UA women continue to make strides

By Marty Cook

Posted: November 8, 2009 at 6:58 a.m.

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LITTLE ROCK — Arkansas schedule DATE OPPONENT TIME Nov. 15 Alcorn State% 2 p.m.

Nov. 18 at SMU 7 p.m.

Nov. 22 East Tennessee St. 3 p.m.

Nov. 26 Iona# 1 p.m.

Nov. 27 Western Kentucky# 4 p.m.

Dec. 2 Kansas State 7 p.m.

Dec. 5 at Oklahoma Noon Dec. 8 Coppin State 7 p.m.

Dec. 17 at Northwestern noon Dec. 19 DePaul^ 4:30 p.m.

Dec. 20 FSU/UTSA^ TBA Dec. 21 TBA^ TBA Dec 29 Sam Houston State 7 p.m.

Jan. 3 Florida* 2 p.m.

Jan. 7 LSU* 7 p.m.

Jan. 10 at Ole Miss* 2 p.m.

Jan. 14 Mississippi State* 7 p.m.

Jan. 17 Georgia* 2 p.m.

Jan. 21 at Kentucky* 6 p.m.

Jan. 24 at Alabama* 2 p.m.

Jan. 31 Vanderbilt* 2 p.m.

Feb. 4 at Tennessee* 6 p.m.

Feb. 7 Kentucky* 2 p.m.

Feb. 11 at Auburn* 6 p.m.

Feb. 14 at South Carolina* TBA Feb. 18 Ole Miss* 7 p.m.

Feb 21 Alabama* 2 p.m.

Feb. 25 at LSU* 8 p.m.

Feb. 28 at Georgia* 1 p.m.

Mar. 4-7 SEC Tournament, Duluth, Ga.

$Exhibition game *SEC game %at Summit Arena in Hot Springs #at Caribbean Challenge, Cancun, Mexico

FAYETTTEVILLE - Tom Collen has always turned the corner and made the NCAA Tournament in his second year on the job.

At Colorado State, the Lady Rams were 33-3 in Collen’s second season. At Louisville, he had the Lady Cardinals in the NCAA Tournament with a 25-7 record.

Collen, though, understands why it’s a little slower treading at Arkansas, where the Razorbacks women’s team was 18-14, 6-8 in the SEC in 2008-2009. In Collen’s first season, Arkansas was 17-13, 2-12.

“I feel like we’re on target,” Collen said during SEC media day. “I felt, realistically, it was a three-year, four-year [process] before we could be an NCAA Tournament team. In the back of your mind you want to be a little more optimistic than that.”

There is no mystery why the rebuilding is taking a little longer at Arkansas. Collen said the SEC is a much tougher league than the Mountain West and Conference USA that his two previous teams were in.

“It’s just hard to move up in the SEC,” Collen said. “You take small steps.”

The Razorbacks did improve last year, winning four more conference games than the previous season. Collen said a near upset at Vanderbilt, that failed to happen because of a late missed layup, prevented Arkansas from reaching .500 in conference games.

The Razorbacks earned an invitation to the Women’s NIT where, after a first-round bye, they defeated Oklahoma State before losing to Kansas in the third round.

Collen said Arkansas has a tougher nonconference schedule this year, and he hopes the difficult primer doesn’t break down his young team. The Razorbacks will rely heavily on freshmen and sophomores, and Collen wants them to be prepared for the grind of a 16-game SEC season, which the conference instituted this year.

Last year, the Razorbacks lost their first four conference games and seven of their first eight. They salvaged the season with five consecutive victories late in the season.

“If we come into the SEC with some confidence, that’ll be important,” Collen said. “We were digging ourselves out of that hole all year long. We can’t afford that this year. We have to get off to a better start.”

The Razorbacks lost three starters but return two sophomore guards who made the conference’s all-freshman team last year.

C’eira Ricketts, the SEC’s cofreshman of the year, averaged12.6 points and six rebounds per game, and Lyndsay Harris averaged 9.6 and three assists. With senior Charity Ford, the league’s sixth man of the year, providing stability and toughness, the Razorbacks’ backcourt could be a strength.

Collen isn’t sold on his backcourt just yet because he knows how difficult it will be for Ricketts and Harris to follow up on their breakout debuts. Neither will sneak up on the league.

