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Show Opener set for lady 'Birds CEDAR CITY - Much bigger things are expected from this year's Southern Utah State College women's basketball team than resulted from last year's squad, but fans are warned to not expect too much too soon. The thunderbird women open their season Friday at 5 p.m. against Brigham Young University at the Marriott Center, and SUSC Coach Joy Peterson frankly warns that "we aren't nearly ready to face this kind of competition." Because six members of the SUSC team competed on the T-Bird volleyball team that battled its way to a fourth place national finish (and took until Nov. 21 doing it), the basketball program is of necessity going to be a little late before it gets into high gear. "We won't even finalize our squad until the middle of this week. I would look for us to start to get tough in about six more weeks," Peterson predicts. The eventual optimism the T-Birds expect comes from better overall height and more experience. "People we were playing last year as freshmen will be playing again this season as sophomores with a year of experience behind them," Peterson points out. . Right now, Peterson is generally pleased with the season's prospects, once she gets time to bring things together. "We should be for sure stronger than last year, but we need time; I hope we can be ready by the time conference games start on January 11." According to the coach, the team is not in shape for basketball yet, the shooting skills are generally very rusty and need to improve. On the plus side, Peterson indicates that the squad has very good size and ability on the forward line, and that quickness among the guards is very good. The guards may benefit most from the additional experience gained last season. Although very hesitant to commit to a starting five for the season opener at BYU, Peterson did indicate the possible starters could include center Paula Burgoyne (5-11, So, Cedar City), forwards Becky Peterson (5-7, So, Bountiful) and Kathy Nelson (5-9, Fr, Cedar City), and guards Denice Long (5-5, Jr, Las Vegas, NV) and Anita Green (5-4, So, Summit). "We are still looking at several people, so how we start in this first game really isn't too significant," Peterson explains. |