Harrell named ASC East Player of the Week

MARSHALL, Texas (12/3/08) – ETBU junior forward Satara Harrell had a big weekend for the Lady Tigers on the road, and for that performance she has been named the American Southwest Conference East Division Co-Player of the Week. Harrell, a 5-9 transfer joining the Lady Tigers this season from Panola College, posted a monster double double in Saturday’s 50-37 win at Sul Ross State to open conference play. Harrell scored a team-high 23 points and added 21 rebounds in the win, just the third time that number of rebounds has been reached in an ASC game since the 2003-04 season. It was also the second time an ETBU player had reached 21 rebounds in a game as a member of the ASC, with Tiffany Jefferson accomplishing that feat against LeTourneau during the 2004-05 season. Harrell followed that performance with 13 points and 14 rebounds in a loss to defending national champion Howard Payne Monday. That performance gives her three double doubles in the team’s first four games of the year, with her only miss during that time a 9-point outing in the season opener against Belhaven. Harrell is the ASC’s leading rebounder entering this week, averaging 14.8 boards per game. The Lady Tigers will host Mary Hardin-Baylor in the opener of a two-game homestand Saturday at 1 p.m. in Ornelas Gymnasium.

Harrell, Wilson power ETBU's 50-37 win at Sul Ross

by David Weaver
ALPINE, Texas (11/29/08) – Satara Harrell and Karlee Wilson posted double-doubles and combined to score 42 of ETBU’s 50 points Saturday in leading the Lady Tigers to a 50-37 victory over Sul Ross State in ETBU’s American Southwest Conference opener at the Gallego Center. The win was the first for ETBU (1-2 overall, 1-0 ASC) on the season, and the first for the Lady Tigers under new head coach Lane Loyd. The loss dropped Sul Ross to 0-4 on the year, and the Lady Lobos are now 0-2 in the ASC. Harrell, a junior transfer forward from Panola College playing in just her third game with the Lady Tigers, dominated the first part of the contest Saturday. She had a double double in the first half with 15 points and 13 rebounds in leading ETBU to a 24-13 lead at halftime. Harrell finished the day with 23 points and 21 rebounds, shooting 8 of 16 from the floor including 2 of 4 from 3-point range. She also added four steals and had a block while playing 37 of the game’s 40 minutes. Wilson, the Hallsville native playing in her second season at ETBU, finished with 19 points and 16 rebounds in 38 minutes of action. Most of her damage came in the second half, with 12 points and 11 rebounds coming after halftime. The Lady Tigers also smothered Sul Ross defensively, holding the Lady Lobos to just 19.2 percent shooting from the floor. Sul Ross converted just 10 of 52 shots from the floor on the day and was 14 of 32 from the free-throw line. ETBU used a quick burst out of the locker room in the second half to bump its lead to 17, 30-13, but the Lady Lobos made things interesting with a 12-0 run to pull within five at 30-25. But a 3-pointer from Candy Vallo and a 3-point play by Wilson pushed the lead back to double digits, and the Lady Tigers were able to hold off Sul Ross the rest of the way. ETBU continues its conference-opening road trip in west Texas on Monday, when the Lady Tigers will take on defending national champion Howard Payne at 3 p.m. in Brownwood. The game can be heard live over the Internet at www.audiosportsonline.net.

Lady Tigers open season with fresh outlook and new foundation

by David Weaver

MARSHALL, Texas (11/19/08) – When the 2008-09 season tips off Friday night in Ornelas Gymnasium for ETBU’s women’s basketball team, it will mark the third straight opener under a new head coach. 

But there’s nothing really new about that coach. East Texas native and former Tigers assistant coach Lane Loyd will coach his first game as Lady Tigers boss Friday night, when ETBU hosts Belhaven College at 7:30 p.m. It’s the start of what Loyd hopes will be a season of growth and building a foundation as the Lady Tigers seek to regain hold of the upper echelon of the American Southwest Conference. 

That was within ETBU’s grasp just two years ago, when the Lady Tigers went undefeated through its ASC East schedule on the way to the program’s first outright division championship in seven years in 2006-07. The lofty position couldn’t be sustained last season, as ETBU slipped to just 8-16 and missed the playoffs for the first time in four years.

Enter Loyd, who has spent the first month of preseason practice working with a largely new roster of Lady Tigers. The growing pains might be evident early in the season, but Loyd says he will accept those pains as long as the "growing” part is included. 

"The toughest thing we have to overcome this year begins with all things being new,” says Loyd, a native of Avinger who previously coached at ETBU on Tigers coach Bert West’s staff in 2001-02. "New coach, new players, new system, new challenges…all those things are going to have to be addressed. Some already have, as we’ve been able to come together as a team in practice and work on a lot of things. We expect to begin at a certain point this weekend, and move on with every game that we play, getting better each time out. Hopefully that will translate into success down the road this season, but at some point in the future, we believe that success will come again. How quickly we adjust to all the newness will determine that timetable. 

"The ladies have been working extremely hard over the last month. I am proud of the effort they have given. Now we have to start growing and getting better in games, which will provide even more new challenges for us. I am interested to see how we will respond under the lights this weekend.” 

Loyd certainly has some numbers to work with entering the season. ETBU ended last season with just 11 players in the program but will begin 2008-09 with 18. Just four of those players, however, were on the final day roster from a year ago, meaning Loyd has had to work 14 new faces into the system. 

