By Elliott Bell
The season ended too quickly for the Pride women’s basketball team this year, and now the off-season looms.
The Pride went into the Colonial Athletic Association tournament this past week with high hopes, but left with little to show for its No. 3 ranking, losing to the No. 6 seed Virginia Commonwealth University, 72-61.
Senior guard Cyndy Wilks guided the Rams to the upset with a game-high 29 points in the quarterfinal round. Junior forward Lauren Hogan added 13 points and a game-high 16 boards.
Senior Staceyann Claxton, playing in her final game, paced the Pride with 18 points while junior standout Amaka Agugua added 10.Afterwards, a disappointed but optimistic Felisha Legette-Jack spoke about her team.
“I am disappointed that we didn’t meet all our goals this year, but I am smart enough to know it’s going to take some more time,” the head coach said.
She was impressed with VCU, and its star player, but admitted that the Pride let this game slip away.
“Wilks is an incredible player. She just put her team on her back and said don’t worry. She just wasn’t going to be denied, and there is not much you can do to stop someone like that,” Jack said. “We still missed 12 of our 28 free throws. We make those and it’s an entirely different story.”
Story might have ended differently if the Pride beat UNC Wilmington in the final game of the regular season. With a victory, the Pride would have locked up the second seed and earned a first round game against James Madison University; a team the Pride beat twice in the regular season.
But as Beth Cunningham, head coach for VCU said, “The name of the game is to survive and move on.”
The Pride was unable to do that, and now prepares for the next.There is a lot of upside surround this team. Preseason polls predicted the Pride to finish seventh in the conference. The team is losing four valuable seniors, but is bringing back some incredible young talented players.
Gone are Claxton, Tara Dilworth, Rume Pela and Urszula Smolarek, but coming back are Agugua, Cigi McCollin, Shalamar Oakley, Lana Harshaw and Lizanne Murphy. This team has an outstanding core of young players that Jack admits need to improve to go forward.
“We need to get out on the streets or asphalt and just play some pick-up basketball. That is where you really learn how to play the game. These girls need to get tough and learn how to play some rugged ball,” Jack said. “We were getting knocked around and couldn’t get off the screens fast enough, and those are the types of things you learn out on the playground.”
The incoming freshman class will also help the team make strides. Followers of the team saw how incredible Jack’s first official class played, and the optimism for next years is rather high.
Of the six scholarships, two already have been filled by guards. Jack hopes that these players can replace losing Claxton and Smolarek. One of those guards is 5-11 guard, Jenna McSpadden from Austin Texas. McSpadden was named the three-point field goal champion for private schools in Texas her senior year, and should add some scoring help, to a team that focuses highly on defense.
With the remaining four spots Jack stressed the importance to fill the void down low. Also on the wish list is a slashing guard to help with some of the scoring load.
For a team that won only eight games last year, things are defiantly looking brighter
BEYOND THE ARCLast week Jack was named the 2003-2004 CAA Coach of the Year. The award is voted on by the other coaches of the conference, and means a lot to Jack that she was considered the best, even though there are some other great coaches out there in the conference.
“For some reason they all collectively thought I was the chosen one and I am very honored by that,” Jack said.
She jokingly added, “It lets me know I am fitting in.”
The big announcement came a few weeks ago however, when the Big East Conference announced its Silver Anniversary Women’s Basketball team. Coach Jack was one of the 15 players to be voted onto the team by fans.
In her playing days, Jack was domnant at Syracuse University. She is SU’s all-time leading rebounder (927) and ranks second on the scoring list (1,526). In addition, Legette-Jack earned Kodak All-American honorable mention accolades twice and was named the 1985 Big East Conference Rookie of the Year.
“It means a lot to me,” Jack said, smiling. “I never played to win awards, but it still means a lot. If you look at the other players on that list, I don’t even compare skill wise. So think this shows that I played with heart and intensity, and no one could match me in that category.”Other notable names on the list include Diana Taurasi, Jennifer Rizzotti, Rebecca Lobo and Sue Bird.