Last season the women’s basketball team of the Mississippi University for Women fell just shy of making its first debut in St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference tournament in a 8-17 to finish to the first campaign under head coach Eric Vaughn – and that’s exactly the wall the Owls are aiming to break though this season.
Since Oct. 15, when NCAA Division III teams were allowed to begin practicing, the Owls have been hard at work trying to get their five returning players, six freshmen and four transfers all acclimated with each other and with Vaughn’s pace-pushing brand of play to be ready when the season tips off tomorrow at Belhaven University.
“We’ve just been going since the 15th, five days a week,” he said. “It was a lot to put in.”
Helping bring some stability to the court this season are junior Jessica Hughes, who started five games last season, and the program’s all-time leading scorer Conley Langford. The senior has another season to extend her record of 1,144 points along with her records of made field goals (370), attempted field goals (937), 3-pointers made (137), 3-pointers attempted (417), free throw percentage (79.2%), rebounds (392) and double-doubles (16).
“I’ve been coaching for 30 years and she is probably in my top 5 as a player I’ve ever coached,” Vaughn said. “Just the total package. An unbelievable work ethic, major integrity, leader on and off the court, phenomenal grades. If you had to sculpt a basketball player, she’s not necessarily the most talented, but she gets the most out of her talent. When you get a person who gets the most out of their talent and just works extremely hard, those are the types of kids you want to coach.”
The third senior on the team is All-SLIAC Second Team guard Calysia Phillips. She averaged 17.8 points, 5.6 rebounds, 4.1 assists, and 3.6 steals per game last season before suffering a torn ACL. Vaughn said she’s likely to return around January. The last of the team’s returners are sophomores Kymani Smith, who started eight games last year, and Kate Wilkins, who played in six games.
Mia Bowen is the team’s third senior and is a 6-foot-2 transfer guard from Arkansas-Little Rock.
“She has a chance to be really good,” Vaughn said.
Fantasia Wilson is a junior transfer guard from Mississippi Delta Community College and is someone who will see starting action this year.
“So, we have some pieces,” Vaughn said of his squad, which was picked to finish sixth in the conference in a preseason poll.
The team is already in the exhibition stage of the season and played at Alcorn State yesterday. On Monday the Owls played in their first preseason contest of the year, a 117-40 loss at Jackson State. Vaughn said it’s good to play against some tough teams to open the year as they iron out the kinks in his “organized chaos” style of basketball. It involves full-court pressure and fast passing for quick open shots taken without any hesitation.
“We want to create a chaotic environment because most people don’t play that way,” he said. “When you see us play, we try to practice like that. The challenge is, it’s taking a little longer than I would like. Getting kids to buy in can be challenging because to play that way you really have to give up your body. Most kids don’t want to do that; they don’t want to give up their body.”
Once the season begins tomorrow, it’s a long sprint toward the conference tournament, which begins on Feb. 25. With their sights set on a postseason debut, Vaughn said it’s all hanging on how deeply his team’s chemistry develops.
“How do we get along and all of that – just sticking with it,” Vaughn told The Dispatch. “Well, if we do that then we’ll be fine.”
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 34 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
