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McKinney, SU WBKB Ready
to Take Next Step in
2008-09
Entering her fourth
season as Schreiner
Women's Basketball head
coach, Jeanette McKinney
will face two familiar
sights - one very
reassuring and one that
causes both optimism and
consternation. The
first sight is that of
senior Monica Enriquez.
Enriquez, a point guard
from Corpus Christi, had
another standout season
in 2007-08. That is
nothing new as she’s had
three of those in her
three seasons at SU.
All Enriquez did in
2007-08 is probably have
her best overall season
in a maroon and white
uniform. She ranked in
the top 10 in the
American Southwest
Conference in seven
different categories
including first in
assists and second in
steals. In her three
seasons leading SU,
Enriquez has already
tallied 1,171 points,
303 assists, 256 steals
and 347 rebounds in her
career and is among the
all-time leaders in each
category with her senior
campaign still to go.
The Mountaineers would
love to have Enriquez
end her career with a
playoff appearance, but
the other consistent
sight will have a lot to
do with whether or not
that happens this
winter. That is a
roster that again will
be very young. The team
lost four of its five
starters but should have
talented young players
who could at least fill
the void created by the
departed players and
might be able to be even
more productive both on
the offensive and
defensive end. Coach
McKinney should have
much more depth than in
the past, due mainly to
the largest and best
recruiting class since
her arrival. Still, she
will first look to
Enriquez and her
returning players to
provide the leadership
necessary to help the
young talent. One
player McKinney will be
looking to will be both
a returning player and a
freshman in Ayesha Safo
- a guard/forward from
Converse. Safo sat out
all last year due to a
knee injury she
sustained last summer.
She got to watch the
team as she rehabbed her
injury so she will have
a chance to make her
mark over the next four
years. One other plus
to the 2008-09 squad
should be that Schreiner
Women's Basketball will
be a much more balanced
team with more of a post
presence. In the past
three years, Schreiner
was a guard-laden team
and opponents knew to
focus on Enriquez and
her counterparts. If
you could shut down the
guard play, the
Mountaineers were at a
competitive disadvantage
that was often too much
to overcome.
Although this will be
another freshmen
dominated team, McKinney
is cautiously optimistic
that 2008-09 may be the
“breakout year” where
the team moves to the
next level and competes
for a playoff spot - or
more. One last site
that McKinney is
planning on seeing again
this fall and beyond is
a commitment to
excellence in the
classroom. Last year's
team had its highest
overall team GPA (3.44
in the spring) in recent
memory - a tradition
that McKinney wants to
see embraced by her
teams in the future. It
all adds up to an
interesting and
hopefully successful set
of circumstances as the
2008-09 season unfolds.
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