“Old-school Vanderbilt” is back.
Fans of Southeastern Conference women’s basketball should welcome that news because the league always has been more entertaining when coach Melanie Balcomb’s teams are successful and rank among the league leaders in offensive efficiency.
But Balcomb acknowledges she and her players have had to rebuild team chemistry after four players left the program following a 15-16 campaign last season that saw the Commodores fail to advance to the NCAA tournament for the first time since the 1998-99 season.
Entering the stretch run of 2015, Vanderbilt is healthy and off to an 8-2 start as it prepares for its next game against Tennessee-Martin on Monday.
“We struggled last two years with team chemistry and buying in,” said Balcomb, who is in her 14th season at the school. “That has been a struggle putting the pieces together. Our offense hasn’t flowed and our defense hasn’t flowed.”
Vanderbilt went through a significant transformation in the offseason when guard Paris Kea transferred to North Carolina, forward Heather Bowe transferred to Iowa State, forward Khaleann Caron-Goudreau transferred to Texas, and Khaleann’s sister, Audrey-Ann, transferred to Gulf Coast State College in Panama City, Florida. Last month, she signed a National Letter of Intent with Texas.
Balcomb offset the losses with the addition of Texas Tech graduate transfer Minta Spears, who has assumed the role of point guard. The Commodores also added two walk-ons. Even though the program is down to 10 scholarship players and the walk-ons, Balcomb said the team chemistry is back. A return to health also has helped the team get back to a style of offense that has four or five shooters on the floor at one time.
“We are jelling at another level I couldn’t imagine,” said Balcomb, who won her 300th game at Vanderbilt on Dec. 10 in a 97-43 victory against Troy. Balcomb’s record at Vanderbilt is 300-137 (463-241 overall).
Vanderbilt is off to a fast start thanks to a hot-shooting squad that leads the SEC in field goal percentage (49.2 percent). Sophomore guard Rachel Bell leads the Commodores in scoring (12.2 points per game, 20th in the SEC), while sophomore guard Christa Reed, who is from Bay High School, is second on the team at 10.9 ppg.
Reed was named to The Clarion-Ledger’s Dandy Dozen team as a junior and as a senior. She also was named the Mississippi Gatorade Player of the Year as a junior. She averaged 26.2 points, 7.0 rebounds, 1.7 assists, and 2.2 steals a senior, and was a McDonald’s All-America nominee.
As a freshman at Vanderbilt, Reed averaged 6.0 points and 1.9 rebounds before missing the final 15 games due to an ankle injury. Balcomb said Reed is changing from a “minnow” to a “shark” and is learning how to use her increased aggressiveness and strength to realize her potential as a scorer.
“We tell her we want her to be nasty,” Balcomb said. “Sometimes when you give players nicknames sometimes that is what they end up becoming. She is starting to live up to that and understand that this is what the team needs from you.”
Balcomb said Reed has grown emotionally, mentally, and physically and is understanding the Commodores need her to be more selfish on offense because she is so skilled. In fact, she said Reed has matured into a perfect fit at the team’s stretch-four position, a spot the Commodores typically place a shooter to spread the floor to make everyone even tougher to guard.
“She is one of the better shooters we have had here,” Balcomb said. “She has been an exciting addition because I don’t think people realized what a loss she was when we lost her.”
Balcomb said Spears, who has two years of eligibility remaining, has meant so much to the team. As only the third transfer she has added in her career as a coach, Balcomb said she has “never seen the impact one player can have on a team in a positive way” like the way Spears has impacted the program.
“She is one of the best leaders we have had here,” Balcomb said of Spears, who is fifth in the SEC in assists (5.2 per game) and third in minutes per game (33.1). “The kids have a tremendous amount of respect for her and have followed her. She has a willingness to serve and to work, and all of that is being passed on to everybody.”
Balcomb said she knew Spears had strong character because she recruited her before she signed with Kristy Curry and Texas Tech. Spears suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament and then felt out of place at Texas Tech, according to Balcomb, after Curry left the program to become head coach at Alabama. Balcomb said Spears, who graduated in three years, was looking for a fit and found it at Vanderbilt.
Spears has played a key role in helping Vanderbilt limit opponents to 50.6 ppg., which is third in the SEC. Vanderbilt is 11th in the league in scoring (71.4 ppg.).
Those are figures “old-school” Vanderbilt teams have used to build one of the league’s most consistent programs. Balcomb said improved chemistry that features redshirt sophomore Rebekah Dahlman and junior forward Marqu’es Webb, the team’s best players last season, according to Balcomb, coming off the bench has helped transform the atmosphere in the locker room and made it so much more fun to come to work.
“At times last season, Marqu’es and Rebekah were the only kids who could score in what was the worst offensive season we have ever had with me as a coach here,” Balcomb said. “That has changed due to a change in attitude and a chemistry change. It is a willingness to work and to work together. That is old-school Vandy.”
