Inconsistency Plagues Talented Team
January 21, 2010 • By Emmie Cleveland,
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Madison Holds 13-3 Overall Record Despite Struggling to Find Reliable Second Scoring Option
JMU women’s basketball coach Kenny Brooks has struggled to find another offensive threat on his team besides Dawn Evans.
“If I knew what to do, we would definitely do it,” he said at Monday’s weekly press conference. “We’ve been searching for that elusive, consistent second scorer all year long.”
The junior guard has been JMU’s offensive powerhouse. She leads the nation with averages of 26.7 points and 4.1 3-pointers-per-game.
As for a second threat, several players have stepped up throughout the season, but none on a consistent basis.
“It can be a bit frustrating not knowing what you’re going to get from everybody every game,” Evans said. “But that’s just a part of different roles are changing”
The most likely player to do so has been freshman guard Tarik Hislop. She is averaging 11.3 points, second behind Evans. Although often scoring double-digits, Hislop was held to just five in JMU’s 68-67 loss to Drexel and two in its 62-50 win against George Mason.
“I try to at least bring 12 or 13 points a game, but sometimes it doesn’t work out like that,” Hislop said.
However, Brooks said it’s not unusual for stats to fall once CAA play has begun.
“There’s more tape of what she does,” Brooks said. “It happens to everybody. It happened to Dawn, it happened to Tamera [Young]… Where people start to find out what you like to do. And you have to go out and go to countermoves.”
Despite her recent drop-off, Brooks remains confident in his young player.
“She’s been in the gym. She’s been watching film, trying to figure it out,” he said. “And she really wants it. So I don’t think she’s frustrated, but she has to learn how to make adjustments.”
Other potential threats are senior guard Sarah Williams and junior center Lauren Jimenez, averaging 9.6 and 8.1 points, respectively. Jimenez, who recently recovered from an ACL injury, has already recorded 57 points in her seven appearances.
Jimenez “understands the game, and she’s our best finisher on the basket,” Evans said. “… They’ll put her down at the post, and the guards will get open looks, and if me or Sarah gets doubled, then we can look to Lauren and know for sure that she’ll be able to score those baskets.”
Without Jimenez, all six of the other post players have a combined average of 24.3 points-per-game, not even as many as Evans by herself.
When asked what the key was to getting the low post offense going, Brooks again responded, “If I knew I’d tell you.”
Williams, who stands at 6-feet, might appear to have potential to move down low, but Brooks quickly negated the possibility, saying it wasn’t her game.
The lack of reliable players has put stress on the Dukes’ star.
“When you have that inconsistency then it kind of affects your confidence a little bit, and it allows other teams to really focus on Dawn,” Brooks said. “And therefore, then she’s taking tough shots, probably tougher shots than she needs to be taking, and we just kind of get out of sync.”
Averaging 35.9 percent on her 3-point attempts, Evans struggled against Old Dominion, as she was just 2-for-14.
“My percentages are lower than I’d like them to be at this point,” Evans said. “… Coach Brooks set my role in the team to score, so that’s what I’m going to do in the scheme of the game and not take the bad shots that I’ve been taking.”
contact Emmie Cleveland at breezesports2@gmail.com
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