Lady Raiders take shot at successful year

Frustration had to be the keyword for the end of the Lady Raiders’ season last year. Picked as the eighth seed in the NCAA Tournament, the women had to travel to East Lansing, MI to take on the ninth-seeded Michigan State Spartans.

Instead of sulking, the Lady Raiders practiced as if it were a first-round tournament game even though it was obvious that it was a road game in which the higher seed had to play on the lower seed’s home court.

The Spartans won the game by one point with MT having possession of the ball giving them an opportunity to put up the final shot. It never left their hands.

This season, the word being used to describe the Lady Raiders’ season is “believe.” You can use the word “opportunity” as well because there hasn’t been such a favorable opportunity for the Lady Raiders since Rick Insell has been the head coach.

The Lady Raiders will begin the season ranked 24th in the nation by the Associated Press. They return every player from last year’s team that went 28-6 and won the Sun Belt Conference East division and tournament championship.

They also return the nation’s leading scorer in Alysha Clark. Last year, Clark averaged just over 27 points per game. She has already been named a preseason All-American by the Associated Press and a nominee for the Lowe’s CLASS award. Brandi Brown, along with Clark, was named to the preseason all-Sun Belt First Team during the conference Media Days earlier this fall.

Last year, Chelsia Lymon was named as the conference Defensive Player of the Year. This past fall she was named to the all-Sun Belt Second Team, her second time receiving that honor.

During those same conference Media Days, the Lady Raiders were selected by the conference coaches to repeat as East division champs with 11 and a half first place votes.

The Lady Raiders begin their season Sunday against the University of Central Florida. That game will start at 5:30 p.m. and will take place at the Murphy Center.