LSU making do after injuries
If Nikki Fargas had to go back to school, she likely would pick another major.
A public relations major at Tennessee, Fargas, who was formerly known as Nikki Caldwell, said she likely would bypass that major and study psychology because of what she has learned as an assistant coach and as a head coach at UCLA and LSU.
Now in her fifth season in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Fargas has discovered coaches have to deal with more personal and non-coaching issues with their players than she expected when she entered the profession.
Those issues have had a direct impact on LSU’s 2015-16 season.
In June, Fargas announced in a school statement that Danielle Ballard wasn’t going to return for her senior season. Ballard, who was suspended for the first 14 games of the 2014-15 season due to a violation of team rules, earned first-team All-SEC honors and also was named to the league’s All-Defensive Team after leading LSU in scoring (14.5 ppg.) and rebounding (7.2 per game).
The upheaval continued in the offseason and into the start of the 2015-16 season, as Fargas said forward Stephanie Amichia, a freshman last season, decided basketball “wasn’t in her cards anymore.” LSU then lost preseason All-SEC guard Raigyne Moncrief and freshman forward Ayana Mitchell to season-ending injuries. Moncrief was the team’s leading returning scorer (11.8 ppg.) and rebounder (6.7 rpg.), while Fargas said Mitchell was going to be “one of the best post players in the country.”
Despite all of the turnover, LSU entered its game Saturday at Rutgers with a 6-4 record. It will play No. 1 UConn on Monday.
Fargas, who played for legendary Tennessee women’s basketball coach Pat Summitt, said she is “old school” and never has believed one player is bigger than the program. That is part of the reason why she never hesitated to make moves she knew were in the best interest of her program.
“I do feel like we have accepted what our situation is and we are not using that as an excuse,” Fargas said. “I felt like we were using that as a crutch early in the season and thinking, ‘Oh, we don’t have Raigyne or Ayana,’ but we have (Shanice) Norton), (Jenna) Deemer, (Akilah) Bethel, (Anne) Pedersen.”
Deemer, a sophomore guard, leads the team in scoring at 11.8 ppg. She also is fourth in the league in 3-point shooting percentage (43.4). Bethel, a senior forward, is 18th in the SEC in rebounding (6.5 rpg.) and fourth in the league in steals (2.3 per game).
Fargas said she has tried to set the tone by bringing a positive attitude every day. She said she has told her players that they should try to take advantage of the opportunities they have this season to carve out a bigger role. She said Deemer and Bethel are making bigger contributions than they might originally have expected, which is encouraging because she knows even more players will have to take on that mind-set once league play begins next month.
“I have seen growth in this team and I have seen them mature,” Fargas said. “I have seen them trying to stand out and make a difference.”
Auburn has three-pronged attack
Defense has been one of Terri Williams-Flournoy’s trademarks in her four years at Auburn.
The Tigers are doing their best to uphold their pressure defensive ways this season by ranking second in the SEC in steals (13.2 per game) entering their games against Coppin State (today) and Towson (Sunday).
But Auburn is having even more success on the offensive end thanks to junior guard Brandy Montgomery, junior forward Katie Frerking, and senior center Tra’cee Tanner. Through games played Friday, Montgomery leads the league in scoring (19.2 ppg.) and steals (3.0 per game), while Frerking is 16th in the SEC in scoring (13.3 ppg.) and Tanner is 18th (13.1).
Earlier this season, Tanner joined some select company at Auburn when she scored her 1,000th point. Her achievement was even more special because she is one of five players at the school to have scored 1,000 points, grabbed 500 rebounds, and have 100 blocked shots, assists, and steals.
Tanner has improved her shooting percentage from 55.9 percent last season to 60.2 percent this season, which is second in the league.
“She should be shooting a higher percentage because she is shooting layups inside the paint,” Williams-Flournoy said. “She has done a much better job gathering herself and being more under control and not shooting as quick. She rushed a lot of her shots last year.”
Williams-Flournoy said Montgomery also has settled in and is taking her percentage shots and not rushing as much. She said Frerking has emerged as a solid third option because she is more confidence and is playing more like the players the Tigers hoped she could be last season.
Montgomery’s scoring output is up 6.7 ppg. from last season, while Frerking is scoring 5.6 more ppg.
“Last year, Katie was a little hesitant to shoot, and this year she is not,” Williams-Flournoy said. “Katie is a very good shooter and can shoot in a variety of ways. There is no need for her to be hesitant about it.”
The experience of Montgomery, Frerking, and Tanner has blended nicely with freshman Janiah McKay, a freshman guard from Gainesville, Florida. Williams-Flournoy said she expected McKay to come in and provide a scoring punch, and she isn’t disappointing, averaging 10.4 ppg. to give the team four double-digit scorers.
But Williams-Flournoy said McKay is a lot like many freshman in that she has to learn how to play defense. She said it isn’t a lack of skill, it is just a matter of effort because many talented high school players don’t have to exert a lot of effort on the defensive end.
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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