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By Steve Carpenter
HCC Sports Information Director
Thursday, November 6, 2008
The Hutchinson Community
College women’s basketball team tied for the third-most wins in program
history and went to the quarterfinals of the Region VI Tournament last
season.
Now second-year head coach
John Ontjes is ready to take to the Lady Dragons to the next level – a deep
run into the postseason.
Ontjes will attempt that
feat with only four sophomores and seven freshmen, including no returning
post players. The 2008-09 Lady Dragons open the season on Friday night
against the McPherson College Junior Varsity at the Grand Prairie Hotel
Classic at the Sports Arena.
“Right now we are a team
that’s very inconsistent,” Ontjes said. “We will have a good practice, and
then we will have a bad practice. Consistency needs to improve just because
we have so many freshmen. Last year our leadership was very good because we
had so many returning sophomores.”
The Lady Dragons have four
returning guards from last year’s 24-8 team that lost to Independence in the
Region VI quarterfinals. Those four returning players represent 33 percent
of the scoring, 18 percent of the rebounding and 43 percent of the
3-pointers made from last season.
Naccarato, a 5-foot-7
sophomore from Hutchinson, is the leading returning scorer who averaged 6.7
points per game and shot 47.3 percent from 3-point range. Naccarato won’t
play in this weekend’s Grand Prairie Classic.
Hines, a 5-6 sophomore from
Hutchinson (Buhler High School), averaged 6.1 points and shot 28 percent
from long range.
Sparks, a 5-6 sophomore from
Wollengong, Australia, averaged 6.6 points and tied for the team
lead with 86 assists.
Evans is a 5-7 sophomore
from Southfield, Mich. She averaged just under a point per game last season.
“Our expectations for our
sophomores are that they need to provide leadership for our team,” Ontjes
said. “They need to set great examples for how the team should practice, for
how the team should prepare for opponents. They’ve been in this system, so
they know what to expect day in and day out and in game situations. They
just have to be able to lead those seven freshmen and guide them in the
right direction.”
The 2008-09 Lady Dragons
will be much taller than last season – four 6-foot-or-better players instead
of just one. But none of the four have played collegiately.
Six-foot-2 center Naudia
Campbell and 6-footers Ariella McGhee, Brittney Bell and Calli Matthews, as
well as 5-9 freshman Heather Robben will all be counted on in the paint this
season
“Post play is a huge
concern,” Ontjes said. “We have four kids with no returning minutes for us.
If we can guard and defend in the post area and make teams take perimeter
shots, it always gives us a better chances to win games.”
Adding to the depth in the
backcourt will be Brittney Chamberlin (5-6, Andover) and Sasha King (5-6,
Norman, Okla.)
“I think our freshman class
is talented. They are still learning the ropes,” Ontjes said. “I’ve been
pleased with both our in-state and out-of-state kids. What concerns me most
about the freshmen, is do we have the toughness to go on the road and win
games? Will we be consistent every night?
“If we continue to progress
and get better every opportunity we get to play, my hope is that when we get
to conference play, our freshmen won’t play like freshmen. They are going to
see a lot of minutes.”
This weekend, the Lady
Dragons will open with the McPherson College Junior Varsity and Division II
Marshalltown, Iowa (2-0). A tough non-conference schedule awaits HCC with
games against Eastern Oklahoma State on Nov. 15, Labette and preseason No.
16 South Plains College on Nov. 28 and 29; and Coffeyville and Kansas City
at the Jayhawk Shootout in December. After a holiday run to Texas for two
games, the Lady Dragons open the Jayhawk West season with No. 17 Seward
County on Jan. 3. No. 7 Cloud County also awaits the Lady Dragons in
conference play.
“We didn’t make it easy for
the team,” Ontjes said of the preseason schedule. “We are trying to get
ready for conference play. Our schedule will be very competitive. I hope we
can gain something from it.”
HCC was picked to finish
fourth in the Jayhawk Conference preseason coaches poll. |
