Women's Basketball Season Preview

Youth to lead the way for women’s basketball team

Graduating two of the school’s top-20 career scoring leaders and returning only three players from last year’s squad, the Cowley College women’s basketball team will rely on a new cast of players to help the team continue its winning ways.

The Lady Tigers will open their season Monday, Nov. 2 when they host the Southwestern College JV at 5 p.m.

“We are so young that we don’t know what we will do,” Cowley head coach Todd Clark said. “It will probably come down to if we are going to develop a defensive mentality and play hard on the defensive end.”

Defense has been a trademark of Clark’s teams as they once again led the Jayhawk Conference in points allowed per game (51.2) during the 2008-09 season. However, Cowley also had Elena Yankova, the school’s third all-time leading scorer (997 points) and Shirolacille (Bebe) Holloway, the Lady Tigers’ 20th all-time leading scorer (672) to help with the offense.

To help make up for the loss of all five starters from a year ago, Clark expects international players Ariana Silva and Anna Sonka to be key players for this year’s team. Silva is a talented point guard that played for the Brazilian National team, while Sonka, a 6-foot forward, is a strong mid-range shooter from Latvia.

Also counted on to do well in her first season is 5-foot-10 guard Maylisa Johnson, who was named the Tulsa World All-Metro Girls Basketball Player of the Year as a senior at Preston (OK) High School. Johnson helped Preston win two state titles in four years.

“Ariani, Anna, and Maylisa are going to have to do a lot for us,” Clark said. “We are a lot more versatile than we have been over the last few years. We hope to be a little more balanced and not have to rely on one or two players.”

Guards Porsche Gavin from Rochester, New York, and Jasamyne Saunders from Kansas City, KS, helped lead their high school teams to state championships and will join Silva and Johnson as potential guards on the team.

“I am hoping our guard play will be a strength,” Clark said.

Returnees from last season are 6-foot-2 post player Kaneesha Lee, and guards Brianna Gonzalez and Annalisa Jauregui. Gonzalez, who has worked hard to come back from an ACL injury suffered in the middle of last season, shot 38 percent from three-point range as a freshman.

Joining Lee in the post will be 6-foot freshman Lisa Angell from Medicine Lodge, and Gianna Woods, a transfer from NCAA Division I Robert Morris University in Pittsburgh, PA.

Sophomore forward Crystal Allen is the other transfer on the team as she comes to Cowley after playing last season at Panola Junior College. Maggie Vieyra from Hutchinson Trinity High School, Melissa Easter from Andale, and Chelsa Anderson from Beloit High School round out the in state players Clark recruited. While, Richelle Farley from Bridgetown, Barbados, and Yahoska Legall from Brooklyn, New York, cap the list of incoming players.

Cowley will open its season Nov. 2 when they host the Southwestern College JV at 5 p.m. The Lady Tigers will play eight non-conference games and four conference opponents prior to Christmas break.

“We need to build some confidence through our non-conference schedule and win a couple of conference games in the first semester,” Clark said.

Clark has had success with young teams in the past and is looking forward to seeing how this year’s squad will respond once the season gets underway.

“We will have to grow up in a hurry,” Clark said. “Mental toughness will be a key to our success. I think we have the talent, we just need to see how we do the little stuff to help us win games.”