Ladyjacks Hold First Official Practice
10/6/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
NACOGDOCHES, Texas - The Stephen F. Austin women's basketball team held their first official team practice of the 2014-15 season on Monday afternoon in William R. Johnson Coliseum. The Ladyjacks won their league leading 16th Southland Conference Championship and first under head coach Brandon Schneider one season ago.
Before practice got underway, the Ladyjacks watched a video highlighting the top moments from last season and clips of the team lifting weights and running sprints. As the team watched the videoboard from a dark arena, the message was clear: last year's accomplishments are in the past and preparation for the next season starts now.
In 2013-14, the Ladyjacks ended the regular season on a seven-game winning streak to claim a share of the league crown with Lamar. SFA defeated McNeese State in the SLC Tournament before falling to Northwestern State in the championship game. After being eliminated, the team accepted a bid to the Women's Basketball Invitational where they won three games to clinch a spot in the finals. The Ladyjacks were edged by the University of Illinois-Chicago in the championship to close the season and end the historical postseason run.
The run through the WBI marked the first time in school history the Ladyjacks had won three games in a postseason tournament.
SFA returns several key players from the 2013-14 squad that finished with an overall record of 23-13 and 13-5 in conference play. Leading the way will be reigning SLC Defensive Player of the Year Porsha Roberts. Also a first team All-SLC selection, Roberts enters her final campaign as the school's all-time leading shot blocker. She also led the team with 17.0 points per game one year ago.
Along with Roberts, Schneider returns nine other letterwinners, including seniors Tierany Henderson and Brittney Matthew. Henderson appeared in all 36 games for SFA as a junior and picked up SLC honorable mention honors. Matthew started the first 17 games last season before being sidelined with an injury. She led the team in scoring with 12.2 points per game before the injury.
SFA also returns Destiny Bragman (Sr., C), Paulletta Powell (Jr., G), Victoria Pena (Jr., G), LaNesha Middleton (RS So., F), Brentney Branch (So., G), Taylor Ross (So., G) and Adrienne Lewis (So., C).
The Ladyjacks welcome five newcomers to the roster in transfers Taylor Schippers (RS Sr., G) and Stevi Parker (So., F), and freshmen Charisma Alexander (G), Danielle Rogers (F) and Kaylah Starling (F). Schippers, a transfer from Butler, and Parker, a transfer from Tulsa, will both sit out the 2014-15 season due to NCAA transfer rules.
Following the first team practice, head coach Brandon Schneider took some time to answer questions about the upcoming season:
On opening practice:
"I hope that when it's the first day of practice everyone is excited and looking forward to getting started. I know as coaches we're around them on a very limited basis until today so we're all looking forward to being able to coach them for more than just two hours a week."
On the returning players and new group of girls for the upcoming season:
"We obviously like our returners a lot. We have some really key guys that are back. But we're going to have to have some new players, particularly a few of our freshmen, step in and contribute right away. We still have some people coming off ACL injuries from a year ago and then when you lose both Daylyn Harris and Antionette Carter at the four spot that opens up an opportunity for some of our younger players."
On the expectations for the new year:
"Right now my expectation is that I hope we get a little bit better every day. When we get closer to playing Louisiana Tech here I'll probably be able to give a better answer as to what kind of team goals we have. But right now we're just trying to keep it simple and get better every day."
On the 2014-15 non-conference schedule:
"I'm excited that we get to play some home games in November. We do open up with Louisiana Tech. They obviously have a very storied program with probably a pretty famous young coach in Tyler Summitt - Pat Summitt's son. It'll be his first game as a college head coach, which will be here in William R. Johnson Coliseum. It'll be something where I hope we can create a lot of excitement to get people to come out and see us play that opening night."
On the first Brandon Schneider recruiting class entering its final year:
"That first class was a top-35 recruiting class in the country and we felt that it could achieve some special things. As juniors they won a league championship and led us to three postseason victories - the first time in school history that our program had won that many postseason games. But they have not yet competed in the NCAA Tournament. I know that when I speak to them that's what they have their sights on."
On the overall execution of the first practice:
"I thought that we had a good practice. They're always a little sloppy, especially day one or really the first couple of months for that matter. I think you just want to set the tone on work ethic and the physical nature of practice and from that perspective I thought we got that accomplished."
-SFA-
