NEWBERRY
COLLEGE TOURNAMENT PREVIEW
It's a well-known fact that 2 + 5 + 11 = 18, but Newberry
College head women's basketball coach Jason Brink didn't
expect the numbers to add up so quickly. In fact, in many
ways, it doesn't add up at all.
For the 2002-03 season, Newberry compiled a grand total of
two wins on the year--an all-time low, unless you count the
previous season, when Newberry also won only two games.
Coach Tommy Love left for an administrative position at
another Division II school, and director of athletics Andy
Carter brought in Brink who had worked for him at Missouri
Baptist a year earlier.
Brink took a two-win team and brought in four transfer
players--Karisa Dinges, Tasha Hollingsworth, Laura Banda,
and Tonya Deese--that formed the heart of the team that
arrived in Raleigh Wednesday night. Success didn't come
right away; the Lady Indians compiled a 5-23 season in
Brink's first year. However, without those four players,
Newberry may well have gone 0-28 in 2003-04. Banda was the
team's leading scorer, Deese the top rebounder, and Dinges
dishing a team-high assist total.
Take two wins in '02-03 plus the five from last season, and
add 11 new players to the roster, and the sum is 18.
Eighteen wins, that is, tying the program's record for most
in a season. Replacing 2/3 of your roster normally means a
rebuilding year. "Normally" is not the norm when you add
ten talented freshmen and a junior college transfer, several
of which would be candidates for South Atlantic Conference
freshman of the
year any other year.
Carnicha Bellinger heads the list of all-out gamers that
Brink has assembled for the coming years. Bellinger was the
league's fifth-best scorer, a second team All-SAC member, an
All-Freshman Team member, and an All-Tournament Team
selection. Tonique Frasier is an All-Freshman selection
that finished in the top ten in three categories this
season. Monica Alexander led the team in assists and
steals. Ashley Marine tied the school's tenth place record
for three-pointers in a season. Half of
the team has an accolade, record, or conference rank in one
form or another.
A team with ten freshmen is typically building for the
future. For Newberry, the future is now, as the Lady
Indians hope to make the most of their first-ever trip to
the NCAA Tournament.
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#1
Shaw University
#2 Clayton College & State University
#3 Carson Newman College
#4 Columbus State University
#5
Wingate University
#6 Fayetteville State University
#7
Newbery College
#8 University of South
Carolina - Aiken |
