In the midst of two weeks of hard-hitting competition in Texas and California, the women's basketball team returns to Jadwin Gym tonight to take on a friendlier opponent — the University of Tennessee Martin.
The Tigers are coming off a tough weekend in Waco, Tex., where they opened their season by suffering a painful 86-47 loss to Baylor.
The second game in Texas was much brighter, as the Tigers defeated Southwest Texas State, 82-81, thanks to junior post Eileen Powers' last-second score in overtime.
UT-M is playing its season opener tonight, after going 8-20 last year. To make matters more difficult for the Skyhawks, four of their five starters from last year graduated, which has incited them to make a large change in offensive strategy.
Last year, about half of the Skyhawks' 1,900 points came from the free throw line and three point range.
Now with solid three-point shooters Kelly Pendleton and Tracy Webb missing from last year's lineup, head coach Gary Van Atta expects to use a fast, wide open offense to maximize the team's scoring opportunities.
Despite the heavy player losses, the UT-M team had a deep bench last year, and will be a force to reckon with. Skyhawk seniors Amy Watson, Randy Morgan and LaShanta Morrow will be filling the shoes of last year's graduating starters.
All three of these seniors played in over 25 games last year, with Watson playing in all 28. During her junior year, Watson led the team with 370 total points and 13.2 points per game. Morgan will try to fill the role of the three-point shooter, after shooting .379 last year from beyond the arc.
One of the keys to the game will be how well the Tigers can adjust to this new Skyhawk offense that will emphasize getting up and down the floor quickly.
On Saturday, Baylor outscored the Tigers 8-0 on fast break opportunities and registered 24 points off turnovers.
Even if their new offensive strategy works, UT-M will still have questions to answer on the defensive end.
The Skyhawk defense has historically been solid, averaging about 70 points against, and 9.9 steals per contest.
How well the new players will play defense as a unit is anyone's guess.
After a rough game against Baylor, the Tiger offense seemed to have found its form by the end of last weekend.
For Princeton, senior wing Maureen Lane will try to get things going on the offensive end, after registering 22 points, eight rebounds and six assists on Saturday.
Sophomore guard Karen Bolster will take care of the three-point attack, as she hit three of five three-point attempts against Baylor.
After Wednesday night's game, the Tigers will head out to Palo Alto, Calif. to play in the Stanford Invitational. The Tigers will face tough West Coast competition on Friday and Saturday, and further fine-tune their offense in preparation for the long season ahead.
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