Page 9
Wednesday • January 15, 1997
e highs
ason
, lows of first
Lady Ags search for answers to inconsistency
By Jamie Burch
The Battalion
The Texas A&M Women’s Bas
ketball Team (6-7 overall, 0-3 in
the Big 12) has learned that youth
and inexperience is not a formu
la for success.
Due to a young roster, the Lady
Aggies are forced to play the ma
jority of their games with five
freshmen on the floor. However,
the Lady Ags have battled through
the first 12 games of the season,
fighting to stay above the elusive
The Lady Aggies’
Christmas Performance
December 28
vs. San Francisco (L) 85-55
G. Rollie White
December 30
vs. Sam Houston (W) 80-43
G. Rollie White
January 4
vs. Oklahoma (L) 71-69
Norman, Okla.
January 6
vs. Oral Roberts (W) 80-71
G. Rollie White
January 8
vs. Baylor (L) 82-67
G. Rollie White
January 11
vs. Nebraska (L) 75-65
G. Rollie White
.500 mark. Posting a 2-and-4
record over the last six games, the
Lady Aggies have buckled them
selves in for the second half of a
roller coaster season.
What has led to the inability
of the team to string
together a series of wins?
“When you have to rely on
freshmen as much as we are,
you’re not going to have a level of
consistency.That’s true at any lev
el in any sport. And against good
basketball teams, the times of
poor play get you in a whole lot of
trouble.” — Head Coach Candi
Harvey
“We need to correct our in
consistency on the offensive
and defensive end. When we
have a lull in the game, teams
capitalize and we can’t get back
on track.” — Senior guard Lana
Tucker
“Our lack of intensity is caused
by the fact that we don’t come out
with fire or pumped up. We play
hard, but we don’t play hard con
sistently.” — Freshman forward
Kera Alexander
What can the team work
on to cure the bouts of in
consistency?
“In practice, we’re simulating
game situations where we’re
down on the scoreboard and
have to fight back. But we have
five inexperienced freshmen,
so it’s just going to take time to
learn.” — Senior guard Lana
Tucker
“We need to put pressure on
ourselves as a team, taking the
pressure off ourselves as individ
uals.” —Freshman forward Prissy
Sharpe
i
How is the level of play af
fected when five freshmen
are on the court?
“As a young team, I think
we’re doing very well. We’re
making a lot of [rookie] mis
takes. But you can’t expect any
one to be perfect. We just go
out, play hard and try to learn
something new every game.” —
Freshman forward Prissy Sharpe
“As freshmen we don’t expect
to get to play a lot. So when we do,
we try to make the most of the
time we get.” — Freshman for
ward Kera Alexander
“We’re having to learn lessons
the hard way — by losing some
basketball games. But I’ve got to
believe that a month from now
that period of inconsistency is go
ing to be shortened and will con
tinue to shorten the more we play.
We’re having to rebuild and re
build without some of the players
we planned to build around.” —
Head Coach Candi Harvey
Tim Moog, The Battalion
Freshman Jennifer Burrows
prepares to pass the ball off.
How would you assess the
team’s play over the last
five games?
“One problem we have right
now is that we don’t have a go-to
player. We haven’t been able to
put two halves together. It’s like
remodeling a house — you final
ly get something fixed, and then
something else breaks.” — Head
Coach Candi Harvey
Glass Cleaner
Freshman Sharpe uses intensity,
height to snag rebounds
Stew Milne, The Battalion
Freshman Prissy Sharpe dribbles the ball past a Nebraska de
fender in a game at G. Rollie White Coliseum.
By Sara Duesing
The Battalion
ll port is life and the rest
is just details,” is a
sports T-shirt slogan,
and for Texas A&M Women’s
Basketball forward Prissy
Sharpe, the statement holds
true.
“Basketball is my life,”
Sharpe said. “The way you feel
after you win a game keeps me
playing and I wouldn’t trade it
for anything.”
Beginning
competitive play
in the fifth grade,
Sharpe stretched
her skill by attend
ing camps and
summer leagues.
With her parents
guidance and en
couragement,
Sharpe worked
her way up to the
collegiate level.
The freshman
from Longview is praised by team
mates for her hard work and inten
sity.
• “Prissy plays hard every
game,” freshman teammate Kera
Alexander said. “Even when she’s
not having a good scoring day,
she rebounds.”
Preparing herself to compete,
Sharpe spends extra individual
time on the court practicing.
“Basketball is her first love,”
Head Coach Candi Harvey said.
“She would stay out on the court
24 hours if she could. She wants
to be the best and she wants to ex
cel.”
Standing 6-feet 2-inches tall,
Sharpe has had quite an impact
on the court. Alexander said
Sharpe’s physical stature is one of
her best assets when it comes to
Sharpe’s favorite part of the game
— rebounding.
“You need someone that phys
ical for rebounds,” Alexander
said. “Prissy is that physical. She
crashes the boards hard every
game.”
Sharpe said that her rebound
ing is what she tries to primarily
focus on.
“I love to hit the boards hard,”
Sharpe said. “That is what I’m
most interested in and if the
points come after that, then that’s
fine.”
Having to depend on so
many new faces
this season, Har
vey said she is
pleased with
Sharpe’s contri
butions and val
ues her unselfish
ness.
“Her strength is
her strength,” Har
vey said. “She is a
physically strong
young lady but
doesn’t know yet
how to use it. There
is not a whole lot she is afraid of
and she consistently wants the
ball.
“She is always going to get the
rebound, and we haven’t had that
in recent years. Possession is key
in this game and she at least gives
us the opportunity to benefit
from that.”
With visions of a competitive
and successful team, Sharpe
hopes that she can become an
All-American.
“I have a good opportunity to
do that with this coaching staff,
but it is up to me and how I play,”
Sharpe said.
Harvey said she is convinced
that Sharpe has the ability to
reach her goal, but mentioned
that a few factors are still miss
ing.
“We are going to keep re
cruiting so that we can sur
round her with better and bet
ter players,” Harvey said. “Obvi
ously, she needs to keep work
ing hard and making
adjustments, but she really
needs to be on a great basket
ball team.”
Playing in the competitive and
respected Big 12 Conference will
help, too.
“This is a tremendous confer
ence and one of the best in the
country,” Sharpe said. “You can’t
be scared of it though. You have
to go out and attack hard.”
And attacking hard is just what
Sharpe does and will continue to
do.
“She’s an overachiever,”
Alexander said. “She finds her
weaknesses and works on them
until she’s developed them into
strengths. She gives intensity to
the game, but also has fun.”
“There is not a
whole lot she is
afraid of and she
consistently
wants the ball. ,,
Candi Harvey
A&M Head Coach