Thursday, November 5, 1998
The University Daily Kansan
Section B - Page 3
Loss of center challenges Texas Tech
More shooting, unity key for women's team
By Sam Mellinger
By Sam Mellinger
Kansan sportswriter
The biggest obstacle for the Texas Tech women's basketball team is obvious. The Lady Raiders must find a way to replace the 23,2 points per game that center Alicia Thompson averaged last season before becoming the ninth selection in the WNBA draft.
Coach Marsha Sharp said she hoped guards Rene Hanebutt and Julie Lake could join forces with All-American candidate Angle Braziel to fill in much of that gap. The Lady Raiders have traditionally relied on post players to score, but Sharp said she thought that might change this year with Thompson's departure from the middle.
("Braziel) and Rene really had to understand that we had to give Alicia as many touches as possible the past two seasons, but now they know
they have to pick up the scoring load," Sharp said.
"They need to be scorers rather than passers."
Hanebutt and Lake also will need to improve on their 10 point scoring averages. Even in a post-first offense the last three years, Hanebutt has pulled 430 three-pointers, hitting 41 percent. Hanebutt said it didn't take much to convince her to shoot the ball.
"She just had to tell me one, and I was like 'OK, I can do that,'" Hanebutt said. "For us to be successful, we're going to have to pull the trigger more. But it's not going to be one person or even two, it's going to have to be all five that are on the court."
One way the Lady Raiders hope to score is by quick-striking their opposition.
"We've got to get out and run," Sharp said. "This is probably the fastest team we coached."
Perhaps the fastest Lady Raider is also the tallest. At 6-3, Braziel has speed not often possessed by post players.
"She can get from one end to the other faster than most in the country," Sharp said. "She really wants to jump over people."
Teaming up with Braziel in the post will be Kei-
tha Dickerson, Aleah Johnson and Cara Gibbs.
Johnson is a junior after an All-American career at South Plains Junior College, where she played with Brazil her freshman year.
"She was great," Braziel said. "She's a really aggressive player."
Texas Tech will need Johnson to help erase the memory of how last season ended. The Lady Raiders earned their first-ever No. 1 seed in the tournament by winning the Big 12 title, but fell to Notre Dame at home in the second round.
"I think about the Notre Dame game everyday, it was the most disturbing and upsetting loss of my career," said Hanebutt. "Two months after it happened, people were still upset about it."
Motivated by the loss, the entire team stayed in Lubbock during the summer to workout.
"The chemistry and unity with this team is better than it has ever been," Hanebutt said. "The better you get along together, the better you're going to play together."
Texas Tech was picked second in the preseason Big 12 coaches' poll. The Lady Raiders play Kansas in Lawrence on Jan. 23.
Six new players to help lead Red Raiders
By Kevin Wilson
Associate sports editor
Despite being picked to finish ninth in the Big 12 Conference, Texas Tech men's basketball coach James Dickey is eager to begin the 1998-99 season.
"We're excited about being back on the court," Dickey said. "We have five returning players with
our backcourt intact with Rayford Young and Stan Bonewitz. We also have six new players that are certainly going to change the complexion of out team."
After an impressive start, the Red Raiders stumbled down the stretch last season, losing six of their last seven, to finish 13-14 overall and 7-9 in the Big 12 Conference.
Dickey, who is in his eighth season at Texas Tech, pointed to a number of areas that the Red Raiders would need to improve.
improve.
Dickey: Says team chemistry key to success this season
"Last year, we relied too much on the three-point shot and that certainly went downhill the last part of the season," Dickey said. "We have to go back to some things that we did well before and didn't do."
well last year that defend and rebounding. And the last thing that is going to be critical, with our team, with so many new players is chemistry."
Texas Tech junior Rayford Young said that he was impressed with the newcomers' progress.
Despite returning four starters, Dickey must find a replacement for last season's Big 12 scoring leader and Texas Tech's third all-time leading scorer Cory Carr.
Gory was such an important part of our program," Dickey said. "We've got to be more balanced this year because of the loss of his great production. We've also got to step up to replace the leadership, attitude and chemistry that he provided."
Dickey will likely look to his experienced back-court to fill the void left by Carr, who was selected in the second round of the NBA Draft.
The duo of Young and senior Stan Bonewitz started all 27 games last season, accounted for almost 40 percent of Texas Tech's offense and ranked 1-2 in assists and steals for the Red Raiders.
The versatile 6-foot-3 Bonewit averaged 12.9 points per game last season and tied for second on
the team in rebounding with 4.9 per game. He ranked second in the league in three-point made per game (3.1) and three-point percentage (41.8) last season.
The ultra-quick 5-foot-11-inch Young is the leading returning scorer for Texas Tech with an average of 15.4 points per game. In addition, Young paced the Red Raiders with 116 assists and 46 steals and ranked second with an 84.3 free-throw percentage.
The frontcourt, which struggled last season, returns two starters and could improve dramatically if some highly touted newcomers can produce.
Junior forward Cliff Owens appears ready to become a major force in the Big 12 this season after an impressive sophomore campaign. The 6-foot-8 inch bruiser averaged 10.2 points and grabbed a team-high 7.7 rebounds per game last season, which tied him for sixth in the league.
Also returning to the Texas Tech frontcourt is 6-foot-10-inch sophomore Johnny Phillips, who became only the ninth freshman to start for Dickey. He started 15 games and finished the season averaging 5.2 points and 3.0 rebounds per game.
Four newcomers, including three junior college transfers, will provide depth and athleticism to the Red Raiders frontcourt.
Dickey said that despite the teams low ranking, he is looking forward to proving people wrong.
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