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Last Updated: Sep 14, 2010 - 10:50:22 AM |
Just in the preseason alone, Kara Newman and her College of the Redwood's women's basketball team has been hit with adversity usually reserved for the regular season.
One win in 12 games, injuries to key players, even the indefinite suspension of to a potential starter.
"I have so much respect for the team," Newman said. "No one wants to be 1-11, but we all held our heads high. This team is really resilient."
Newman is quick to point out the two games against Southwestern Oregon Community College as a prime example of the resiliency of the Lady Corsairs.
"The home game was a disaster," Newman said.
Indeed, CR was throttled 64-28 in Eureka.
"But the second time, we came close to beating them, 46-44 in Oregon," Newman added. "We're peaking at the right time and I feel good about heading into Golden Valley Conference play. GVC is a fresh start. You're going to see a good team that is competing."
Like the men, the women host Siskiyous (10-5 overall) today 3 p.m.
Newman will get to see how much here Corsairs have grown since the rough preseason.
Expect Shylo Wantt - averaging nearly 16 points per game - to lead the CR offense. That in itself is impressive to Newman due to the fact that Wantt is still not 100 percent after suffering a foot injury early in preseason. But Wantt isn't the only weapon the Corsairs have.
Newman noted injuries and struggles forced a shuffle of the starting rotation and number of players who were on the bench were allowed to grow with playing time.
"Aleks Dellabama and Trish Terry, they're making a huge difference," Newman said. "Shylo is our scorer but we've learned to balance that out. Cara (Olsen) is now aggressive. It was hard to get her into the offense. She's such a defensive-minded player. Sarah Visser is coming off the bench and is our sixth man."
Olsen, one of the team captains, knows how much pressure is on her as a leader heading into today's game against the Eagles.
"There's a lot of pressure," she said. "Being a sophomore and having experience, there's a lot pressure. I'm nervous but looking forward to this."
Like Newman, Olsen hates losing, but the family-like structure of the team helps her cope with that and improve along the way as well.
"This is the first time that no one quit," Olsen said. "Everyone stayed strong and is having fun. The team is so much different. Everyone got along from day one and the team chemistry has stayed strong."
All encouraging words and Newman liked most of it.
"I know Cara is nervous, but I hope she gets it out of her head," Newman said. "It's our home court."
What does Newman expect from Siskiyous?
"A Tom Powers' Siskiyous team is the same team each year," she said. "They run high-lows and transition. And they like to use zone defenses. We've worked on that."
Still, knowing and executing are two different things and Newman knows it.
"We've struggled a little bit adjusting to zone defenses," she added. "We have a tendency to get straight and stand and telegraph passes. We've added more structure and new plays to give the plays some depth."
Newman cut the Corsairs' practice from two hours to an hour-and-fifteen-minutes and to her, it has paid dividends. To prove her point, one player, Crystal Carpenter, remained well after practice firing up shot after shot.
Today, Newman and crew get to see if the practice results translate on to the court.
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