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Web posted
Saturday, January 5, 2008
Tiger women want to improve
By DAVID WOLMAN
Traveler Sports Editor
Last season, the Cowley College women's basketball team struggled out of the gates to a 5-7 non-conference record before finishing 14-4 in Jayhawk Conference Eastern Division play in the spring semester.
The Lady Tigers hope that history repeats itself. They open conference play at 5 p.m. tonight against Kansas City at W.S. Scott Auditorium.
And Cowley (5-7) hopes the month-long break was just what it needed after closing out the fall semester on a bad note, in losing to Pratt 61-42 on Dec. 2. The Lady Tigers fell behind 9-0 and shot just 27.9 percent for the game.
While the Lady Tigers have had time to get ready for tonight's Jayhawk East opener, coach Todd Clark is still reminiscing about the team's loss to Pratt.
"I'm concerned," he said. "We played about as bad as we could to end the semester."
That's only one of Clark's concerns.
Coming into the season, Clark believed that a key part to Cowley's success would be determined by its post play. He is still looking for improvement in that area. Lauren Cherry, Whitney Williams and Natasa Draganic have combined to average 12.4 points and 8.3 rebounds, in addition to 10 blocks.
Slow starts have also plagued the Lady Tigers. They trailed by 26 points against Northern Oklahoma on Nov. 6, and came to within two points late before falling to the Lady Mavs. Clark knows that needs to change.
"We've really been talking about that ever since mid-(fall) semester because it was happening to us every night out," Clark said. "We're just going to continue to approach it, with hopefully a better mindset. And we're trying a lot of different things to get our group better starts and play with more confidence."
Clark would also like to see his team improve its field-goal percentage. The Lady Tigers have limited opponents to 34.9 percent, but have shot just 37.7 percent themselves.
"I think the main thing is to shoot more on our own," Clark said. "Now is a good time of the year to do that because we don't have classes. We don't have a lot of other things going on. In the mid-afternoon and (then) coming back in the evenings, we've been doing nothing but shooting. I'm hoping that will carry over into our games."
Clark has noted increased intensity in practices since the team got back from the holiday break. He hopes that carries over into tonight.
"They've had a little bit of energy to them," he said. "We think we've improved and done some things. So, we'll just have to see to how it comes out on Saturday. We're just anxious to go out and see some improvement."
Cowley will look to slow down Kansas City's duo of Brittany Graham and Alexa McGrory. Graham is averaging 14 points and 4.6 rebounds, while McGrory leads Kansas City (8-4) in scoring (14.2) and rebounding (6.6).
"They both can really score," Clark said. "They don't do anything especially exceptional. They're not flashy. They work really hard. We've just got to pay attention to them defensively and know where they're at."
Tonight starts a stretch in which Cowley plays three of its first four conference games at W.S. Scott Auditorium. And the Lady Tigers hope to duplicate what they did last season in conference play.
"We hope," Clark said. "It's a one-game deal. It's one game at a time. If we can somehow get on the right foot on Saturday and get some confidence back and shoot it and all that stuff, then that will help with the next step and the next thereafter. You've got to get on the right foot. You have to play well with the beginning. You've got to get on the right foot."
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