One of those faces isn’t so new, however, to Lady Tiger basketball. Senior guard Candy Vallo, a standout leader on ETBU’s three straight ASC playoff teams from 2004-07, returns after sitting out last season. Vallo’s return instantly gives Loyd some veteran leadership and a player who has been through five playoff games in her career, including a pair of ASC Tournament semifinal contests. 

"Candy is a very important player for us because of her on-court ability and experience,” Loyd said. "She’s someone who has been there and done that for this team in the past, and we hope she can pick up where she left off.” 

Vallo has run the point for ETBU in preseason scrimmages, something she was never asked to do previously, and she’s had to shake off the rust that a year off can bring. Veteran help in the backcourt is available from junior guard Stephanie Taylor, primarily a bench player her first two seasons but a good defender and solid shooter. 

In the paint, the Lady Tigers return second-half standout Karlee Wilson, a junior from Hallsville who transferred to ETBU for the second semester last season. Wilson played in 16 games after transferring from Ouachita Baptist and averaged 13.2 points and 5.7 rebounds while shooting 48 percent from the floor. Wilson (6-1) gives ETBU a nice inside presence to build around. 

"Karlee works very hard and has some experience,” Loyd said. "There are some little things we’ve been working on to help her out, and when we get things rolling she will be a big part of it, we believe.” 

Other returners from last season are sophomore point guard Megan Murphy, who played in 23 games as a freshman last season, and sophomore guard Ashley Branch, who saw action in 15 games as a freshman. 

But while the core of veterans is potentially solid, led by Vallo and Wilson, Loyd has to find some depth and some more explosive from a recruiting class mixed with freshmen and transfers. Expected to make an immediate impact is junior forward Satara Harrell (5-9), who played the last two seasons for former ETBU coach Tracey Stellato at Panola College. Harrell is a long, athletic type who averaged 8.4 points for Panola as a freshman in 2006-07 and who pumped in a season-high 19 points last season for the Fillies in a win over Grayson County. 

Freshman post Kaci Strother (5-11) is also expected to see playing time as a starter early in the season. Strother is a strong inside player from Kaufman, where she was a two-time all-district pick and regional shot put champion. 

Depth and bench play will be key for the Lady Tigers’ success in a very deep and balanced ASC, whose defending champion, Howard Payne, is also the defending NCAA Division III national champion. Vying for time in the backcourt are sophomore transfers Jessica Copeland and Dominique Johnson, along with freshmen Samika Barnes, Desiree Hardman, Angela Panozzo, Chloe Roberts and Rebekah Rogers. Front court depth will come from senior transfer Kristinia Washington and freshmen Michelle Harwood, Sydney Stone and Federickia Washington.

ETBU picked fifth in preseason poll; workouts begin Wednesday

MARSHALL, Texas (10/14/08) – American Southwest Conference East Division coaches, sports information directors and selected media members have picked ETBU to finish fifth in the ASC East Division women’s basketball race this season with the release of the 2008-09 ASC Women’s Basketball Preseason Poll. 

The Lady Tigers are coming off an 8-16 season a year ago but will be under the direction of new head coach Lane Loyd, an East Texas native and former Tiger assistant basketball coach, when the season tips off on Nov. 21 against Belhaven College in Ornelas Gym. 

ETBU received a total of 71 votes in the poll, just behind fourth-place Texas-Dallas, which received 92 points and one first-place vote. LeTourneau was behind ETBU in sixth place with 37 points, followed by Ozarks in seventh with 30. 

Defending champion UT Tyler, coming off a 17-9 record last season, was picked as the favorite in the East with 138 points and 14 first-place votes. Louisiana College (15-11) was second, with 111 points and three firsts, followed by Mississippi College (15-11) in third with 109 points and the remaining three first-place votes. 

Loyd was hired in June to replace Jay Bowen, who left for an assistant’s position at Tennessee-Martin after just one season at ETBU. He and the Lady Tigers will open their first preseason camp together Wednesday, as they prepare for an exhibition game at Centenary College on Nov. 10 in Shreveport. 

"We are ready to get started,” says Loyd, who coached one season on staff with ETBU men’s coach Bert West back in 2001-02. "The season will be here before we know it and we’ve got a lot of work to do starting Wednesday.” 

ETBU returns three starters off last season’s team that ended with no seniors in the starting lineup the second half of the year. Senior guard Meaghan Woodell (5-7), of Hillsboro, is back after starting every game last season and averaging 6.0 points per game. She’s joined by returning starter Karlee Wilson (6-1), of Hallsville, who manned the post last season after joining ETBU after the Christmas holidays. 

Wilson averaged 13.2 points and 5.7 rebounds per game, to go along with 28 blocked shots in the 16 games she played last season. 

Another key returner is senior Candy Vallo (5-7), who did not play last season but who started the previous three years. As a junior in 2006-07, Vallo averaged 9.1 points and 3.8 rebounds for a Lady Tiger team that finished 22-5 and won the ASC East Division. 

Loyd is expecting contributions for a large incoming class of 13 new players, including freshman post Kaci Strother (5-11) of Kaufman and junior transfer Satara Harrell (5-9), a native of Cedar Hill who played the last two seasons at Panola College.