New basketball season brings excitement, challenges for Lady Eagles
Wednesday, October 27, 2010 at 3:58PM 
The Eagles only have three players on their roster who are either juniors or seniors. The eleven freshmen and sophomores will have to contribute for the team to have a successful season. Photo By Laney Whitle • Special to The Johnsonian By Devonne Good
Special to The Johnsonian
As the fall season rolls in so does basketball.
The girl’s basketball team is working hard to make sure they are well prepared for the upcoming season. From practicing to working out, they want to be in the best shape to make this season a successful one.
The team will have to overcome youth and inexperience to reach that goal.
“We’re going to do well, but it’s going to take time because we are so young,” freshman point guard Samiya Wright from Oswego, Ill., said.
Wright is one of the five freshmen who joined the team this year. Wright will not be able to help her fellow teammates because of a season ending injury.
Women’s basketball coach Bud Childers pushes his team to improve by working on their abilities outside of practice.
Coach Childers, in his seventh season as Winthrop’s head coach, views going the extra mile and pushing themselves as one way of overcoming the team’s relative lack of experience.
Childers is an “action is louder than words” type of coach.
“Ready is one thing, doing is another,” he said.
The team exhibits the teamwork that will be necessary to achieve their goals by monitoring each other and making sure everyone is putting in the work to make themselves ,and the team as a result, better.
“We’re still working on making our team better because if we’re going to do well we just have to work hard,” freshman guard from Bellwood, Ill., Dee Gray, said.
New assistant coach Tuonisia Turner-Lewis concurs with Gray’s opinion.
“They’re young but they’re energized and eager to learn the skill needed to make the team successful,” she said.
They offer constructive criticism of each other by communicating on and off the court and telling one another what they did wrong or what they should try to improve their game.
The team will also have to take better care of the ball than they did last season. That could be easier said than done with the number of freshmen.
The Eagles averaged 21.2 turnovers per game last season.
Over all, the sentiment is good concerning the upcoming season.
“Every team has problems but they work through them,” junior center Taquoia Hammick said. “We’re young but we’re good.”
Hammick, one of the few returning players who saw action last season, had 25 blocks, 17 steals and averaged 5.9 rebounds per game last season.
With the players being optimistic and willing to put in the work needed to succeed, the upcoming girl’s basketball season could be one to watch as they gain experience to match the hard work they are putting in.
