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Chemistry counts for trio of seniors
by Brad Norman
Senior Staff Writer
If there was a single word to describe Appalachian State’s season last year, it would be disappointing.
But so far this year, the outlook from the players in a single word still begins with the letter D … but that’s about the only thing in common with this year’s team and the squad that finished 7-21 last year.
“We’re determined,” senior Lindsay Smith said. “There were some missing links last year and it never really clicked on all cylinders. You can tell a total difference in any activity we do together practice or meetings. There’s a different chemistry this year and it’s obvious to everyone.”
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Smith, along with fellow starters and seniors Michelle Conklin and Jessica Jank, will be counted on to lead this team deep into the Southern Conference tournament.
Only three players are gone from last season and four starters return.
With so many key players coming back, the senior trio thinks the chemistry problems that plagued this team last year should remain in the past.
“I believe we are a much better team,” Jank said. “We all get along off the court, and I haven’t felt that way in a while. We all enjoy being around each other.”
Smith said that there was a lot of stuff that happened off the basketball court that was carried on to the court.
She said that was a reason why the team struggled playing together last season.
“Girls are going to be girls,” Smith said. “It’s really easy for little things that happened off the court to carry on the court or … we finally realized there’s no need for that.”
Smith, Jank and Conklin are friends both on and off the court and all three of them were the prized jewels of former Appalachian head coach Barbie Breedlove’s final recruiting class.
Breedlove resigned after only one season with the three players.
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Since then, the women say they have seen a drastic overhaul, implemented by current coach Adrienne Shuler, in the women’s basketball program.
“The way coach Shuler is from coach Breedlove is totally different,” Jank said. “The intensity is just completely different.”
Conklin echoed Jank’s sentiments, and said: “She’ll get out there and show us the drill. Coach Shuler gets out there with us, and she’ll go 1-on-1 with us and she’s still got it.”
Conklin also said there is a healthy respect for Shuler that makes the players play harder for her.
“There’s such a respect there,” she said. “There’s no fear of getting playing time, there’s a fear of letting her down. We don’t want to disappoint Coach Shuler.”
Shuler will be counting on all three of the seniors this year to increase their production on the court.
Shuler needs Smith to increase her scoring average from last year, despite her being the team’s leading returning scorer.
She averaged 9.4 points a game and led the team in assists with 85.
She did struggle with consistency last season and made only 28 percent of her three-point shot attempts.
“I was disappointed in myself,” Smith said. “I was too up and down. There were games that I was there, and other games where I wasn’t producing the way I knew I could.”
Smith is also plagued with degenerative disk disease.
She said her bottom two disks have almost deteriorated completely away.
“When I get in the game, I’m going off adrenaline but I do still feel it,” Smith said. “Days after games are bad and sleeping at night can be bad.”
Conklin was also plagued by injuries last season. She sprained her Medial Collateral Ligament (MCL) and re-aggravated an Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) injury from high school in her right knee during a practice drill.
Conklin had surgery on both knees this off-season.
“I worked real hard this summer to get back in shape and get ready for the start of the season,” Conklin said. “I don’t think about it (my knees) that much. Of course I’m going to … but I’ve trained on it and done a lot of game situations in my rehab.”
Conklin was the floor general last season for the Mountaineers and was one of its most vocal players.
She is also one of the team’s deadliest three-pointer shooters.
Jank returns as perhaps the most underrated starter on the team.
While concentrating more on defense, rebounding and blocking rather than scoring, Jank had her best season yet last year. She was rewarded by receiving the team’s Most Valuable Player award.
“It kind of surprised me, but it was an honor,” Jank said.
Jank led the team with 142 rebounds and 33 blocks and prides herself in doing the dirty work.
“I like to run, I like to rebound and I like to block,” Jank said. “Scoring does not matter too much.”
Shuler has her deepest team in her three-year tenure at Appalachian and she should get quality minutes from everybody on the depth chart.
But she knows that the success on her program this year and the success of the underclassmen in years to come will be relative to how well the seniors lead this year.
“They set the tone for us in terms of what they want to accomplish,” Shuler said. “They set the tone and the level of expectations for themselves individually and what we want to achieve as a team this year.”
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Q&A with coach Adrienne Shuler
by Brad Norman
Senior Staff Writer
1. Last season, the general theme seemed to be 'once we put everything together, we can be a top-3 team.' Your final record was 7-21 ...why do you think it never really got put together, so to speak?
Looking back on last year, I don't think our chemistry was what we needed it to be for us to finish in the top 3. I think we had bits and pieces of what we needed, but unless you mix it all together and get it working well, then that's all you have, different pieces. From a team standpoint we never did get all of our pieces to fit.
2. This year you have a lot of your top players returning. With such a large core coming back, has that been able to help team chemistry so far?
