Florida Atlantic University Athletics
Women's Basketball: 2016-17 Season Preview
11/8/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Boca Raton, Fla. -
Game Notes (PDF)
With the 2016-17 season just a few days away, the Florida Atlantic University women's basketball team is going to put all of their practice and preparation to good use as they embark on the journey to the Conference USA (C-USA) Tournament.
The Owls will open the season at home as they host Florida Memorial on Friday, Nov. 11, 7 p.m. at FAU Arena. FMU opened their season last week, falling to Xavier University of Louisiana and Dillard University. The Lions are in a similar situation as FAU with only one senior returning in forward Taylor Payne, and rounding out the team with six freshmen and five juniors. The team was chosen to finish eighth in The Sun Conference Preseason Coaches Poll.
Following the FMU game, FAU will play Indiana State at home on Monday, Nov. 14 at 7 p.m. The Sycamores were picked to finish sixth in the Missouri Valley Conference's annual preseason poll. Third-year head coach Joey Wells returns just two starters from last year's squad, including Rhagen Smith and Ashley Taia. Indiana State adds five new players to their roster, including three freshmen, one junior college transfer and a graduate senior.
To prepare for the season, and get a head start with this young squad, FAU completed a Canadian tour over the summer where they were able to hold 10 practice sessions, put their players in live-game situations and participate in fun team bonding activities.
"When they look back on their four years, hopefully there's a chance to win a conference championship and compete for a conference championship, but at the end of the day they are going to remember the experiences that they had," said Lewis-Jay. "It's really neat for us to give them that. It's an early opportunity, especially when you have such a big freshman class, to grow together."
The Owls finished the trip 3-0 with numerous players on the team having breakout performances. The junior duo of Malia Kency and Raven Doyle had 20 and 17 points, respectively, in the 80-68 victory against University of British Columbia. Lone senior Kat Wright had eight points and eight rebounds, tying for the team high in the latter with Doyle. Freshman Julia Jenike started and had eight points along with another frosh, Katelyn O'Reilly, who also drew a start and had seven points and seven boards. In the 90-77 win over Fraser Valley, freshman guard Vashnie Perry led FAU with 18 points and four steals. Two other newcomers joined Perry in double digits, as Jenike and O'Reilly each had 11. Wright had the team high in rebounds with seven. FAU had by far their largest margin of victory in their final game of the tour with a 109-51 rout of Camosun College. The Owls outrebounded their Charger opponents and held them to just five third quarter points. Of the Owls that saw the floor, all but one scored.
"The first thing you have to look at is the 10 practices we were able to get. That puts you ahead right there," said Head Women's Basketball Coach Kellie Lewis-Jay. "You get to put in a system before you ever think about putting it in, and you get to play together and learn each other before anyone else by facing competition early. We outrebounded our opponents all three games."
When practice officially began this fall, the Owls went back to the basics. There has been much more focus on the defensive side of the ball, while the Canada trip was used to refine the team's offensive arsenal, which continues to be a huge weapon for FAU.
"We are focusing on fundamentals," said Lewis-Jay. "We are focusing on the little things right now, which is a huge part of what we are doing; i.e. our stance on the ball, our close outs. Trusting is a big thing. If you are going to have a great defensive team, they are usually going to trust that each other will be in the places that they are supposed to be. That is something we are developing as well."
This squad has welcomed seven newcomers in addition to returning eight letterwinners. The Owls have multiple starters coming back in addition to the six freshmen who joined the squad. The youth have helped bring a renewed spirit and sense of urgency to the team.
"The freshmen bring a great mentality to our program," said Lewis-Jay. "We've had to slow some of the freshman down because they move 100 miles per hour, but it gets everyone else going at that same pace, so that is a good thing. The rebounding has definitely been affected by our freshmen. There I can see a 100 percent, noticeable change in our rebounding ability and our want to go get the basketball and to secure the basketball. I also see a little bit more of a competitive edge in us because of the freshman."
The Owls are definitely going to need that competitive edge this year as they face an extremely tough group of C-USA opponents. FAU will open conference play at WKU on Dec. 30, Marshall on New Year's Day, and rival FIU on Saturday, Jan. 7. The C-USA slate for the Owls features six opponents scheduled for home-and-home contests, including FIU, UAB, and reigning conference champion Middle Tennessee.
"C-USA is always tough; just look at the teams that are in this conference, the tradition that's in this conference and the history of this conference. Women's basketball might be one of its best sports as a whole," said Lewis-Jay. "You have to understand every single day that you're going out and it is going to be a battle. When you talk about our youth, that is something they will have to adjust to quickly, the level of competition they will be facing night in and night out."
Overall FAU has a new winning strategy…DEFENSE! In addition to the team's often staggering offense, defense is expected to help lead the Owls to a winning season. The team will be returning four of its key starters in Wright and juniors Sasha Cedeno, Doyle and Melinda Myers. The veteran Wright brings a career 35.5 field goal percentage and averaged 11.7 points last season. Cedeno will be a threat from beyond the arc as she shot 44.7% last season while Doyle brings consistency on both sides of the ball averaging 3.1 rebounds per game and a .369 field goal percentage in 2015-16. On the boards, the Owls will be led by Myers as she is the program's leading returning rebounder averaging 5.3 boards per game. Wright is the second leading returner with 4.6 rebounds per game.
"We have to see progress defensively. We have to see an ability to want to defend one-on-one and an ability to want to defend as a unit," said Lewis-Jay. "Offensively we have the athletes, we have the system, we have the strengths that can lead to success. Defensively we have to have that mentality that 'this is what is going to allow us to compete for a conference championship'."
To purchase tickets for FAU women's basketball, please call 1-866-FAU-Owls or visit fausports.com. You can also follow the team on Twitter and Instagram at FAU_WBB.
