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College Women's Basketball: Former Oklahoma player Hill headed to Afghanistan
Comments 0 | Recommend 0OKLAHOMA CITY — Caton Hill built a reputation as a hard-nosed player for Oklahoma, a rugged rebounder who played in a school-record 140 games. Her coach calls her a player who defines the Sooners' program.
Hill, now a U.S. Army captain, said Wednesday that lessons learned from her basketball career should help her deal with challenges she might face while on combat duty in Afghanistan. She leaves for a one-year deployment on Friday — and she's nervous.
"It will be a great experience, but it's still scary," said Hill, who is from Ada. "You have to respect the situation. ... It's not like I'm going out and doing a lot of risky business, but I'm still there (in Afghanistan) and I'm a flight surgeon. There is some anxiety, but a lot of stuff you can't control, so I focus on what I can control."
Hill said she will serve as a flight doctor for the Army's 3rd Infantry Division, Combat Aviation Brigade, 4th Battalion, 3rd Aviation Regiment — also known as the "Task Force Brawlers" — primarily working with helicopter pilots on the front lines.
Hill, a 6-foot-1 forward, played for the Sooners from 1999 to 2004 and is sixth on Oklahoma's career scoring list with 1,653 points. She twice earned All-Big 12 Conference honors from coaches and started for Oklahoma's 2002 national runner-up squad.
"She was a relentless competitor on the basketball floor, a 'do all the dirty jobs' kind of post/power forward," Oklahoma coach Sherri Coale said. "She was never the biggest or the fastest, and I used to joke that you could put a couple of pieces of paper under her feet when she jumped. But she found a way to get the job done — whatever it was you asked her to do."
After graduating from Oklahoma, Hill decided to enter the university's medical school. She also decided to join the Army Medical Corps, with the Army paying her medical school bills in exchange for her service. It was a decision influenced by the fact her father, Howard Hill, and uncle, John Binkley, both served in the Army. Her brother, Andrew Hill, also is in the Army.
Caton Hill said she grew up at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas and that she's "always been around" the military, so she understood its culture.
"I wanted to join because I think ... going and taking care of people who are fighting for you is one of the most honorable things to do," she told reporters in a conference call from Georgia.
She said the challenges with which she dealt while a college athlete "made me understand myself better. ... If something is not going my way, I know that I'm going to have to change it and I'll be OK. When you're running sprints and you can't breathe but you somehow do it, that gives you confidence that you can somehow do things.
"It has helped me and it will help me when I get over there," she said. "I know I will make mistakes but I know that I can change them and not make them again."
Coale said she's not surprised Hill chose a challenging career path.
"It reflects accurately her gifts of intelligence, attention to detail, perseverance, and indomitable will," Coale said. "And she was raised to serve.
"She told me last week that college basketball was hard. And in a weird sort of way that made me insanely proud. Hopefully we helped play some small role in honing her skills and enhancing her will, preparing her for this tour of duty for our country."
Previews
Stanford's Appel aims for national title
STANFORD, Calif. — Jayne Appel can laugh about it now.
Before the season started, she received a laminated shooting card from Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer — complete with guidance on technique and instruction for number of repetitions. It's not something you'd expect to see from a coach dealing with an All-American of Appel's status.
But this is VanDerveer we're talking about, and she is constantly looking for new ways to motivate and make even her best players better.
VanDerveer wants even more from the star center in her senior season, specifically for Appel to become a more dangerous scoring threat from the high post so she doesn't just dominate the low block for the second-ranked Cardinal.
"I was a little surprised," Appel said with a grin. "It was definitely a little shocking. It's what makes Tara such a great coach and why many of us chose Stanford. 'You still have this to work on.'"
Appel is more than willing to do whatever it takes to win a national championship this season after back-to-back trips to the Final Four.
Nowadays, she can be seen working on her perimeter shot with the guards after practice. She won't be satisfied with anything less than winning it all after the Cardinal came so close two seasons ago, losing to Tennessee in the title game.
"She's on a mission, and we're right behind her," guard Jeanette Pohlen said.
A preseason All-American and reigning Pac-10 Player of the Year, Appel became the most recognizable face of this program after the departure of Candice Wiggins following the team's special 2008 run to the school's first championship game since 1992. Appel is humble about her role, even if she realizes that every team around the country that thinks of Stanford will first know to focus on the imposing 6-foot-4 Appel in the middle.
