Spartan women headed for midway mark
By KYLE WILSON
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kwilson@crestonnews.com
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As coach Buck Scheel enters his third year as the Southwestern women’s basketball coach, after two complete recruiting years, his style of play is now well represented by his players.
Slowly, the Spartans are progressing under Scheel. His first year, Southwestern won seven games and lost 23. Last year, they improved by five wins, going 12-18 and reaching the first round of the conference tournament.
With the addition of a talented freshmen crop, Scheel has goals he’d like to attain in the 2009-10 basketball season.
“Obviously, we’d like to be above .500. We’d like to have a winning record,” he said. “And we want to go out and compete with teams we haven’t competed with in the past.”
Third-team all region guard Ariel Green from Detriot, Mich. returns for the Spartans. Haley Wessling, a guard from Anita, has returned stronger and a bigger threat from the perimeter, Scheel said. Other returners include Nakya Clark from Omaha, Neb., CeCe Wright from Council Bluffs and Robin Moore from Bedford.
“They are a good group of guards,” Scheel said. “They knew they had to work hard over the summer because they were competing against each other for playing time when they came back.”
Freshmen
Cara Clark from Omaha, Neb. is a hustle player with a never ending motor, Scheel noted. Sara Lincoln from Central Decatur led the Spartans in the opening game Thursday with 15 points. Lincoln and Wessling, who also netted 15 points, led Southwestern to a tight 73-70 victory.
The Spartans led by 20 points in the opening half but similar to the SWCC men’s game Tuesday, William Penn’s junior varsity persevered, clawing back to within two points with less than one minute remaining.
The Spartans outlasted William Penn as Green hit a big shot off the glass in the closing minute. The Spartans moved to 1-0 overall.
Other freshmen
Claire Youngclaus of Albany, Mo showed promise in the opener. The smooth shooting lefty, still adjusting to the speed of college basketball, Scheel said, netted six points. Yet to be seen is freshman guard Courtney Ray of Gallatin, Mo. Ray won the starting job at point guard and will see significant playing time when she returns from illness. Creston graduate Morgan Evans will be a two-sport athlete at Southwestern and Raven Scaife received plenty of playing time in the opener and showed her athletic abiltiy on first-half drives to the basket.
The Spartan finished sixth in the Iowa Community College Athletic Conference last year and look to improve both inside the conference and in non-conference match ups.
“We have the potential to make some noise. We have the potential to surprise some teams,” Scheel said.
The Spartan men tip-off at 2 p.m. Saturday against North Central Missouri. In the preview piece for the SWCC men the statement was made that last year’s 17 wins was the most in 10 years. That was false, in 2006-07 the Spartans posted 18 wins.
The Spartan women will follow the men, starting at 4 p.m. against North Central Missouri.
