with the transition, as will senior captains Manuel and March, and sophomore captain Nortey.
"We actually do completely anonymous voting," Martin said of the captain voting. "All 12 of the ladies get an equal voice. Anybody can be voted a captain and they are allowed to circle up to three names."
Depite her young age, Martin feels the team made the right choice in picking the sophomore Nortey as captain. "Her playing time last year as a freshman made a big difference," Martin said.
Nortey started 25 games at point guard and played in all 30 last season as a true freshman. She is the top returning player in points with 5.6 points per game, rebounds at 2.7 and assists at 2.7 from last season. Manuel is the most experienced of the Penguins with 85 career games played. March appeared in a career-high 23 games last season as a junior after playing in 14 contests her first two seasons combined.
Coach Martin believes the team will show great improvement in her second season. "I think were going to push the tempo a lot better this year, we'll score a lot of points in transition. I think another where we'll show improvement is our half court execution offensively, knowing when to make an extra pass or how to set your teammate up," Martin said.
"Our number one goal is to execute better as a team," she said. "We want to try and finish in the top six of the league in order to get a bye in the first round [of the conference tournament.] But overall, we want to get better everyday, taking one day at a time, everyday making some kind of improvement."
The Penguins open the regular season with a trip to North Carolina to take on the Elon University Phoenix Friday.
"It's great to have five returners who all understand the program so well. Rachel [Manuel], Kaitlyn March, Makala [Gasparek], Macey [Nortey], and Kenya [Middlebrooks]. Having all five of them who know what we expect in practice, the effort level in preseason or what to expect with film. They've really helped all the newcomers with the little things. Whenever you have returners, it makes a big difference on how well you can communicate and get things done," Martin explained.
The season's team is experiencing a large turnover to their roster. The Penguins will be among the youngest teams in the county with only six players on the roster having Division I experience. The top five scorers from last season are gone, as is 74.4 percent of the scoring, 75.3 percent of the rebounding and 62.9 percent of the minutes played. Three junior college transfers and four freshmen in Martin's first full recruiting class will help with the transition, as will senior captains Manuel and March, and sophomore captain Nortey.
"We actually do completely anonymous voting," Martin said of the captain voting. "All 12 of the ladies get an equal voice. Anybody can be voted a captain and they are allowed to circle up to three names."
Depite her young age, Martin feels the team made the right choice in picking the sophomore Nortey as captain. "Her playing time last year as a freshman made a big difference," Martin said.
Nortey started 25 games at point guard and played in all 30 last season as a true freshman. She is the top returning player in points with 5.6 points per game, rebounds at 2.7 and assists at 2.7 from last season. Manuel is the most experienced of the Penguins with 85 career games played. March appeared in a career-high 23 games last season as a junior after playing in 14 contests her first two seasons combined.
Coach Martin believes the team will show great improvement in her second season. "I think were going to push the tempo a lot better this year, we'll score a lot of points in transition. I think another where we'll show improvement is our half court execution offensively, knowing when to make an extra pass or how to set your teammate up," Martin said.
"Our number one goal is to execute better as a team," she said. "We want to try and finish in the top six of the league in order to get a bye in the first round [of the conference tournament.] But overall, we want to get better everyday, taking one day at a time, everyday making some kind of improvement."
The Penguins open the regular season with a trip to North Carolina to take on the Elon University Phoenix Friday.
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