"That's just natural for any program," Appel said. "I think people will be surprised this year in how many different factors we have in games."
The Cardinal have nearly everybody back from last season's run, with Appel leading the way.
"Jayne's size and width, she just takes up so much space in there," VanDerveer said. "There are things we want Jayne to do this year that she wasn't asked to do last year — score more in the high post, screen more."
Stanford's talent and depth will be tested from the start. The first month looks more like the NCAA tournament than the preseason. The Cardinal play at Old Dominion in their season opener Friday, then at No. 25 Rutgers on Sunday. In December, Stanford hosts DePaul, Duke and Tennessee in a seven-day span at Maples Pavilion. Then on Dec. 23, the Cardinal play defending champion and top-ranked Connecticut at the XL Center in Hartford in what's expected to be the most hyped game of the regular season.
This is the toughest early season schedule VanDerveer has endured in her 24 seasons at Stanford, and there have been some impressive schedules during that time. The Cardinal are picked to capture their 10th straight Pac-10 regular-season crown.
Appel attended the U.S. women's basketball team's training camp in Washington, D.C., last month and Stanford's date with the Huskies was a hot topic.
"Everybody was like, 'Let's talk about the Connecticut game Dec. 23,'" Appel recalled. "I said, 'Let's talk about the seven games I have circled before that.' There's no negatives to me. I'd rather be playing a preseason schedule of that stature."
Appel led Stanford to a 33-5 record last season and a sixth conference tournament crown. She averaged 16.1 points, 9.2 rebounds and shot 60.9 percent from the floor.
But the performance that put her on the map was a school-record 46-point outing against Iowa State in the NCAA regional finals, which she followed by scoring 26 in a loss to UConn in the national semifinals.
This fall, Appel is still finding her rhythm after recovering from left knee surgery during the summer — her second procedure on the same knee in less than a year. She also had a scope in September 2008 to repair a torn meniscus. Her knee began bothering her again late last season from all the running and pounding.
She played 15 pounds lighter last season than in her sophomore campaign, something she now acknowledges might have hurt her at times banging around with stronger post players. She's added some of that weight back.
"I'm trying to go back to that point because I kind of want to play at a heavier weight this year just to be stronger for the future," Appel said.
And she's not afraid to talk about the subject of weight in women's athletics, even if considered taboo.
"I don't care. I think it's kind of weird that men's sports always have their weights listed and women's sports don't," she said. "I think with time that will change, hopefully. How can we ask to be seen as equal otherwise?"
Appel is all about attention to detail, from her newfound duties as a perimeter threat to the neon pink nails she sported during the tournament the last two years.
"I think it's good to show you're a feminine athlete. Pink is the most girlie color you can get, so why not?" she said. "It'll be back for tournament time."
Appel soon will have to focus on little else but basketball. A psychology major, she's set to finish her last class during winter quarter and graduate early before the WNBA draft.
Thinking about all that is a little surreal.
"It definitely snuck up on me," she said. "This is it."
-- Janie McCauley
No. 5 Tar Heels going young, but still aim to run
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Sylvia Hatchell sees enough talent and athleticism on North Carolina's roster to keep running her frenetic trap-and-transition attack. The coach also is prepared for a lot of patience-testing moments from her young players.
Her squad loaded with freshmen and sophomores, Hatchell isn't just thinking about the fifth-ranked Tar Heels' chances of winning the Atlantic Coast Conference or making a deep NCAA tournament run this year. She's talking about a 2-year plan, defying traditional one-game-at-a-time coachspeak by saying this team could lay the foundation for even more next season.
"Let them play and make mistakes," Hatchell said. "You let them play big games and get experienced and make some mistakes, because it's going to pay off in the long run."
The Tar Heels have two starters back from a team that reached No. 2 in the country in January, but faded down the stretch and lost four of their last seven. North Carolina's streak of four straight ACC tournament championships ended with a semifinal loss to Maryland, and the Tar Heels bowed out in the second round of the NCAAs after reaching two Final Fours and two regional finals the previous four years.
The Tar Heels figured they would build around rising senior Jessica Breland inside, and juniors Cetera DeGraffenreid and Italee Lucas on the perimeter. Then came news that Breland had been diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma, requiring her to undergo five months of chemotherapy that she recently completed.
Hatchell has said Breland's disease is in remission, but she's also said she expects Breland will redshirt.
