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The Rice Thresher
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by Jason Gershman thresher editorial staff
But if the Lady Owls hope to repeat and even build on last year, they have their work cut out for them. Rice's version of March Madness last year included a Western Athletic Conference Tournament Championship, a bid to the NCAA Tournament and a first-round upset of the University of California at Santa Barbara - all school firsts. But gone are the heart and soul of that 22-10 squad - guards Marla Brumfield and Jenny Cafferty and forwards Kirra Jordan and Kim Smallwood. The four seniors rewrote the Rice record books and took the Lady Owls to unprecedented heights. Their departure means the 2000-'01 team faces significant rebuilding. "When you lose three starters and a total of four people who played a lot of minutes, you've got different people on the court who maybe haven't played together a lot," head coach Cristy McKinney said. "We're improving, we're getting better every day. The key this season is to have our players step up and fill the spots of those who have graduated." But despite these losses, Rice refuses to believe the whole year will be spent in a rebuilding mode. The Lady Owls have higher hopes. "It's important to this year's team that we don't go backwards," McKinney said. "The expectations are very high. I've expected Rice to go the NCAA Tournament since I arrived seven years ago. For years, I've put more pressure on myself than anyone else put on me. Maybe now I'll get some pressure put on me, and that's OK. Our returning players have been to the NIT and NCAA and they know the difference. They know how much more they like the NCAA Tournament. We hope to return there in March." Rice returns two starters from last season, senior forward Kenya Tuttle and sophomore point guard Kim Lawson. Both players will be expected to provide the Lady Owls with some veteran leadership. "Our team is really young," said Tuttle, the team's lone senior and leading returning scorer, rebounder and shot-blocker. "[Kim] and I need to step up and be leaders on the court. I think we can compete with the top teams in the nation." Lawson, who was named to the WAC All-Newcomer team last season, will run the Rice offense from the point. She led the WAC in assist-turnover ratio last year, and she expects to pick up her scoring a bit this year. "I see improvement in my pull-up jumper every day," Lawson said. "I'm getting more comfortable with it. I'll be asked to score more this year than last year, and I'm ready to contribute on offense." The Rice roster will also feature four new faces in two transfers and two freshmen. The two transfers, junior guards Jennifer Rigg and LaTonya Sam, were at Rice last year but sat out the season as per NCAA rules. Rigg, who transferred from rival Southern Methodist University, should immediately step into the starting lineup as an off-guard/small-forward. "Last year was tough to watch," Rigg said. "You're part of the team but it's not the same as going into battle with them. The three is my natural position, the one I love to play. This summer, I worked on making my long range shot more consistent." The other two newcomers are true freshmen, guards Kate Beckler and Lindsey Maynard. Beckler, who went to high school in Granada Hills, Calif., was named the Los Angeles Times Player of the Year as a senior. She will be expected to contribute right away, and she already got a slight taste of life as a Lady Owl last year when she attended Rice's NCAA Tournament victory over UC-Santa Barbara. "Last March was just a little piece of what I was going to get at Rice and I was so pumped," Beckler said. "I intend on contributing to the team this season. I've been trying to get a few jitters out before the season begins." With so many changes and so many new faces, the team's rotation is still up in the air. Tonight's starting lineup will definitely include Lawson, Tuttle and Rigg. The other two spots should go to sophomore Kara Liggett at the off-guard spot and junior Aarika Florus at one of the forward spots. Liggett gained experience as a solid reserve last year. She also managed to steal the spotlight from her elder teammates when she tied a school record by burying seven three-pointers against San Jose State University. Tuttle will start at forward/center and Florus will start at power forward where she will likely split time with fellow junior Daneesh McIntosh. Beckler should see quite a bit of playing time at both guard positions, and junior LaToya Brown will also see time at the point. Maynard, Sam and sophomore Starla James will add further depth to Rice's young backcourt. The new-look Lady Owls think they're good enough to challenge for the WAC title again, but the rest of the conference isn't so sure. Rice was picked to finish fourth out of nine teams in the preseason WAC coaches' poll. SMU, the University of Hawaii and Texas Christian University were picked in the top three spots, respectively, but the Lady Owls hope to prove they've been underestimated. "We lost three starters and another key player," McKinney said. "[But] obviously they don't know what we have. We all feel like we'll finish better than that. Preseason picks don't mean that much. It's the end of the season that counts."
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