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Show Your Sports PAGE B7 MONDAY, MARCH 21, 2005 A season of ch Coach Kathy Nixon answers a few regarding the state of women's bask Landon Smith Sports Writer When you look at the Utah Valley State women's basketball team and their challenging season, wins were not easy to come by, but head coach Cathy Nixon felt that the season was a positive experience considering the transition to the NCAA. The Wolverines, who finished the season 4-22, only had nine home games this season and played teams from some of the premiere conferences in the NCAA during the season. "Our schedule was one that was not very conducive for wins. I asked my assistants the question, take any Division I team and give them our schedule, I'd be interested to see how they would fare because it's just not built to win very often on the road," Nixon said. I caught up with coach Nixon and talked with her about the 2004-2005 season and the future of the women's basketball program at Utah Valley State. College Times: What are your feelings about the season? Coach Nixon: Obviously we struggled for wins and it was challenging. But overall in a process of us moving up to Division I, I think it was a positive year. A great year considering the progress that we made. Our schedule was tough and we struggled on the road, but it's hard to get wins on the road. But we were excited to host the Independent tournament here and to win our last two games. I thought we played some of our best basketball during the tournament. It was also very nice to have our young players playing well at the end of the year and that has made us very optimistic about next year. Re- bekah Fales was the incomer of the week from January on, and we are excited about her, and we are excited about the incoming recruits. CT: Having your team go 422 on the season, could you talk about how hard it was on you as the coach? CN: I have spent a lot of time reflecting and thinking about that, and my job is to make this program successful and it's a really unique position because no one has ever done it. I think that I'm probably my biggest critic, and I have put high expectations upon myself. I have been very fortunate throughout my playing and coaching career to be with winners. I have been involved with winning programs and I think that has helped me in a lot of ways and in some ways it has made it more difficult because you are used to losing. You expect to win and others expect you to win. Here at UVSC, people are used to winning. My main concern is being evaluated realistically because there has to be an understanding from everyone that jumping from junior college to the NCAA is going to be a challenge. I mean it would make no sense if we just jumped right in and beat everybody. If it was that easy, what has the NCAA been doing for the last 100 years? I think that with several years of Division I recruiting and a stabilized schedule that we will be successful. I really believe that we will be successful. CT: You said throughout the season that your team had a lot of character. What are some examples of your team's character? CN: I think it's not too different from life. It's easy to get discouraged when you have certain goals for yourself and you prepare and do your best. It's not like these kids are going out there and trying to not be successful. Sometimes when we as people get discouraged, we want to stop working hard because we are not seeing the results of our efforts and that's where our team's character really emerged. Through the road trips, challenging opponents, and the rigors of the season they turned it around every single time. The team was always ready to work and listen to the coaching staff and they always tried to get better. CT: You are losing seniors Courtney Lynn and Katie Wilson. What have these players meant to you and the program? CN: Either one of them is an inspiring example of overcoming adversity. Katie tore her ACL ligament. That is a battle and a lot of work behind the scenes. She has put so such time and effort into overcoming her injury. She really became a player who felt right at home on the Division I level. With Courtney, her improvement over time was remarkable. To see her as a freshman who had a hard time even entering the ball into the offense, become a player who basically played 40 minutes a game for us this season tells you so much about her as a player. She learned to be a leader on the court and she played very well against some of the best players in the country. To see players who can find ways to work through their problems and deficiencies on the basketball court makes you as a coach come to love them. I'm going to miss the example that they were to the other players and they are going to be hard to replace. CT: You already mentioned Rebekah Fales, but who else are you expecting to step up and be leaders on next year's team? CN: My seniors next year will be Kaydee Allred and Miriam Palkki. They will have a lot of responsibility and they will be the leaders. They have both started as freshman and they have a lot of basketball minutes under their belts. They will be relied heavily upon. We also have Jessica Scabby coming back and we will depend on her a lot, as well as the freshman from this year's squad. But Kaydee and Miriam will have the leadership and stability on their shoulders CT: You only had 9 of your 26 games at home this year. How is the schedule shaping up for next season? CN: One of the things that I have learned about scheduling is that it isn't over till it's over. We had signed contracts that teams backed out of, so there were three home games that we had to replace with road games, and that made it really tough because we had to fit them in on some road swings. But next year we will have 15 or 17 home games and it will be more consistent from year to year. Chad Clark/NetXNcws Coach Nixon is excited because next year her team will spend the majority of the season at home and not on long road trips. |