Breland was the team's second-leading scorer and the team's top rebounder at 8.5 per game. Her uncertain status didn't prevent media members from voting her a preseason all-ACC pick last month, nor from making the Tar Heels the league favorite.
"She wants to out and be her best," Hatchell said. "That's why I'm saying right now we'd be leaning toward redshirting her. She wants to be an All-American. She wants to play in the WNBA. She doesn't want to lose a year of eligibility and not be 100 percent."
That's only going to increase the burden on DeGraffenreid — a two-year starter at point guard who could face competition for minutes from sophomore She'la White — and Lucas, who averaged 13.9 points last year.
"I'm not sure exactly where, but somewhere during (last) season we hit our peak way too soon," Lucas said. "Hopefully our peak this year is a national championship, so we're focusing on the little things and taking advantage of every day in practice."
Hatchell said she expects freshman Tierra Ruffin-Pratt, the preseason ACC rookie of the year, will be a starter thanks in part to what Hatchell described as her highly developed court awareness. But Hatchell promises she won't hesitate to play her freshman class, which includes plenty of size in 6-footer Krista Gross on the perimeter, 6-4 forward Cierra Robertson-Warren and 6-6 Waltiea Rolle.
They'll join a front line that already includes sophomore Chay Shegog and Laura Broomfield, a group that should help the Tar Heels indulge Hatchell's long-running fixation with rebounding.
Hatchell figures the pieces are there. They just have to mature, whether it's this season or next.
"She tells us just to play," DeGraffenreid said. "She tells us not to worry about turnovers as long as we're pushing and going — and that's what we're going to do."
-- Aaron Beard
No. 6 Duke up for a challenge
DURHAM, N.C. — Joanne P. McCallie isn't planning to break any coaching records at Duke.
Good thing. With a schedule like the Blue Devils face, she probably won't.
If nothing else, No. 6 Duke is certainly in for a challenge this season — the Blue Devils are the only team playing each of the top three in The Associated Press preseason Top 25 women's basketball poll.
"I'm not padding my record. I don't want to win a bunch of games," McCallie said. "I'm not going to make history at Duke. I'm not some kind of famous coach where, if I get 20 or 30 wins every (year), I'll be some spectacular person to cheer about. The bottom line is, student-athletes get excited for challenges, and I want our team to know how serious we are about them. So we have a serious schedule."
McCallie is counting on a brutal schedule that includes a Dec. 3 visit from No. 3 Ohio State, a Dec. 15 trip to No. 2 Stanford and a Jan. 18 home date against No. 1 Connecticut — in addition to the always tough Atlantic Coast Conference season — to get the Blue Devils tournament-tested.
"I'm not interested in being undefeated without challenge, 16 wins without a challenge," McCallie said. "I think that women's basketball has grown enough that the quality of the schedule for every team should be examined thoroughly, and people should know if they're serious about getting better or not, and I think we're very serious about getting better."
That tough schedule will put Duke's string of 11 straight 25-win seasons to the test.
"Sadly, I think some people look at records and they think a team is super. 'Wow, if they're 16-0, they must be great,'" McCallie said. "That's sad but true, but I think many people do judge you by what you go after. I know recruits do (and) people that are watching our program. We just want to be the very best in everything, and the Final Four, and all the opportunities that are out there only come about through a process."
Added senior Keturah Jackson: "The wins can't really count for anything if you're not playing anybody."
It also will force a relatively young team to grow up in a hurry.
The Blue Devils return three seniors from a team that went unbeaten at home, lost the ACC championship game in overtime to Maryland, claimed a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament for the third time in four years but dropped an emotional second-round game at Michigan State — where McCallie coached for seven years before coming to Duke in 2007.
Forward Joy Cheek and swing players Jackson and Bridgette Mitchell will be the nucleus of a group that also includes talented point guard Jasmine Thomas and center Krystal Thomas — who will be counted upon to strengthen an inside game that will miss Chante Black.
With Black and 3-point sharpshooter Abby Waner gone, the Blue Devils seem to be missing a go-to scorer, but McCallie is confident that somebody will step up as the season progresses.
"I think it's an evolutionary process — you can't make people 'go-tos,'" McCallie said. "You can't stare at somebody and say, 'You're it. You're the go-to.' People have to earn the privilege of being a consistent scorer. They have to earn that nightly, they have to earn that at practice. So I do think that balance is the way the game's meant to be played, but if I have Michael Jordan on my team, I'm not going to deny myself Michael Jordan. The idea of balance, I think, is critically important to success over a period of time. I think it's an important thing."
