Bobcat basketball tips off new season: Lady Bobcats seek return to PBC tournament
GC&SU women’s basketball Head Coach John Carrick has a very interesting expectation for his team this year.
“Be on time for every game,” Carrick said.
Two years removed from the best season in school history, the Lady Bobcats seek another Peach Belt Conference title and an appearance in the NCAA Division II Tournament.
Last year, the Lady Bobcats went 17-11 overall and 8-8 in the conference to finish 3rd in the Peach Belt South Division, just missing out on a bid in the NCAA Tournament.
While last season would be considered successful by some programs, the Lady Bobcats saw last season as a disappointment.
“I was disappointed with last year,” said LaWanna Leon, the team’s leading rebounder and scorer last year. “I wanted to win the Peach Belt Conference and go to the NCAA Tournament.”
Two years ago, the Lady Bobcats went 28-6, won the Peach Belt Conference regular season title and advanced to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament.
The Lady Bobcats ran into problems last year as two of the team’s starters were suspended for violating team rules.
“There were five or six games we should have won last year when we don’t have those players,” Carrick said.
For this season, Carrick wants the team to be successful off the court as well as on the court.
“I want (the team) to attend class and work very hard toward graduating,” Carrick said.
Of the seven returning players from last year’s team, four saw action as starters at some point last season.
The Lady Bobcats are adding seven new players this season, four of which are freshman.
However, the Lady Bobcats will soon have to replace guard Kristi Jones, an All-Peach Belt Conference guard who holds the school record for steals in a single season. Jones is graduating in the spring.
“It is a loss you cannot replace,” Carrick said.
Carrick expects sophomore point guard Lindsey Smith, who started 16 games last season, and Brandy Holsendolph, a transfer from Middle Georgia Junior College, to help fill Jones’ spot.
Other players that Carrick expects to make an impact this season include Leon, who averaged 11.1 points per game, and sophomore Ashley Williams, who averaged 9 points per game and started 14 games as a rookie.
Another big contributor will be Marquita Driskell, a sophomore who has transferred from the University of Georgia.
Driskell is from Milledgeville. She was one of the top 10 high school players when she graduated in 2002.
After starting 16 games at UGA her freshman year, tragedy struck when her father died of cancer.
Driskell spent the last two years trying to support her family, and over the summer, she decided to go back to school at GC&SU and play basketball.
Carrick was excited when he heard the news.
“It was like Christmas in July,” he said.
Because of the fact that she played at Georgia, GC&SU fans could be cynical and believe that Driskell is the only player the team has. However, Driskell is more modest and sees herself as a member of the Lady Bobcats, not the only member of the Lady Bobcats.
“I am no better than anybody else on this team,” Driskell said.
Carrick believes the Lady Bobcats’ main competitors in the Peach Belt Conference will be Columbus State, Clayton State and Armstrong State. If the Lady Bobcats can keep up with these teams, he believes the Lady Bobcats will be back in the NCAA Tournament.
“The top two or three teams in each conference go to the NCAA Tournament,” Carrick said. “Are we one of these teams? I don’t know yet. We have 27 games to determine that.”
With all the experienced players and promising new players, the Lady Bobcats seek to get back to the heights they reached back in the 2003-2004 season.
“I expect us to go all the way this year,” Leon said.
Posted by Colonnade Archives
on Nov 18 2005. Filed under Sports.
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