The Collegian

Issue date: 11/19/04 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Karyn Gilbert Sophomore Chyanne Jacomini dodged a blocker while trying to score for her team during to practice. [Click to enlarge]

The women's Mustang basketball team enters the season mirroring their male counterparts. Both are coming off of a successful year where they won their respective league and conference. In the case of the Lady Mustangs, last year may have provided a little more wiggle room for a sense of motivation.

For the women Mustangs, the 2003-2004 year marked their fourth straight conference championship. However, last year they couldn't call the Bay Valley Conference championship their own. The Mustangs had to share custody of that championship with Sierra College, as they both finished with 22-7 records. They also came tantalizingly close to the California State Tournament, making it to the Elite Eight in the Northern California playoffs.

Returning to the team is first team All-Conference player Elyse Garcia, who averaged nine points a game, and led the team in steals. Lending more experience will be sophomores Kathreen Noa and Kristy Urbick, both All-Conference honorable mentions.

The Mustangs will combat transfer dilution with an injection of freshman talent. Players like Sammy Jew, Jennifer Layton, Naia Thomas, Beth Costa, and Deidra Brown figure to add a whole new dimension to the team. Coach Gina Johnson, entering her ninth year as Delta head coach, can visualize the promise in comparison to last year's squad. "We definitely had a great team last year, but if there was something we lacked on that team, it was certainly size," she said "Size was an issue all year, as we were a little short. The freshmen coming in will add plenty of length to the team."

The new year has the potential to be a study in diverse talent pulling together. The agony end of the infusion of new talent comes in the form of cohesion.

Along with new players come adjustments and growing pains; a well-oiled unit doesn't form together overnight.

With the sands of the preseason hour glass slipping away, the Mustangs sense the pressure to siphon out some of the kinks. " I feel that with our depth we will be stronger, but we are trying to get a feel for one another considering the variety of new talent.

With such a young group, we will need our preseason to improve and develop a good rotation of players by the start of league play," said coach Johnson.

"I'm pretty excited about the new freshman class," said PG Elyse Garcia, whose job will be to run the floor and cobble the different talents together. "We need to get on the same page, but once we get to know each other and we start flowing as a team I'm sure we will really start to produce," said Garcia.

With new players, and a championship-winning foundation, the potential for success is there. But the funny thing about potential is that it always seems to come with a price tag.

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