“My biggest concern for them is they think because they were on the all-freshman team last year, they think they’re good enough to be all-conference players this year,” Collen said. “I certainly want them to come in playing with confidence, but they have to understand when you look at returners on our team, those are the two withtargets on their backs.

“People are going to try to shut them down. They have to be better than they were last year.”

Guard play would be helped greatly by an inside presence.Collen thinks he has the personnel this year after targeting the position in recruiting.

Freshman Sarah Watkins, a 6-3 post from Germantown, Tenn., is the most promising newcomer. Watkins missed a couple of weeks with a health issue, but Collen expects big things from her.

“We have a young lady in Sarah Watkins who I think can be as good as any freshman post player in the league,” Collen said. “We anticipate her being impactful. We need a couple of our other newcomers to step up.

“If they can have somewhat similar years that the two freshman guards had last year, I think we can compete.”

Other candidates inside are senior Ashley McCray, freshman Dominique Robinson andfreshman Quistelle Williams. Williams signed with Collen in 2008 but had to sit out a year because of academic issues.

“She’s not on anybody’s radar screen,” Collen said. “She’s on my radar screen in practice every day. She can be a differencemaker for us.”Arkansas women’s roster NO. NAME POS. HT. YR. HOMETOWN (PREV SCHOOL) 3 Jamesha Townsend F 6-2 So. Chula Vista, Calif. (Bonita Vista) 4 Sarah Watkins P 6-3 Fr. Germantown, Tenn. (Houston) 12 Ashley Daniels F 6-2 So. Coldwater, Miss. (Coldwater) 13 Julie Inman G 5-9 So. Carlisle (Carlisle) 14 Kristen Gillespie G 5-8 Fr. Overland Park, Kan. (Shawnee Mission South) 15 Skye Rees P 6-3 Jr. Drouin, Victoria (Drouin) 21 Dominique Robinson F 6-0 Fr. Baton Rouge, La. (Capitol) 22 C’eira Ricketts G 5-9 So. Louisville, Ky. (Fairdale) 23 Ashley McCray P 6-3 Sr. Sanford, Fla. (Seminole) 24 Brittney Richardson G/F 5-11 Jr. Mountain Home (Mountain Home) 32 Charity Ford G 5-8 Sr. Arlington, Texas (Seguin) 33 Lyndsay Harris G 5-9 So. Hoover, Ala. (Hoover) 44 Quistelle Williams F 6-0 Fr. East Kentwood, Mich. (East Kentwood) 54 Ashlea Williams P 6-2 Jr. Springfield, Mo. (Hillcrest)2008-2009 RESULTS (17-12, 6-8 SEC) DATE OPPONENT TIME/RESULT Nov. 5 Rogers State (exh.) W, 74-58 Nov. 15 Louisiana-Monroe W, 77-38 Nov. 19 High Point W, 63-46 Nov. 21 SMU W, 78-69 Nov. 23 Northwestern W, 60-44 Nov. 28 vs. Oregon State+ L, 69-56 Nov. 29 vs. Pacific+ W, 78-61 Dec. 3 at Memphis W, 76-69 Dec. 5 vs. Alcorn State^ W, 79-46 Dec. 6 vs. Kansas State^ L, 65-56 Dec. 9 North Dakota W, 85-73 Dec. 18 Dartmouth W, 66-57 Dec. 21 Missouri L, 56-55 Dec. 29 Western Illinois W, 70-53 Dec. 31 Stetson W, 85-44 Jan. 3 at Texas Tech L, 75-60 Jan. 8 LSU* L, 62-42 Jan. 11 at Kentucky* L, 72-63 Jan. 18 Auburn* L, 70-61 Jan. 22 Tennessee* L, 76-67 Jan. 25 at Mississippi State* W, 65-62 Jan. 29 at Vanderbilt* L, 72-61 (OT) Feb. 1 Florida* L, 94-78 Feb. 5 at LSU* L, 68-53 Feb. 8 at Georgia* W, 77-64 Feb. 12 South Carolina* W, 58-54 Feb. 15 Ole Miss* W, 70-59 Feb. 19 at Florida* W, 83-74 Feb. 22 Alabama* W, 74-69 March 1 at Auburn* L, 94-57 Mar. 5-8 SEC Tournament *SEC game +Junkanoo Jam, Grand Bahama Island ^Wildcat Classic, Manhattan, Kan.

Special, Pages 76 on 11/08/2009

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