2009-2010 Lady Eagles Season Outlook
The 2009-2010 Lady Eagle’s basketball season should bring some excitement to E. H. Lannom Gymnasium as the Lady Eagles look to bring a winning tradition in women’s basketball back to the Dyersburg State campus. Last season saw the Lady Eagles improve from 2-22 in 2007-2008 to 8-17 and a third place finish in the Western Division of the TCCAA. The Lady Eagles will look to continue that improvement this season with a strong group of returning sophomores plus an exciting incoming freshman class.
Returning for Coach Puckett this season will be TCCAA Western Division Team member and third leading scorer in the conference, Becky Caldwell. Caldwell who averaged a little over 15 points a game last season will be joined by Kala Tyus who averaged 10 points and 8 rebounds a game. Other returning sophomores who have logged starting minutes include Chelsea Brown and Bethany Oakley. The sophomore class also includes Natasha Glass, who returns to the Lady Eagle squad after taking a red shirt year, and Kyisha Ricks who transfers to the Lady Eagles from Robert Morris College in Springfield, IL. About his sophomore class, Coach Puckett states, “How this group handles situations is critical to our success this season. We have an opportunity that we did not have last season in actually having a core group of leaders who have played for me before. We will look for our sophomores to set a high standard early in the season and it will be up to this group to see that we reach our goals.”
Coach Puckett will look for the freshman class to contribute immediately. Markita Cole (McNairy Central), Jeniqua Jennings (Gibson County), CC Tibbs (Lewis County), Jaclyn Wise (Hickman County), Ashley Williams (White Station) and Kazeray Dabbs (Perry County), a redshirt transfer, will all look to contribute at the 1 and 2 guard positions. Coach Puckett states, “This group gives us a luxury that we did not have last year as we are much quicker, deeper, and have much more competitive practices. Any one of these six girls is legitimately competing for a starting position at the point guard or shooting guard position at any time.” Another freshman, Jessica Carter (West Carroll) will look to contribute at the small forward position.
This season’s freshman class also includes some incoming players whom Coach Puckett expects to provide some depth on the interior. Vernae Whitby (Arlington) and Erica Oliver (Bradford) will both log minutes at the center position and Victoria Mathis (Brighton) will look to provide depth at the power forward position. Another freshman, Marlee Mason (Dresden) will provide depth at the small forward and power forward position. About his freshmen post players, Coach Puckett states, “Although the focus this past recruiting season was definitely to improve our guard play, I have been very happy with the quality of post players that we brought in and I feel that we have made gains at this position as well. As long as injuries do not become a factor, I think this group has some players in it who are going to be very good.”
The 2009-2010 schedule is a challenging one, according to Coach Puckett. “ Last season we had a couple of games that we could look to on our schedule and know that they were probably going to be wins so even when we were struggling we could look to that point of the season as our opportunity to turn things around. This season there are not games that I feel that I can say that about. It seems that everyone in the conference has really amped up their talent level this season from the top to the bottom and our out of conference games are going to be challenges as well. Our wins this year will come from us playing well and not from playing lesser teams.”
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