2014-14 LADY HAWKS SCHEDULE

By Jim O'Hara
 
ROME, Ga. – The message is one they've seen since they began their preseason drills.

On the cover of the team's notebook in huge letters are the numbers "6-20" – last year's overall record – and below it, four simple words: "Don't Let This Define Us."

That's the mantra the Shorter Lady Hawks carry with them as they embark on a new season this weekend, with a clean slate and with the determination to put the program back on the winning track that has been associated with the team for the past decade.

"We had such a run of 20-win seasons and a season like last year makes you step back and evaluate where your program is," head coach Vic Mitchell, who enters his 25^th season at the helm of the Lady Hawks and needs just one win to gain his 400^th career victory, said as Shorter tips off the 2014-15 campaign this weekend in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., where that face Barry on Friday night and Nova Southeastern on Saturday.

"What we do know," the coach said, noting that 12 of the defeats a year ago were decided by five points or less, "is that we've got to do a better job in close games."

But first, the Lady Hawks will be tasked with becoming closer together as a team as they take the floor with a squad that has just one starter back from last year, a core of veterans who got the minutes on the floor a year ago and a group of talented but untested newcomers, all working during the preseason to find the right combinations.

"With the new players coming in, it creates a lot of competition for playing time," Mitchell said as the team closed out its preseason and prepared for their openers. "As of now we don't know who will start."

However, there is one Lady Hawk who will be back in the starting lineup for the second straight year and  be counted on to bring the team together – senior guard Ieshia Alexander, a former standout at nearby Coosa High who led the team in scoring last year.

"She's carried the load since high school and it's a role she's used to," Mitchell said about the playmaker and point guard, who averaged 12.8 points, 2.6 rebounds and nearly two assists in 2013-14.

"We do have some players who have started but when you only have one true starter," the coach said, "you expect those who played last year to step up."

That's what the Lady Hawks are counting on as six members of last year's team return, eager to take their game to a higher level.

Hoping to join Alexander in the backcourt are three junior guards that are poised to have a breakout season – Madison Rice of Canton, who averaged 2.6 points last year, Maggie Peeples of Dalton (3.5) and Tamarr Williams of Dacula (2.7.)

Sophomore guard Brittany Greene of Warner Robins also returns after seeing action in just five games a year ago.

Under the glass, the Lady Hawks are hoping that 6-foot-2 forward Lindsey Crawford of Leesburg, the only other senior on the roster, can return to the form she had two years ago, but the jury is still out on her availability as she is still recovering from a season-ending injury she suffered at the start of last year.

Until then, the Lady Hawks will be counting on a pair of sophomores to stand tall in the lane – 5-9 forward Shaundricka Mann of Atlanta, who averaged 3.4 points and 2.7 rebounds, and 5-10 post player Grace Rogers of Clayton, who chipped in 1.3 points a game.

The Lady Hawks will also be looking for immediate input from the four newcomers to the team, two who transferred to Shorter this year and will help with the inside game, and a pair of freshmen guards.

Bringing their talents in the paint to the team will be 6-1 forward Taylor Adams of Scottsboro, Ala., who has played at Gadsden State for the past two seasons, and 5-11 forward Tatiana Allen of Memphis, Tenn., who comes to Shorter after starting her collegiate career Southwest Tennessee Community College.

Adding to the Lady Hawks' guard pool will be freshmen Cynara Pitts of Queens, N.Y., who prepped at George Walton Academy, and Jackie Hudson, who was a standout at Union City (Tenn.) High School.

After opening the season in the Sunshine State, the Lady Hawks return home next Tuesday when they host Clark-Atlanta in the Breast Cancer Classic game and after playing three more non-conference games Shorter jumps into its Gulf South Conference schedule the rest of the way, the first GSC test coming on Dec. 4 when the Lady Hawks host Union.

"We need to evaluate who can start," Mitchell said about finding the right combination, "and who can come off the bench and give us intensity and energy like (Rice, Mann and Rogers) did last year.

"We need to have every player know their role," he said. "That's a big part of being successful and it might take us a few games to establish that.

"We've got the motivation," Mitchell said about the team's mission to put last season in the past. "Now it's a matter of what we are going to do with it."