I think so. We have our three seniors, obviously, and they're a great senior class. We had a lot of young kids last year that had to play early and I think they're just a little more seasoned, having been in the system for a little while. At this point in practice, we're not coaching so much effort and that sort of thing. I think last year we had to coach a lot of that (effort) because we had some players not used to this level of play. A lot of it is maturity and a lot of it is just growing up.
3. Crystal Barriner is no longer with the team. What happened with her?
We released her and sent her home. We didn't bring her back.
4. Do you think not having that shoot-first attitude has helped the team so far?
Well, our chemistry is going so well right now because everyone is on the same page. They see the big picture as opposed to just having the bits and pieces. We had some very talented players last year that just didn't work well together. The perfect example is of Michael Jordan coming into the league. He's scoring tons of points but they were still not winning ball games. When he started to share the wealth, so to speak, and everyone got involved, they started winning.
5. Judging by the pre-season polls, it seems that the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga is the clear No. 1 team. It also seems that spots No. 2-11 are wide open. Are you confident that this team can be one of the top teams?
I'm optimistic about the team this year. I think we made some significant strides in areas that we needed to. Yes, UTC is the team to beat, but after that ... like you said, it's a toss-up. There are some teams with a lot of returning players. Georgia Southern will be tough, UNC-Greensboro will be tough ... a lot of teams will be tough. A lot of teams feel they can move up and I obviously see us as one of those teams that can move up into the top-half of the conference by the end of the season. I think that's very doable with this team.
6. In almost every conference game last year, Chattanooga just blitzed through everybody except your team. How is ASU able to play them so close when everyone else is losing by 20?
You're exactly right, both years we've played well against UTC. I don't know if it's because they get up for the top team, but I thought we did a good job of executing. Things just fell in to place. Our kids accepted the challenge. You match up well against one team as opposed to another, and for some reason we match up well against UTC. Hopefully we can get past the "matching up" and hopefully we can start beating them before long.
7. Has there been anybody in the off-season you have been particularly impressed with?
I have expectations for everyone on this team, and they're all doing exactly what I thought they could. But, obviously anytime a freshman comes in and performs well at this level, it catches your eye and Whitney Tossie is one of those kids who has really done a tremendous job from day one. She's going to be a very special player in this league. For her to stand out the way she has on a veteran team has been pretty impressive.
8. Is this the deepest team you've had in your three years?
Definitely. I think out of our 12 healthy players, we can put any of them on the floor and I feel very comfortable with them all. We do have that depth as well as experience at every position. That is going to be key to how well we do this year.
9. Last year your freshmen Danielle Edwards and Jaime Bennett came in and played a decent amount of minutes. Do you see the same thing happening with the freshmen (Tossie and Camille Coleman) this year?
Yeah, I think so. I think Whitney is going to be hard to keep off the floor. Camille is making more of a transition. She played post in high school and we're getting her to play perimeter a little bit. Halfway through the season, she's going to be hard to keep on the bench as well.
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Molly Milroy | The Appalachian
Freshman guard Whitney Tossie goes for a lay up against Maryland. The Mountaineers held the Terrapins close until the final eight minutes. |
Women's basketball hangs with Terrapins, falls 94-74
by Brad Norman
Senior Staff Writer
Before Appalachian State's game against the No.23 team in the nation, the Maryland Terrapins, there was a question as to who would lead the Mountaineers in scoring this year.
Lindsay Smith answered that question resoundingly by scoring a career-high 28 points, but the upset-minded Mountaineers fell to the Terrapins Nov. 19, 94-74.
"I was pleased at the fight we showed tonight and it's definitely something we are going to build on," ASU head coach Adrienne Shuler said after the defeat.
Shuler's squad trailed by 20 points at halftime, 47-27, but they were able to trim the lead to eight points (69-61) with 8:00 left to go in the game after a steal and layup by freshman Whitney Tossie.
Maryland's Shay Doron answered with a three-pointer the next possession and the Terrapins fed 6'3" freshman center Crystal Langhorne for the rest of the night.
Langhorne, who was two inches taller than anyone on ASU's roster, finished with 25 points and seven rebounds in her first collegiate game.
"We knew their height would be a problem for us but I thought we did as well as we probably could have with the level that we were playing against," Shuler said. "We were down 20 at the half and we had a chance to through it in the tank and call it a night. But we came out and cut it 8 and I think that showed the kind of character and pride that they had."
Maryland head coach Brenda Frese said she expected a close game despite her team's national ranking.
"Watching them in warm-ups, I knew this was a team that wasn't going to quit," Frese said. "They played extremely hard and they have a lot of talent. They're going to have a successful year."
ASU shot 50 percent for the game, a number that was higher than for any game last season.
Smith shot exceptionally well, connecting on 8 of her 12 shots, including 6-of-8 from three-point range.
"The first shot in the game went down and it just kept feeling good," Smith said.
Sophomore forward Danielle Edwards added 17 points on 80 percent shooting (8-of-10) and guard Kiki Conyers added 12 points and six assists.
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