Head coach Dave Harnish, who is beginning his 22nd year at the helm, knows there is plentyof talent on this year year after watching his squad go through scrimmages Oc. 25 against South Dakota Mines at home and then Nov. 1 on the road against Chadron State.
The scrimmages are a welcome change for the coaches and players after practicing for two hours a day since Oct. 1.
“For this team it is important for us to have as many scrimmages as we can have for a couple scenarios,” Harnish said. “For one, we have been practicing since Oct. 1 and I think the kids are tired of practicing against each other and ready to play against somebody else. And, from my side, it was a chance for me to see what we can do well and things we don’t do well. We still have two weeks to get everything corrected before our first regular season game.”
The scrimmages was especially beneficial for 13 newcomers to get some game experience before they season opens up for real on Nov. 7 at Colby Community College.
“For this team, they need to get a lot of experience because basically we have two sophomore coming back with Amber [Kistler] and Stormye {Everett] with any type of college experience in understanding the quickness and physical part of the game,” Harnish said. “It is important for this group of freshmen to get as much time on the floor against somebody else in terms of officiating and in terms of how the game will be played. I am sure it was nervous for a lot of kids and we found out we have a long ways to go. It was good for us to get one under our belt and move on.”
Harnish definitely found strengths and weaknesses about his team from the scrimmages. THe good things, however, include watching a team that is starting to mesh together.
The Cougar women feature one of its tallest and athletic teams in Harnish’s tenure. One of the players standing out was 6-foot-7 Thais Pinto of Belo Horizonte, Brazil. The Cougars also got strong guard play from returning sophomore 5-9 Amber Kister of Bayard along with red-shirt freshman 5-10 Yuki Morimoto of Tokyo, Japan.
The Cougars also received strong play from 6-1 Khayla Gladney of Los Angeles, Calif., 6-2 Kelli Culver of Arvada, Colo., 5-10 Tayler Puttergill of Mullen, 6-2 Soulijah Evans of San Diego, Calif., 6-0 Caolina Alves of Belo Horizonte, Brazil, 5-8 Madison Keller of Scottsbluff, and 5-3 Shelby Campbell of Hemingford.
Other players on the team include 5-9 Ariane Brown of Colorado Springs, Colo., 6-0 Tiffany Moorer of Harbor City, Calif., 6-1 Tynetta Turner of San Diego, Calif., 5-8 Michelle Glaze of Brighton, Colo., and 5-9 Stormye Everett of Aurora, Colo.
Harnish said he saw positives from some players that he wasn’t expecting from the South Dakota Mines scrimmage.
“The biggest thing yesterday is we have to learn how to compete and what it takes to win games in not only to executing and making shots, but to be better in rebounding, blocking out and not turning the ball over,” he said. “We didn’t do a very good job of that because we had too many travels and too many turnovers. But, again, you are working with basically 13 freshmen and those things will happen.
“For the most part, some of the girls played better than I thought and some didn’t perform as well as I thought. From that standpoint it was disappointing that we can play better, but it is early in the year and it is the first one.”
Still, Harnish believes that this team has the potential to be one of the best in school history with the athleticism the players have.
“I thought early in the year we had all the attributes to be successful. We have height, we have quickness, and we have kids that can shoot it,” he said. “But if you don’t rebound the ball or play defense and do the little things that are hard to coach, you will not be as successful as you can be based on the talent that you have. I think that is where we are at now. We have kids that are athletic and talented, but we are not being solid enough defensively or offensively and using our athleticism and height to the best we could use it.”
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