Lakers open season Friday at Disney
SAULT STE. MARIE - The Lake Superior State women's basketball team opens the 2008-09 season Friday at the 12th annual Disney Tip-Off Tournament in Orlando, Fla.
The Lakers, who are playing at Disney for the first time since the 2004-05 season and third time overall, play Bentley at noon Friday, Columbus State at noon Saturday and Alaska-Anchorage at 2:30 p.m. Sunday at the famous Milk House.
Alaska-Anchorage appears to be the strongest team in the eight-team field. After finishing 30-5 last season, the Wolves are ranked fifth in the Women's Division II Bulletin Pre-Season National Poll. Bentley, which was 19-11 and earned an NCAA bid last year, was picked to finish third in the Northeast 10 Conference. Columbus State was 17-12 in 2007-08.
The other Disney bracket includes No. 12 Delta State, No. 19 South Carolina-Aiken, American International and Southwest Minnesota State.
A web stream of the LSSU-Columbus State broadcast will be available on www.newsradio540.com.
"The three teams that we play are very talented and will be very tough games for us," said LSSU third-year coach Jamie Pewinski. "These games will allow us to see how we stack up against some of the top teams in the country. No matter what the outcome over the course of those three games, it will all be positive, as it will prepare us for the grind of competing in the GLIAC."
LSSU is coming off a 12-14 season, which was its first sub-.500 record since 2000-01, but the Lakers were 6-3 down the stretch in 2007-08. The Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference was riddled with key injuries last season, and Lake Superior State did not escape the epidemic. With the losses of Ronlea Peterson and Jill Walton to injury and others to graduation, the Lakers took awhile to find their identity.
"As we put last year behind us, the injuries have become a positive," Pewinski said. "It allowed a lot of people to get playing time and game experience where they might not have had that opportunity. So this season, though we are young with six sophomores, all of them are experienced enough to play in any game at any point. That will allow the freshmen time to get comfortable with the system, which will only make us deeper. That depth is going to allow us to play a fast-pace game and do some things to try to control the tempo of the game."
Sophomores Allison Jaynes and Emily Joseph started in place of Walton and Peterson, and sophomore guards Nicole Marshall and Shelle Rochon came off the bench to give LSSU a much-needed three-point threat.
"Being healthy has given us a boost of energy this pre-season," Pewinski said. "It has been great seeing everyone back on the floor. Our perspective has changed a little, because we know how quickly the game can be taken away from you. The girls who were injured are not allowing anyone to take one day for granted."
Prior to red-shirting, Peterson was the Lakers' point guard and averaged 6.5 ppg. She was second on the 2006-07 team in assists and three-point field goals. Walton was filled in for standout forward Mandi Johnson and was expected to step into a starting role last season. She suffered a season-ended knee injury during the summer of 2007.
"The biggest thing we learned last season is that we are in this together," Pewinski continued. "Every person showed that they were up to the challenge of putting the work in to get better. No one pointed fingers for the losses. Though we were frustrated, we showed up every day to work harder. There is absolutely no quit in this group. Outside of that, we have a better understanding of how long the season is and what needs to be done to prepare to win. I see a comfort level with this group from top to bottom that wasn't there last year. I attribute that do the experience that everyone got."
As the then freshmen cut their teeth in the GLIAC, centers Jackie Armstrong, Alyssa VanderWal and now-graduated Danielle Makins were shooting an impressive 53 percent from the field and averaging 27 points per game. Armstrong led the Lakers in scoring at 12.6 ppg, and VanderWal led the GLIAC in field-goal percentage (.669) and average blocked shots per game (2.12). Together, they averaged 11 rebounds per game.
"Our posts were probably affected the most by the injuries to Jill and Ronlea, because more attention was paid to them by other teams," Pewinski said. "As our young guards became more confident and understanding of what we were trying to do, it allowed everyone to fulfill their role. The last half of the season, I thought that Jackie and Alyssa were as good as any two posts in the conference."
Makins' graduation should open the door for senior center Annie Dykhouse to play a bigger role, and the Lakers have the potential to put dominating post combinations on the floor. Dykhouse led LSSU in free-throw percentage last season at .889.
"Our seniors are going to be our anchors on both ends of the floor," Pewinski said. "With all of them being posts, they will give us a presence in the middle of the floor, and that is what the whole system revolves around. We need that inside game to make everything else work. They give our underclassmen confidence on both ends, and I expect them to be solid contributors every time they step onto the floor."
