 "Photo: Sholten Singer")
The Marshall University women’s basketball team is back and ready for another season.
“Out of all the years we’ve been here, this looks like a team that could really go somewhere in March,” said Alyssa Hammond, senior guard and forward. “I’m really excited about it and hopefully we play up to our potential.”
Last season, the Herd finished the year with a 17-15 record to continue its streak of six consecutive winning seasons.
Head coach Royce Chadwick said his ninth season at Marshall promises to bring a wide variety of new challenges for the team. He said he is most excited about coaching a team that has multiple possible 1,000 career point scorers and three fifth-year seniors on the roster.
“I’m going to get to be a part of a team that has a chance to be one of the best teams that we’ve had here in a long time,” Chadwick said.
For the past two seasons the Herd fell short in the Conference USA Tournament semifinals after holding leads over its opponents. The players and coaches said their conference tournament experience has left them hungry for success.
“If we can get the momentum going in and just keep it going, I think we can pull it through,” said Chantelle Handy, senior guard.
Handy will play an important leadership role on the court this year. Chadwick said Handy, who captained the Great Britain national team in the 2009 World University Games this summer, needs to use her international experience to help the Herd elevate its game.
“You go as far as your seniors can carry you,” Chadwick said. “We feel very good about what our senior leadership has us set up to accomplish.”
Handy nailed 52 percent of her field goals last year, good enough to rank her third in C-USA last season.
“European basketball is so much faster and so much more physical,” Handy said. “It gives me more games to get more experience.”
Chadwick said another big part of Marshall’s success will be junior forward Tynikki Crook, who has recorded a double-double in every postseason game of her career. Last season, Crook led the Herd in scoring and rebounding.
“I definitely plan on helping the team more than I did last year,” Crook said. “I think I’m in better shape than I was last year and I’m able to get up and down the court better.”
This season the Herd will renew Mid-American Conference rivalries with games against Kent State, Ohio University and Miami University (Ohio). Chadwick said facing-off against familiar foes can bring more excitement to non-conference contests.
Marshall will renew its in-state rivalry when it competes in the Chesapeake Energy Capital Classic with West Virginia University on Jan. 20. WVU won the last three meetings between the schools and leads the all-time series 27-10.
“We’re loaded with opportunities to bring some entertainment value to our game,” Chadwick said. “Hopefully we’ll be able to get those done.”
Though all the Herd’s conference games will be important for the team’s success this season, the players said they are anticipating the Jan. 10 game against Southern Miss the most.
“They’re a big rival of ours,” Handy said. “Nothing negative or anything, it’s just always a good game, and I think that’s why we always look forward to it.”
Southern Miss defeated Marshall the past three times the two schools faced each other. The last meeting of the two was a 77-67 Golden Eagle win at the Cam Henderson Center last February.
“It’s always a different match-up but it always seems like we go at each other,” Hammond said. “You turn it on just that little bit more in that Southern Miss game.”
In Marshall’s last exhibition game before the season, the Herd defeated West Virginia Wesleyan 73-41. Crook picked up where she left off last season when she led the Herd with 15 points and nine rebounds.
The Herd begins regular season play against Appalachian State on Nov. 13.
Adam Russell can be contacted at russell58@marshall.edu.
Be the first to comment on this article!