Sept. 15, 2009

BEAUMONT, Texas - Preseason conditioning drills are underway for the 2009-2010 Lamar University women's basketball team as coach Larry Tidwell and his staff are working with a squad consisting of six returning letterwinners, three redshirt players and six newcomers.

Three of the top four scorers and four of the top six from last season's 20-11 team have returned, forming a strong nucleus for another competitive outfit.

"I think the letterwinners we have returning all have special things they're bringing to the table," said Tidwell, who is entering his third season as Lamar's head coach. "The rebounding corps of Brittany Williams, Trashanna Smith and Darika Hill all return, so we should be a force inside this season."

Williams, Smith and Hill combined for 674 rebounds last season, representing 56.3 percent of the Lady Cardinals' total. The 5-foot-11 Smith led the way with an 8.6 average, while the 6-foot Hill averaged 7.1 and the 5-10 Williams averaged 6.0.

Williams is the Lady Cards' top returning scorer with a 12.0 points-per-game average, while Hill averaged 11.0 and Smith 7.0. Departed guard Nikki Williams was the leading scorer with a 14.3 ppg. average, and returning guard Ang Green was fourth on the team with an 8.8 norm.

"Having a healthy Ashley Crawford back into the mix will mean a lot for our guard play," said Tidwell. "Also, the experience Ang Green will bring to the perimeter will be very valuable.

"We lost three really good seniors in Nikki Williams, Emily Spickler and Agnija Reke. They made contributions in a lot of areas. Losing the scoring punch of Nikki Williams is an area that needs to be addressed, but we have added some players who should help us in that regard."

Redshirt players Jenna Plumley, who transferred from the University of Oklahoma, Kalis Loyd of Malmoe Sweden and Myriam Igoufe of Bourges, France promise to add scoring punch to the Lady Card attack.

"With Plumley, you get the total package of scoring and defending on the perimeter," said Tidwell. "She brings abilities to the Lady Cardinals that we haven't seen in a long, long time.

"Myriam and Kalis both have international experience which makes them veterans on the court already in our preseason work. Loyd is one of the best athletes I've coached in 35 years in the business, and Igoufe will be one of the best on-ball defenders to ever put on the red-and-white of Lamar University."

The Lady Cardinals' recruiting class, which consists of guards Jasmin Henderson, Taylor Hays and Krista Phillips and forwards Aleksandra Miletic, Monique Whittaker and Danielle Heithoff along with returning two-year letterwinner Brittany Hendrix will help give the Lady Cards more balance than they've had in recent seasons.

"We got great steals in Henderson, Hays and Miletic," said Tidwell. "Then you add players like Whittaker and Heithoff to that mix, and they will give us more quality depth than we've ever had.

"With teams like Minnesota, Baylor, Texas Tech and Texas A&M on our non-conference schedule, it's going to make reaching the 20-victory plateau again very difficult, but that's not our main focus. The biggest thing we want to accomplish is to advance to postseason play beyond the Southland Conference Tournament. We're talking about the NCAA Tournament or at least the Women's NIT."

LAMAR