The women’s basketball team will represent Texas A&M University-Commerce in the Drury University tournament starting tonight when they take on the tournament hosts at 6:15. This will be the Lions’ first competitive game this season and head coach Nicole Anderson’s first game in charge.
“I want to see where we are,” Anderson said. “Unfortunately, we haven’t had a chance to scrimmage with anyone else because of the timing of my hire. The schedules for potential opponents were already set. I’m really looking forward to seeing where we are in comparison to other conferences as well as teams who have been highly ranked nationally.”
With a large amount of newcomers in the squad, Anderson said she would be watching to see how well the team works together after weeks of preseason training.
“I’d like to see how well we actually defend against someone else,” she said. “I’d like to see how well we can move the ball against a defensive team that may pressure us or may not pressure us. It’s an exciting chance to evaluate where we are.”
A&M-Commerce Lions go into Friday night’s game with a few injury worries. The starting lineups will vary depending on who is fit to play.
“We’ve been struck with a bit of an injury bug, so we have to play with some lineups and play with a potential starting group,” Anderson said. “Even now we’re kind of scrambling, because we had a few people go down. Nothing’s set in stone as of today. It’s all based on how well they work and how hard they work. They know there’s a good chance that if they’re out there dogging it, they’re not a starter.”
One player who is expected to start is junior Genevieve Campbell. The Rockwall High School graduate scored an average of 8.9 points per game last season and shot .350 percent from the three-point line.
Campbell said A&M-Commerce will have to make up for their lack of height by out-hustling their opponents. While Anderson admits she does not have the tallest team, she said working hard comes regardless of height.
“Even if they are 6′ 5″ across the board, we still teach them to work their little behinds off,” she said.
Another factor the Lions will have to deal with going into the tournament is the absence of last year’s star Britney Jordan. Despite this being her first season without Jordan playing on the same court, Campbell is confident in the teammates she has.
“”I think we’re past it,” she said. “We have a lot of different talent. We have a lot of different kinds of players, so we’re really excited and we all click really well. With BJ (Jordan) it was fun, but I’m excited to play with a different kind of point guard.”
According to Campbell, newcomer Nikki Garner will be taking the starting point guard position.
A&M-Commerce Lions finish up the Drury tournament on Saturday at 3 p.m. when they play Michigan Tech.