THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2011
PAGE 7
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WOMEN'S BASKETBALL BIG 12 PREVIEW
KEY PLAYER LOSSES:
Lakyn Garrison
Precious Robinson
KEY NEWCOMERS:
Britney Hardy
Liz Donohoone
LaShawn Jones
Taylor Schippers
Jordan Schultz
The Cowgirls are incredibly young, with 10 of their 13 players being freshmen or sophomores with no seniors. The Cowgirls welcome another class of five freshman, including Britney Hardy, ranked No. 63 by ESPN. Junior forward Toni Young remains the focal point of the team this year after leading the league in rebounding last season. Her efforts during her sophomore campaign landed her on this season's All-Preseason Big 12 team. The Cowgirls need her to continue cleaning the glass and be a big contributor on offense to be competitive. Sophomore point guard Tiffany Bias holds the keys to the offense. Bias makes the offense more dynamic and makes Young a better player offensively.
Oklahoma State will most likely struggle in league play and will need Young and Bias to carry the team in order to finish in the middle of the pack. Two of its four conference victories last season came against Colorado and Nebraska, two teams that will not be on its schedule this season. The Cowgirls will need to shed their "young label" before they have the chance to vault into the league's top five. They should be able to gain confidence in the preseason as only Rice (18-14) and Missouri State (24-11) posted winning seasons and eight of their ten-preseason games will be played in Stillwater. With the new round-robin Big 12 format, it will be hard for the Cowgirls to improve on last season's 17-15 record.
- Max Lush
Texas A&M couldn't top Baylor for the Big 12 title, but the team defeated Baylor 58-46 when it counted most in the NCAA tournament. After the victory, the Ag-
gained continued to roll to the national championship game and won against Notre Dame for the program's first national title.
The defending champs enter the season ranked No. 7 in the Sporting News preseason top 25 poll. The Aggies lost their leading scorer in Danielle Adams, who averaged 20 points a game.
The Aggies are picked second in the Big 12 preseason poll, but for the team to excel, senior guards Tyra White and Sydney Carter need to increase their production. Both seniors averaged 10 points or more last year. Senior forward Adaara Elonu averaged 6 rebounds a game and will join sophomore center Karla Gilbert in the front court. The Aggies will need to balance their experience with their talented recruiting class.
KEY PLAVER LOSSES
Danielle Adams
Sydney Colson
KEY NEWCUMERS:
Alexia Standish
Tori Scott
Rachel Mitchell
Pat Strathman
Second-year coach Robin Pington is looking to resurrect a program that hasn't finished higher than 10th in the Big 12 since 2005-06. That looks to be a sizeable task, as Missouri lost guard RaeShara
Brown to graduation last year. Brown had a fantastic season, finishing first in the Big 12 in steals, in assists and seventh in scoring with 16.8 points per game.
Pingleton will rely heavily on senior forward Christine Flores, who averaged 13 points, six rebounds and led the team in free throw percentage in 2010-11. She's fifth on Missouri's all-time block list and is on pace to break the record this season. Senior forward Proeana
KEY PLAYER LOSSES:
RaeShara Brown
Shakara Jones
KEY NEWCOMERS:
Kyley Simmons
Bree Fowler
this season. Senior forward BreAnna
Brock and junior guard Sydney Crafton will have to improve immensely if the Tigers are to climb out of the bottom third of the Big 12. These players received significant playing time last season, but made minor statistical damage.
Sam Kovzan
Entering her 16th year at Kansas State, coach Deb Patterson returns four starters from a team that finished 22-11 last season and earned a spot in the NCAA tournament. The returning starters
include the top two scorsers on last years team, led by junior guard Brittany Chambers, who averaged 16.1 points last season. That performance earned Chambers an All-Big 12 honorable selection. She was joined by teammate senior guard Jalana Childs. It marks the first time since the 2005 season that two Wildcat teammates earned preseason Big 12 honors. Childs averaged 12.8 points in 27.3 minutes per game last year. After Chambers and Childs, however, the production dins. Patterson has no
KEY PLAYER LOSSES:
Shalin Spani
Kelsey Hill
KEY NEWCOMERS
Ashia Woods
Haley Texada
Heidi Brown
Tasha Dickey
other returners that averaged more than 6 points a game a season ago. Getting consistent production from the rest of the team will determine if Patterson will compete for her third Big 12 regular season championship.
Kory Carpenter
SEE PREVIEW ON PAGE 8
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