Talented Ladyjacks returning
Batch of freshman expected to make big contributions
By KEVIN GORE
Cox East Texas
Thursday, August 23, 2007
With four starters gone from last season's 21-12 team that lost in the first round of the WNIT post-season event, the SFA Ladyjacks basketball team will have several newcomers on its roster when it opens the season in November.
Because of the player losses, it's safe to say that this season's edition of the Ladyjacks will be a work in progress, which is not anything new. Head coach Lee Ann Riley is constantly mixing and matching newcomers with returning veterans in an attempt to win the Southland Conference regular season and tournament crowns.
 Cox East Texas photo by Christy Wooten SFA's Jennifer Simpson gets a rebound during a game last season in William R. Johnson Coliseum. |
Last season the Ladyjacks got key contributions from a talented group of four seniors, all of whom had big question marks hanging over the head when the season began.
Post Charity Egenti, a role player in 2005, stepped up her play by leading SFA to a second-place finish in both the regular season and SLC Tournament by being named the league's Player of the Year.
Other seniors on last year's team were Evelyn Edwards, Natalie Kizzee and Jennifer Simpson.
With Egenti, Edwards and Kizzee all being posts, that area of the team is a major concern for this season. The good news is that the team has some talented players returning at the guard positions, including juniors Natashia Green and Jessica Gaines, sophomores Martina Holloway and Whitney Cormier and senior Nikki Carr.
Carr started 32 games in following Egenti's scoring lead last season with 19.6 points per game. She was especially successful late in the season, when the Ladyjacks needed victories to secure the league's second seed in the tournament.
Holloway and Cormier combined for 39 starts as true freshmen and will be asked to pick up their production in the second campaigns.
Green averaged 5.7 points as a role player last season.
"We're going to miss our seniors," Riley said after last season. "We're going to have to have players step up, just the way we had them step up this season."
Some of those players will have to be freshmen, because the roster includes five of them.
Jackie Domino, a 6-3 post who redshirted last season, highlights the group.
The list of true freshmen includes guards Decreasha Goodner and Ebony Alexander, post Chantol Drennan and forwards Antoinette Davis-Jackson and Jordan Ford.
Assisting Riley will be Amanda Went, Taqueta Braxton and Meredith Doyle.
