Lady Bears bring seasoned team to hardwoods

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With four starters returning from a team that last year took Southwest Missouri State University to its ninth NCAA Tournament in the past 10 years, head coach Cheryl Burnett expects a season in which the Lady Bears will be difficult to stop.|ret||ret||tab|

The team began its season with a 78-69 win over the Australian Institute of Sports in an exhibition game Nov. 4.|ret||ret||tab|

After playing the Volna Club of Russia in a second exhibition game Nov. 10, the Lady Bears open the regular season Nov. 18 at Hammons Student Center against the University of Arkansas-Little Rock.|ret||ret||tab|

The team this year comprises 13 players, including eight returnees, three transfers and two freshmen. Leading the Lady Bears this year is senior guard Jackie Stiles. The preseason Naismith Player of the Year candidate was a consensus All-America selection after being named to every All-America team released in 1999-2000. Stiles earned first team all-Valley honors for the third straight year and became only the second player in Missouri Valley Conference history to repeat as league MVP. She led the nation in scoring with an average of 27.8 points per game.|ret||ret||tab|

Also returning this year are senior guards Tara Mitchem and Melody Campbell and senior forward Carly Deer.|ret||ret||tab|

Returning letter winners on the SMSU roster include seniors Carolyn Weirick and Tiny McMorris along with juniors Ann Cavey and Dzenata Kadic.|ret||ret||tab|

Junior college transfers Kinga Kiss, Erica Vicente and Erika Rante and freshmen Stephanie Busbey and Morgan Hohenberger are newcomers to the Lady Bears roster this year.|ret||ret||tab|

Burnett is looking forward to seeing what her team can do. The Lady Bears' recruiting effort "added some scoring guards, some big post players, and we really felt like those were the things that we needed to take us up to the next level."|ret||ret||tab|

So far, the team has been bothered with only one significant pre-season injury. Carolyn Weirick is trying to come back after a knee injury a couple of weeks ago, Burnett said, but other injuries "are things our players can play through right now."|ret||ret||tab|

Ann Cavey is fully recovered from ankle surgery, is "lean and mean" and has had an incredible pre-season, Burnett said.|ret||ret||tab|

Experience is the Lady Bears' greatest strength according to Burnett, "but at the same time it's the guard play we'll always base so many things around Jackie Stiles and her ability to score." The Lady Bears will be difficult to stop this year, Burnett said, because the team has so much offense ammunition and so many more great shooters. Burnett said freshman Morgan Hohenberger is a tremendous shooter, and then there's "our post players that are really going to be a great scoring post."|ret||ret||tab|

The team's biggest weakness this year, Burnett said, is the fact that the Lady Bears post play is very young, but she's hesitant to call it a weakness. "It's an unknown," she said. "Ann Cavey, of course, is our veteran post player, but it's still unproven. Early, we'll have to have Carly Deer play some more in the four position (forward) like we did a year ago, but at the same time Carly really is a three player (guard/forward)."|ret||ret||tab|

The Lady Bears' nonconference schedule this year is "tremendous," according to Burnett. After playing the University of Arkansas-Little Rock later this month, the team will travel to the Virgin Islands for a tournament featuring SMSU, Texas Tech University, Louisiana State University and Penn State University. "It's a quality, quality tournament," Burnett said.|ret||ret||tab|

The Lady Bears will face Oklahoma State, one of the top 10 women's basketball teams in America a year ago, twice this year. Tulane, an NCAA qualifier a year ago, also is on the Lady Bears' schedule this year, along with Western Kentucky. |ret||ret||tab|

Burnett sets high goals for her team but doesn't lay them out all at once. "We go just by segments, " she said. "First the nonconference. We want to prepare ourselves and hopefully alert the nation that we're a top-quality team." |ret||ret||tab|

Other goals are to win the conference, win the conference tournament and get into the NCAA tournament. But Burnett wants this year's team to do better than the Lady Bears have done in post-season play the last couple of years and make it past the first round of the NCAA tournament.|ret||ret||tab|

Burnett is excited about the fact that the Missouri Valley Conference tournament will be back at Hammons Student Center this season. She credits the Lady Bears fans for SMSU hosting the tournament. [[In-content Ad]]