Head start

SUU practice is underway

By RICH JOHNSON
UNIVERSITY JOURNAL

The T-Bird women’s basketball squad faces a tough task early in the 2002-2003 season, returning no starters and facing teams like BYU, who reached the Sweet 16 last March.
However, head coach Joe Hillock is optimistic going into the season.
“It’s going to be a growing process and I’m going to have to be a very patient man with these young ladies to work them through the difficulties of our schedule,” Hillock said. “We’ve got some good players and I think we can do a lot of damage. It’s just a matter of how fast this group comes together and understands what we’re trying to do.”
SUU has only one senior on its roster, 6-foot-3 center Evie Larsen of Twin Falls, Idaho.
Larsen is optimistic and excited heading into the 2002-2003 season. She said the new players this season have picked up the offense more quickly than last season.
“I’m really excited about the girls I’m playing with this year,” Larsen said. “The girls coming off of their redshirt years are going to be amazing for us. We’re going to have a lot of talent and a lot of potential to do good things in the Mid-Con.”
Larsen said that last season’s team, which finished 10-15 (6-8 in Mid-Con play) never quite reached its potential. She said the team’s youth this season is an advantage.
“I think we have a lot of talent, and a lot of girls with really good attitudes,” Larsen said. “I think we’re going to be able to take our talent and put it together much better than we did last year.”
Junior guard Casey Cooke said the team is full of hard-workers.
“You can tell everybody wants to be here,” she said. “We’re just having fun. We’re a really fun team.”
The ‘Birds open the season Nov. 14 at 7:05 p.m. with an exhibition game at the Centrum. They will play host to a club-team from Hungary, which is finishing its season with a trip through the United States.
“They won’t be WNBA caliber, I hope,” Hillock said. “They could be. A lot of these gals are paid to play and that’s part of their job.”
Hillock said his team will be playing against some “kids” who might be 30-years-old.
“That’ll be hard for our 17 and 18-year-old kids to handle because of the physicality,” he said. “I’m not going into that like I have to win it, like other
We’re going into it with the opportunity to play a lot of kids and see how they fit... so we can get our rotation set before we open (the regular season) on Nov. 22 against Riverside.”
Without any returning starters, all the positions in the line-up are wide-open, Hillock said.
Hillock said that he probably won’t make any final lineup decisions until after the exhibition game.
SUU plays 17 home games this season. Larsen said the early