PAGE 24E AUGUST,1996
KUED·SPORTS
LAWRENCE JOURNAL-WORLD
Dixon headlines KU women's returnees
Continued from page 23
"Tamecka is one of the most gifted athletes in the country," Washington said. "She struggled at first, but she's gotten better every year. She's one of the greatest athletes I've seen. Angie has really demonstrated great improvement. She has shot the ball well and played good defense for us.
"Jennifer's work ethic is unbelievable. She's a hard-nosed competitor. I always put her on the toughest inside opponent. Sometimes she's a little tough on herself. But we're fortunate to have her on the club. Shelly has been a great role player for us. She's started, come off the bench. She's been in position to do the things we've needed her to do, and she's helped us win.
"And Patience has only been with us a year," Washington
continued. "On the blocks, she's very tough to stop. We like to have our players get up and down the floor. She has a little trouble with that, but she knows how to score on the blocks."
Complementing the seniors will be three juniors: Erinn Reed (2.8 ppg), Tamara Gracey (1.5 ppg) and Koya Scott (.9 ppg).
"Erinn came off the bench for us a lot last year. She has a lot of quickness and plays great defense for us," Washington said. "Tamara, we hope, will step up and relax and just play. And Koya is a late bloomer. We expect her to step up. She's got the size."
Rounding out the returning players are two sophomores: Sanford (6.5 ppg) and Suzi Raymant (5.4 ppg).
"Nakia is probably a great future player for us," Washington said. "She had a good
For good measure, Washington went out and signed a prep All-American in Lynn Pride, a 6-foot-2 guard-forward from Dallas. Other signees are Heather Fletcher, of Wichita,
and Casey Pruitt, of Jonesboro, Ark.
freshman year. We feel we can build the program around her. She's has great talent, quickness and size."
"Lynn Pride is going to be a great future talent for us," Washington said. "She has great size at 6-2. She's just a tremendous athlete. We're going to build our future around this group. Casey missed her senior year. We
don't know what's going to happen her first year. We signed her because she has great quickness.She'll fit in our system.
"And Heather is physical. She has the same fierce competitiveness that Jennifer Trapp has. She's going to be a good one."
FILE PHOTO
Nakia Sanford averaged 6.5 points per game as a freshman last season.