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Show Womens basketball team has new faces galore A program may be a necessity early this season so Southern Utah State College womens basketball fans can recognize which team is theirs. Only four letter winners are back from last years team which won 12 games and lost 11. Three of those four returning players appear to have the inside track for starting positions when the season opens November 23 in War Memorial Fieldhouse against Fresno Pacific. We are basically a pretty young team this year. We have only one senior on the squad, and there are four freshmen and four sophomores, Boyd Adams, SC1SC coach, said. We are hoping that our transfer players will step right in to help us off to a reasonably quick start. would guess, however, that it will take us some time to get our game together and that we will be stronger later in the I season. After early preseason drills it looks like two lettermen guards (5-- senior Annette Turley and sophomore Denise Muir) and a veteran forward junior Lisa Ballantyne) are in line 9 5-- 8 (5-1- 0 for heavy duty action. Turley is from Enterprise, Muir from Las Vegas, and Ballantyne from Bountiful. A battle royal is under way for a starting role at center and one forward slot. Four players, including the only other letter winner from last year, sophomore Darla Hunt, Enterprise, are in the scramble. In addition to Hunt, Cherry Roper , junior, Delta), Rene Ramsey , junior, Las Vegas), and Kelly McFalls freshman, Murray) are fighting for a starting berth. There are some good people competing for playing time, and there are a couple of players Roper and Ramsey who will grab a rebound and then get down court quick enough to fill a lane on the fast break. We like that kind of quickness," Adams said. Overall, SLISC has pretty good height. Other players who will fill roles up front include Leslie Magnuson (sophomore. 5-- Kelli Hadfield (sophomore, Antimony, Las Vegas, Nev., Sherene Stucki (junior, Rebecca Wilkins (freshman, Ririe, Idaho, and Michelle Poulson (freshman, Corinne, Stucki will not be eligible Alamo, Nev., until the start of winter quarter. ), ), ). Adams leads Lady Birds A break Adams separates Boyd two coaching careers at SUSC. Adams, who will be starting his third season as the head coach of the SLISC women's basketball team, coached 10 seasons (1962 through 1971) for the SLISC 12-yea- r (5-6- mens team. Adams was a regular starter for two years at Utah State University and an allconference choice when he played for SUSC. He received his B.S. degree from USU (in 1955), an M.S. degree from Brigham Young University, and a Ph.D. degree from the University of Utah. Assisting Adams this season will be Gwen letter winner and an Thomas, a Mountain Athletic Conference player for the Thunderbird women last season. two-yea- r season. Gwen Thomas Boyd Adams s, ' (5-9- (5-1- would say that we have the potential to be at least as good as last year, depending on the ability of the transfers. We might start slower. Adams said. Individual strengths expected to help the team include the strong defensive play of Turley, the quickness and rebounding of Ramsey, the rebounding and experience of Ballantyne, and the offensive play and rebounding of Roper. Our schedule is a tough one this year with Weber State and the Cal State schools, Adams would expect Adams State, Fort Lewis says. and Mesa to be the top three conference teams. Southern Utah and New Mexico Highlands can also be in there close. The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference champion will be decided in regular season tournament at one site will play, and a determine the NAIA District Seven winner which will be the team that will advance in NAIA championship play. I y 8 (6-1- Generally, we are pleased with the way our up front players are coming along. We still need to sort out how well each player performs in various situations, and we still need to work out which combinations work best together. At this point everyone still has a shot at a starting? berth, but overall, we are pleased with the players we have to select from, Adams explains. Monica Moe , freshman, Dugway) and Rhonda Bagley (5-junior,. Long Beach, Calif.) should provide good backup on the guardline. Either could still earn a starting spot. Moe is a take charge type player, and Bagley is a mature player. We are overall a bigger team than last year, but we dont have near the experience. The depth is fair, adequate, and we are quite a bit quicker overall, especially up front, Adams said. We will miss the quickness and aggressiveness of Gwen Thomas. Thomas is serving as an assistant coach this ), , S'' t 4. y I & ' 'h six-tea- yXrfai '' Cfi Southern U Womens Baske |