Kat Seniors Ready for Merrell Madness
3/14/2013 9:33:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Or at least it seemed like they were joking as inexperienced sophomores, laughing and pointing at their ring fingers.
It was the season following the 2009-10 conference championship run by the Sam Houston State men's team and there were still players from that team flaunting their hardware; Gilberto Clavell, Josten Crow, Antuan Bootle, Drae Murray and Lance Pevehouse.
Fast forward a couple of years later and the ladies are still laughing but the joke is over for the Bearkat women's program.
The senior group of Smith, Thomas and Britni Martin have taken the Kats from the dark days (15-72 overall, 8-40 in conference from 2006-09) to cutting the nets down at Bernard G. Johnson Coliseum and raising a championship banner soon enough.
Ending the regular season as co-champions with Oral Roberts, the Sam Houston women now are ready to battle for the Southland Conference's NCAA Division I championships berth. The Bearkats play in the semifinals Friday afternoon at 1:30 p.m. at the Merrell Center in Katy.
This is the type of outcome to a season the Kats have anticipated for a while now.
"Even before I signed (the program) wasn't doing well," Smith said. "It was always a mission of mine and when I came in with the other two seniors, Clarke (Davis, who redshirted and is a junior this year) and Sequeena, we wanted to be here to change it. I wanted to leave my own footprints, which is kind of why I chose coming here. I didn't have to come in and fill anybody else's shoes. I've kind of created my own. So that's kind of what got me here and we did it finally.
"I just think we kept adding on great players. We just had to build the right team and that started with us seniors who've been here and our coaching staff bringing in the players we needed to get here."
Right after the Kats secured a share of the conference title last Thursday in Nacogdoches with a win against rival Stephen F. Austin, the first in school history for the women, they hitched back to Huntsville for an intimate net-cutting ceremony. It was late at night and mostly the closest of family, friends and fans were there.
"It was kind of a team thing," Smith said. "We would have liked for it to have been in front of our home crowd but there were no home games left and then spring break. We were thankful for who came. But it was more for just us.
"It worked out funny, being at SFA, this could clinch it. Coach (Leslie) Reinecker's birthday. So, everything just worked out for our best just trying to stay focused and stay humble knowing that anything could happen on any given day. I think we just wanted to be a team and stay together and play like we'd been playing."
Notes and clippings from the banner season cover the bulletin board close to the door of their locker room. That struggling period from 2006-09 were the first few seasons as head coach for Brenda Welch-Nichols, a former star at Sam Houston herself who worked to build the program from scratch.
"She was excited," junior guard Jasmine Johnson said of the always passionate coach after winning a share of the championship. "It's her first one, after all the years she's been coaching. They rebuilt this program, brought all of these players in and to see it finally succeed, that was a big moment for her."
Nichols was recently named Coach of the Year while Martin and Thomas were All-Southland first team all-Southland honorees and Smith was an honorable mention selection . Martin is one of the natural scorers and one of the best all-around players in the league. The same could be said about Thomas as a rebounder and a double-double waiting to happen.
But the Kats aren't this good without the skills that Johnson and Smith bring as guards who can score and create offense when called upon.
"Since I got here they've been telling me I'm here to build a team and lead it," Johnson said. "I've been in that role and I've accepted that role. I don't go out of what I can do. I stay in what I know how to do."
The Kats have a lot of downtime leading up to the Southland Conference tournament semifinal round. As good as Sam Houston has been this season, the Kats haven't exactly been untouchable. There was a three-game losing streak in the conference schedule that included a 50-point loss to Oral Roberts followed by a 20-point loss to Central Arkansas.
Still, this team is convinced that only they can get in the way of finishing what they started.
"I think we're our toughest competitors," Smith said. "Even in the 50-point loss to Oral Roberts, we weren't there. It was us. And they played just as hard as they played when they were here when we beat them. When we don't show up, anything can happen obviously. To be honest, we're our biggest competitor. People can be worried about us all they want but we're not going to be worried about anyone but ourselves."
Should Sam Houston win Friday, the Bearkats will earn a spot in the championship finals on Saturday, again at 1:30 p.m.
Both the semifinals and finals will be telecast on ESPN3. The games also will be broadcast live on 104.9 FM The Hits in Huntsville.
Southland Conference Women's Tournament Schedule/Results
Wednesday, March 13
Game 1: No. 5 McNeese St. 63, No. 8 Northwestern St. 45
Game 2: No. 7 Stephen F. Austin 64, No. 6 Central Arkansas 59
Thursday, March 14
Game 3: No. 5 McNeese St. 86, No. 4 Nicholls St. 70
Game 4: No. 3 Lamar 69, No. 7 Stephen F. Austin 65
Friday, March 15
Game 5: No. 5 McNeese St. vs. No. 1 Oral Roberts, 11 a.m. (ESPN3)
Game 6: No. 3 Lamar vs. No. 2 Sam Houston State, 1:30 p.m. (ESPN3)
Saturday, March 16
Game 7: Championship Game, 1 p.m. (ESPN3)
