Basketball Oct. 29, 2008Page 2

First Row: Jacey Cullop, Ashley Poynter, Caitlin Spencer, Anna Pruitt, Catherine Haikin, Kara Beal, Gretchen Blattner, Melissa Borthwick, Jordyn Cossman, Jordan Jarnagin and Kirstie Gronau.Back Row: Head coach Dave Denly, student assistant coach Jason Jeschke, Ellen Blattner, Lauren Hamel, Andrea Smith, Amy Laible, Courtney Putnam, Tylar Hartfield, Sara Maxwell, Natasha Flynn, Brooke Fairbank, Jasmine Jackson, assistant coach Jack McNickle and assistant coach Jason VenJohn.

By Amelia LutzStaff reporter

The woman’s basketball team doesn’t have to say anything about their team spirit. Their t-shirts say it all. Last year, the shirts read, “One team, one heart, one goal.” This year, the shirts are slightly different with their new quote, “New team. Same dream. One goal.” Walk into Stewart Field House and you may find the Lady Build-er basketball team hard at work, with the goal of returning to the national tournament. The team ended last year in a second place finish in conference and a trip to the Natioanl Asso-ciation of Intercollegiate Athlet-ics national tournament in Sioux City, Iowa. The Lady Builders finished

The team is excited to get the season underway. Returner Ashley Poynter, sophomore guard, said, “I’m pumped for the games. I’m ready to play.” Newcomer Gretchen Blattner, freshman guard, said, “I’m just excited to be playing college bas-ketball. It’s so intense.” Friendship and teamwork are evident within the team. Even Denly seems to notice. “I think the team is close. I get a sense of camaraderie within the team too.” The Lady Builders have a rough road ahead. New players means new plays to learn. A new team also means inex-perience at the collegiate level, which could cause cracks in the solidarity of the team. Returner Courtney Putnam, sophomore post, said, “I think the

freshmen will be okay. There’s a lot of leadership within the re-turning class to help guide them along.” The team has obstacles to overcome. “With confidence in ourselves and in our fellow team-mates, as well as the simple love of the game, we can go far,” said returner, Anna Pruitt, sophomore guard. The first game is the Tara Pat-terson Memorial Coca-Cola Clas-sic at 5 p.m. Nov. 7 in Stewart Field House. The Lady Builders will take on Hillsdale Freewill Baptist from Oklahoma City. The other teams in the classic are Friends and Central Methodist University. Amelia Lutz is a sophomore majoring in communication. You may e-mail her at amelia.lutz@sckans.edu.

The Collegian StaffEditor in Chief . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Anthony CookManaging Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jessica BernhardtFeature Editors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Inger Furholt

Sam GillisNews and Opinion Editors. . . . . . . . . . . .Cameron Siefkes

Peg WilliamsSports Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Paige Carswell Photo Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Kenna CorleyCirculation Managers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sam Gillis

Nate JonesStaff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Colin Baker, Blake Carter,

Katie Gomez, Korie Hawkins, Christian Ingalls, Ryan Kane, Amelia Lutz, Julie Miller,

Kevin Mnich, Brian Nelson, Alissa SheppardFaculty Adviser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Stacy Sparks

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with a 23-9 record, and a confer-ence record of 14-4. The team also had two players who were unanimous first team all-KCAC [Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference] picks, Kara Beal, senior guard, and Jenna Wilson, senior forward. Tylar Hartfield, freshman post, was selected as an all-freshman team KCAC Honorable Mention. Beal and Hartfield return to this year’s team. The coaches’ and media poll rankings were released Oct. 21. The poll ranks where teams will end up at the end of conference play according to the coaches in the conference. The Lady Builders were pre-dicted to finish second, a little higher than what Dave Denly, head women’s basketball coach, thought. “It’s a little higher than I ex-

pected, given what we lost. But it’s just a prediction. It doesn’t really hold a lot of water,” said Denly. The team graduated six and ap-proach the current season with only eight returners out of the 22 on the squad from last year. With freshman, this year’s roster is 22. The roster includes eight re-turners and the 12 new players who make up a good part of the team. With the new team came a new strategy as well. Out of the 22, only two are posts. This is a se-rious drop in size from the eight from last year. The team’s new strong point is rumored to be their guard play, although the team is going to per-form to their best ability. “The ladies all have strong athletic abilities. I think we’ll do well,” said Denly.

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Women enter season with fresh faces

BasketballOct. 29, 2008 Page 11

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By Peg WilliamsNews and opinion editor

Superstitions are like excuses, everyone seems to have them. And that saying goes double for basketball players. Both women and men’s basket-ball players have superstitions or routines, as some people prefer to call them. Tim Moore, computer science senior, said, “I pray before each game, then I have to hear four songs from my iPod, ‘Dear Mom-ma’ by 2Pac, ‘Faithful is Our God’ by Hezekiah Walker, ‘Dreamin’’ by Young Jeezy ft. Keyshia Cole and ‘Order My Steps’ by the Mighty Clouds of Joy.” Moore listened to the songs multiple times before a game once and felt that it threw off his performance. Melissa Borthwick, biology junior, also upholds superstitions before her games. Shefixesherhairthesamewayevery time and always tries to warm up with the same partner during games. She’s one of the many athletes whofindsuperstitionskeytothegame. “I think they are important to a team’s mindset. Any added boost of confidence that some ritualcan bring helps the team out,” said Borthwick. “I also think it’s important to be able to overlook if something doesn’t go the way you want it to because you’re go-ing to have to play regardless.” David King, computer science senior, always keeps a penny in his left shoe. “I always wear the same under-shirt and listen to the same songs

during pregame,” said King. “Su-perstitions are important because they make people uniquely differ-ent from each other.” Some superstitions are more of a pregame retual. Jordan Jarnagin, nursing junior, goes through the same pregame

motions each week. “Supersi-tions are important for players who have them, because then it’s just mental,” said Jarnagin. Peg Williams is a junior majoring in communica-tion. You may e-mail her at peggy.williams@sckans.edu.

Athletes avoid affects of

The Jinx