Murray State University Athletics
Felton Addresses Basketball Media Day
11/1/2006 6:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
With nine players returning from last season's squad, five returning starters and the Ohio Valley Conference Pre-Season Player of the Year, Lady Racers head coach Joi Felton had a lot to talk about in today's MSU Basketball Media Day.
"We were excited to be picked third in the OVC pre-season poll," she said. "That shows a respect for our team from our peers and the coaches, and that means a lot. On the other side of that, I told our players that we have not done anything yet. I want to instill confidence, but I also want to keep it realistic for them. We've got to go out and prove that every day, and at the end of the day, when we finish our game, we've got to know that we played as hard as we could to put ourselves in that position. I told them that the community, the media, everybody in this conference thinks that we are a pretty good team, and we feel like it, too, but we've got to go out and prove it."
"We lost senior Gerraca Matthews early to a torn Achilles tendon, and that was a sad thing, but we still have a great group. We signed five freshmen. I'm very excited about them. They are very talented, and all of them are forwards. That's the area that we needed the most help from last year.
"When I came here 3-1/2 years ago, things were in pretty bad shape," she said. "I wanted to win right away, but I realized that wasn't going to happen, and people kept telling me, 'Joi, Rome wasn't built in a day.' It's been a process -- it's been a learning process for me -- and now, the expectations are a little higher, and we welcome that. Expectations have always been high for me and our team, but now, we feel like we've turned the corner and are where we need to be in terms of the progress we've made and the recruits that we've signed. Hopefully, we'll work our way to the level of tradition that the men's team has."
With nine returnees and five talented signees, the Lady Racers have a fairly full stable this season.
"Joi Scott -- I'm sure you all are familiar with her: very talented, a 6-foot forward who is very versatile," Felton said. "We're going to rely on her a lot. She's a player who is hard to guard and can score in a variety of ways, and we're going to look to her to provide a lot of leadership on the court.
"She never was in really great game shape last year because she sat out for a year-and-a-half. Now, she's a lot stronger; she worked hard in the off-season, and he conditioning is better. Her perimeter game is a little bit better, and she is a little more confident facing the basket, so we're going to look for her to face up a little bit more. She's going to face quite a few double-teams, and she's not the tallest or the biggest, so we want to utilize her quickness and speed a lot more.
"Erica Gordian is someone we need to get some production from," she said. "She's a senior, she knows what to expect, she's strong inside. I need all three of my playing seniors -- Joi, Erica and Ashley Brooke Hayes -- to play a major role whether they're on the court or not, serving in a leadership role. On the court, we're going to look for Amber Guffey to provide some leadership from the point-guard position as well as Shaleea Petty and Alaina Lee, both of whom had so-so seasons last year because both of them were hit with injuries all year. If those two are healthy, they'll provide a lot more speed and quickness, and that will certainly give us a big boost.
"My sophomores who return, Amber Guffey and Ashley Nichole Hayes, got a lot of experience last year. We're also going to look to them to play a lot more. Ashley Nichole Hayes is a Second-Team All-OVC pre-season pick. She's very talented, and gained a lot of confidence last year with the minutes she played, and got a lot stronger in the off-season.
"I expect Jenny Petrie to make an impact this year, as well as Jasmyne Thornton," she said. "I think both of them are freshmen who have done a great job in practice, as have all of our freshmen. Jenny is kind of like Rebecca Remington; she is a lot like her, but probably a lot more physical and can play inside and outside. She can really shoot, and she can post up, go get rebounds. She's a player who is very versatile.
"We've also added two new coaches to the staff during the off-season. Alysiah Bond joined us from Tennessee State, and Brandy Manning was a high school coach in Atlanta, but I met Brandy two years ago when we played at Louisville; he was a graduate assistant coach with the Louisville women's team."
Felton said the biggest change from last season was depth, but one of the challenges she has faced is changing expectations about the team..
"It's been a matter of changing the culture," she said. "There aren't many people who have expected us to win a game, and that's been difficult, because where I come from, we expect to win, and the people in the community expect you to win. So, that's been one process, getting the culture changed, and recruiting kids who expect to win every time out.
"Depth is a big deal for us this year. We have a lot of talent this year, and we're very excited about that, just being able to play the style that I anticipated playing when I first got here."
Felton mentioned that some injuries that were apparent at Fan Jam had gotten better since then.
"Ashley Brooke Hayes sat out with a foot injury," she said, "but she has gotten better; she has played in practice. Gerraca is out indefinitely now, with her Achilles tendon injury."
Felton talked about the commitment of her players over the past summer.
"We had nine players stay here over the summer," she said. "We had eight returnees and one of our freshmen who came to summer school. That's something that I like to do. They all came for the late session, and we've got a fantastic new strength and conditioning coach in Justin Cecil, and he's done a tremendous job. The players are really excited about it. They can tell the difference in their bodies and their strength, and I can tell the difference on the court."
Felton discussed her depth at point guard.
"We're working with all of them running plays: Amber Guffey, Shaleea Petty, Alaina Lee and Mallory Luckett," she said. "They've all been switching. With Amber and Shaleea, they're different kinds of mentalities. Both of them are very unselfish, and our challenge with them is getting them to look to score more. We're going to do a lot of the same things, no matter who's on the court, depending on what kind of defense we're looking at. Amber is probably the best shooter. Shaleea is looking good from the wing; she'll probably play a lot more from the wing."
About how it felt to win games against the better teams last year:
"It was fantastic," she said. "We beat Tennessee Tech for the first time in nine years, I think, and that was unbelievable. Tennessee Tech is a program that you always know is going to be at the top of the OVC on the women's side, just like Murray State on the men's side. That was a big step for our program, a big step for our kids to go out and know that they could compete with anybody in this league. And then, to beat Samford at home, who is also No. 1, and to play tight all the way down to the end -- those things are very important to us. What we've been emphasizing the whole pre-season is that those big games that we won, our defense was consistent the whole night through. Our kids are starting to buy into that and believe that, that that's how we're going to win championships in by playing good defense."
Murray State begins play Saturday at 5:15 with an exhibition game against Christian Brothers at the Regional Special Events Center. The Lady Racers open the regular-season schedule with two home games, Nov. 10 against Kentucky State and Nov. 12 against Brescia.
