Women’s Basketball: Undersized and Underestimated
Tomeck is referring to the lack of size that the 2013-14 Women’s Basketball team has this season, where the two tallest players on the team are listed at 6 feet tall.
“We’re small, but we work really hard. We do the little things really well,” Head Coach Kathleen Russell said. “Just because we don’t have size doesn’t mean we don’t have strength.”
“With my shoes on and my hands up, I’m maybe six feet tall but, I gotta be big [on the court],” Tomeck said. “It’s definitely a challenge I’m looking forward to.”
Last season, the team didn’t have a size problem with Angelica Smith who has moved on to Sage and Raeshelle Frasier who set the single season rebounding record in the 2012-13 season, and is now with Cortland.
“[Frasier] will definitely be missed. Her double-doubles every game are something that can’t be replaced, but we can try,” said Tomeck.
Frasier recorded a double-double in 21 of 24 games and had three games with 20 plus points and 20 plus rebounds. She finished with an average of 16.5 PPG earning her All-Conference and All-Region honors.
“You can’t replace [Raeshelle or Angelica], but [I think] these guys can fill the void,” said Russell.
“She was an important person to our team last year. She stepped up as a leader when we needed her,” said returning G Rose LaPietra. “I still think we can be successful without her because we have a lot of talent and we all work very well together.”
Tomeck and LaPietra are joined by Madeleine DeMarco, Diaquaisa Forehand and Christina Pino as the only returners from last season.
“They’ve done a really good job of leading these younger girls in the right direction,” Russell said.
Everyone on the team is used to playing as a guard, so rebounding will be an all-around team effort.
“We can focus on the basic fundamentals of basketball, boxing out and getting position to get the rebound,” said LaPietra.
“It doesn’t matter how big you are, all that matters is what you do when you go out there and I think our girls understand that,” Russell said.
Rebounding is known as one of the key factors in winning games, but the strength of a team on the defensive end can also determine an outcome.
“A lot of teams are going to be bigger than us and we are going to mix in a lot of zone defenses to try and confuse them,” said Russell “It depends on the situation we’re in.”
The team hasn’t made an appearance in the regional tournament in two years and that is a goal they have their sights set on.
“Our goal is to get back to the regional tournament, be competitive and be in a position to win every game,” Russell said.
“I think that we will be successful because we work together as a team,” said LaPietra.
Tomeck said, “Every single one of us is going to give it everything we’ve got.”
The team started its season off with a 72-45 win over Cayuga on Saturday and a 106-56 loss to Onondaga on Sunday.