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October 6, 2009

ISU women’s basketball excited about team’s potential

By Craig Pearson

TERRE HAUTE — The 2008-009 season, ravaged by four ACL injuries, might as well be ancient history to senior guard Kelsey Luna, one of three starting guards to miss a combined 37 games due to the injury for the Indiana State women’s basketball team.

Sophomore Deja Mattox and Luna underwent surgery in early March, and both worked hard on campus during the summer with the ISU athletic training staff. Senior Laurence Rivest returned for two games late in the season after suffering her knee injury just days before the start of practice last fall.

“The end of the school year through mid-July, we were here doing rehab, exercises, all that good stuff,” Luna said after a recent team workout at the Terre Haute Boys and Girls Club. “Got to get home for about six weeks, but we’d do a lot of stuff on our own too. Deja’s doing really well, Lo’s [Laurence Rivest] doing really well … the summer paid off.”

Prior to Sept. 15, coach Jim Wiedie and his staff were able to work with no more than four players at a time, per NCAA rules, and “[Luna and Mattox] were cleared for full-go” at the end of August, Wiedie said.

Wiedie and Luna like the way this year’s team is shaping up, despite having 11 freshmen and sophomores on the roster.

While Bianca Jarrett was dismissed and Kayla Mullins transferred, the rest of last year’s freshman class picked up valuable minutes in the wake of the injuries. Guard Brittany Schoen capitalized on her increased minutes, while building court chemistry with fellow sophomores Shannon Thomas, Amanda Pedro and Megan Burton.

And the combination of junior Illinois transfer Chelsea Buher and five incoming freshmen has Luna excited about the team’s potential.

“The sophomore group, they got experience through the injuries,” Luna said. “I think everyone comes to workouts with a positive mindset and willing to work hard. We’re going to have some fierce competitors.”

And with 15 players on the roster, perhaps some fierce competition for playing time. With 6-foot-3 freshman forwards Moriah Hodge and Andrea Rademacher and the 6-0 Buher on the wing, Wiedie seems intrigued about the versatility this year’s team could possess.

“I think every single player can be in the mix. I know it’s early, and I don’t want to get too excited,” he said. “We have more length, taller than we’ve ever been — with size and speed. We have some versatility with Hodge, Deja and Buher. We have a lot of interchangeable pieces. I think we can go small, and I think we can big [with the lineups].”

Freshman guards Taylor Whitley, who led her Geneva, Ill., team to the Class 4A state finals, and Meaghan MacDougall figure to challenge for playing time, although MacDougall will miss the next 6 to 8 weeks due to a leg injury.

Whitley scored more than 2,000 points in a four-year career in which she led her team to a 104-14 record. Rademacher, a first-team Louisville Courier-Journal selection as a senior, adds size and athleticism.

Luna has been impressed by the newcomers, and she’s also been involved with getting them acclimated to what’s expected in Division I college basketball.

“It’s crucial for the veterans to take the freshmen under their wing,” Luna said. “We’re implementing things, and they’ve never been through it. It’s definitely crucial.

“There’s a lot of talent, a lot of versatility. I’m expecting some great things from them.”

Wiedie agreed. “I’ve watched [the freshmen] in high school, but there’s some areas they’ve surprised me. Their skill level is better than I expected in some areas.”

The Sycamores will be ready to hit the ground running when practice begins Oct. 16 with the season opener at Kansas State about a month later Nov. 14.

“We kind of spoon-feed them bits and pieces throughout the preseason,” Wiedie said.

“You have to incorporate some of the offensive and defensive stuff that you’re going to do once you get to practice to kind of get them jump-started on that.”



• Schedule complete — ISU’s 2009-10 schedule was solidified last month.

The Sycamores don’t open in Hulman Center until Nov. 24 against Southeast Missouri State. The team with 11 freshmen and sophomores travels to Kansas State, which is the middle of a 2-for-1 deal that means the Sycamores play in Manhattan, Kan., again in 2010.

ISU then visits South Carolina to play Furman and USC-Upstate before a three-game homestand which includes SEMO, Central Michigan and Detroit.

Butler comes to Terre Haute on Dec. 9, the Sycamores play at Eastern Illinois on Dec. 12, and finish the nonconference in the Bahamas to play Missouri-Kansas City and Southern Methodist.

“There are games on the schedule that, if we’re successful, will really help us,” Wiedie said, referring to his team’s potential standings in RPI and strength-of-schedule.

The conference schedule for ISU is “basically a mirror” of last year, Wiedie said, “which absolutely stinks.”

ISU went 7-2 in the first half of the MVC last year, and 3-6 in the second half.

The Sycamores open with Creighton, Drake and Illinois State, but — like traveling partner Illinois State — they finish the season at Creighton and Drake.

“It’s the third straight year to finish at Drake-Creighton. I don’t think that’s fair to us and Illinois State,” Wiedie said. “Hopefully we have the same start as last year.”

• Back to the Big Ten — The Sycamores won’t play a Big Ten team for the second straight season after playing one in each of the previous four years. Two of those games were in the WNIT against Indiana and Illinois, and the last two seasons were losses to Michigan State.

But Wiedie said ISU will play be host to Michigan in 2010-11 in exchange for a return trip to Ann Arbor in 2011-12. Michigan is coached by Kevin Borseth, against whom Wiedie is 1-1 when Borseth was coach of Wisconsin-Green Bay.

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