Kats turn to senior duo for guidance
11/9/2016 5:08:00 PM | Women's Basketball
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HUNTSVILLE, Texas – The Sam Houston State women's basketball program will be a new-look squad entering the 2016-17 season, which begins Friday at Arkansas. With just two returning seniors, the fewest in five years, the team turns to seniors Morghen Day and Jasmine McCants for guidance.
“There are a lot of new players this year and we just need to come together as a team and know each other then move on from there,” Day said. “I have to lead and show everyone the ways and the route of how to go.”
In total, five players return from a team that won three games in as many days at the 2016 Southland Conference Tournament, advancing to the league championship game for the second time in four years.
“Ever since we left Katy last coming off that big high, playing four games in four nights, it was really exciting,” head coach Brenda Welch-Nichols said. “We definitely want to return and not be in the situation of playing four games in four days. I think we're using it as something really big. We've been talking about it since everyone got here. We wanted to make sure they know what it's all about.”
According to Welch-Nichols the biggest addition to the program early on has been the energy seen during the preseason – brought by a new level of excitement with seven freshmen and four transfers.
“They are learning every day,” Welch-Nichols said. “They are out there, having fun and working every day. Anything can happen. What's fun about some young kids is they're just out there working hard and seeing where it takes them. Once they get that first taste of Katy, now they want to go back and go after that ring.”
The Bearkats will be tested early on to the tune of early season visits to Arkansas and TCU along with visits to Rice and LSU among others. Sam Houston will spend 10 of its first 12 games away from the friendly confines of Bernard G. Johnson Coliseum including eight straight between Nov. 25 and Jan. 5.
“We have a pretty tough schedule but these girls are going to learn from each game,” Welch-Nichols said. “With our two seniors, Morghen Day and Jasmine McCants, I think they're going to lead us in the direction we need. The only good thing about it is we know we can do it. We were seven points out from the NCAA Tournament. The seniors can come in there and dominate and get it into the other players' minds.”
Day, a senior from Rockwall, has logged 1,766 minutes (20.5 per contest) and is a three-year letterwinner who has played 86 games in the backcourt. A season ago, Day started 12 times and posted a season-best 12 points at Lamar and five assists at Incarnate Word.
McCants is in her second season with the program after transferring from Alabama Southern. The Pensacola, Fla., native ranked as the team's second-leading rebounder and fifth-leading scorer in 2015-16.
“I love the atmosphere,” McCants said. “It's a lot of new people but I am getting used to it. They are jumping right in and getting with the program. They aren't just new but they are also young. With me and Mo being the only seniors, it was a process but I feel like everyone is heading in the right direction.”
Friday's season opener is slated for 10:30 a.m. from Fayetteville, Ark., against the Razorbacks. The game will be broadcast on the SEC Network-Plus, available through ESPN3 online and the WatchESPN app. The Kats begin home play one week from Friday against Wiley College at 11 a.m.
“You just have to go out and there and play,” McCants said of the youthful group. “It's basketball. We all know it. Our finish last year put a fire in me. I was there and I played. I felt the hurt after the last game. If I show that I am ready, everyone else will follow along.”