-- Joedy McCreary
Grant takes leading role at rebuilding Penn St.
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Penn State's court leader this year just happens to be its leading returning scorer. It's up to guard and team captain Tyra Grant to help mesh a host of new talent with the veterans on the rebuilding Lady Lions.
The 5-foot-11 Grant paced the team last year in points (19.6 per game) and energy level.
"It's a great plus having her on the court," freshman guard Alex Bentley said. "Having her as a senior with all the experience, she's teaching me things that I need to know at the college level. It's nice to be able to feed off her."
Once an NCAA tournament staple, the Lady Lions have struggled in recent years, last making the tourney in 2004-5 under former longtime coach Rene Portland.
Coquese Washington took over two seasons ago, with the Lady Lions stumbling each year to 18-loss campaigns (11-18 last year). One bright spot from last season is that Penn State finished 6-12 in the Big Ten, two games better than in 2007-8.
Grant will be key for Penn State to have a chance to return to the postseason.
"Tyra has potential to duplicate what she did last year," Washington said. "I think (she) should be in contention for player of the year in the conference. I think she has an opportunity and potential to be an All-American."
Washington said the Lady Lions' go-to player has to take extra steps in being mentally prepared for games since she will be their opponents' defensive focus.
Despite the added pressure, Grant is taking the new responsibilities in stride. She said she has taken on some leadership role every year on the team — but is ready to take it to the next level.
"I just take it as it comes, I don't use that to put more pressure on myself," Grant said. "I just keep going and keep going."
The team knows it faces a tough challenge with such a young squad stepping on to the court Friday when Penn State opens at Drexel — including four freshman and three sophomore Lady Lions.
But Grant and Washington hope there is enough progress by season's end to give Penn State a postseason opportunity.
"That would be dumb to say there won't be any problems at all," Grant said. "We're a young team and we're going to take our lumps and we're going to learn from them and we're going to progress."
Huskies hope for rapid turnaround from '08-09
SEATTLE — When last season finally ended for Washington, they needed more mental healing than anything else.
If matching the record for the worst season in school history wasn't bad enough, the miserable 2008-09 campaign was only accentuated by headline grabbing losses of 30 to California, 58 to Connecticut and a Pac-10 record 77 to Stanford.
Saying they are healed from the scars of last year's 8-22 season, the Huskies begin what they hope is a rapid turnaround on Sunday when they travel to Portland State for their season opener.
"We needed a break from the game a little bit and just find ourselves again and believe in the things that we bring to the table individually and collectively," third-year head coach Tia Jackson said. "But yeah, we needed a little bit of bandaging up."
Former athletic director Todd Turner fired successful, longtime coach June Daugherty after the 2006 season because Turner believed the program lacked "buzz," and replaced her with Jackson, a first-time head coach. Now about to enter her third year, Jackson has yet to generate the positive buzz most hoped her arrival would bring.
Yet despite last season's dismal record, Jackson claims not to feel any extra pressure entering year No. 3.
"It's the same pressures as always, making sure our team is healthy, our team is improving, continuing to stay together and continuing to build toward the ultimate goal of being dominant nationally," Jackson said.
Before being dominant, just being the best team in the state might be a good jumping off point. Gonzaga is now considered among the rising programs in the country, and Daugherty-led Washington State was picked four spots ahead of the Huskies in the preseason Pac-10 poll.
But Jackson believes she has pieces to build around, none bigger than 6-foot-3 center Regina Rogers, the former Washington Class 3A state player of the year in high school. Rogers returned to Seattle after one season at UCLA and instantly gives the Huskies a presence in the post.
"I've never played against a more physical player," guard Kristi Kingma said. "But she also has a heart for the game and when you play against someone who has such a heart for the game and wants to get after it on every possession and wants their team to be so successful and win, obviously those players can't be denied. To have her on our team now is just so exciting."
Rogers averaged 6.3 points and 4.3 rebounds as a freshman at UCLA before sitting out last year after deciding to come back to Washington. Along with Laura McClellan, the Huskies have a formidable duo on the inside that could help make up for last year when the Huskies were outrebounded by more than five boards per game.
But Washington also needs help on the perimeter. The Huskies shot just 28 percent on 3-pointers a year ago, despite hoisting 481 attempts. Sami Whitcomb led the Huskies in scoring last year at 12.8 points per game, but shot just 37 percent.
Whitcomb, Sarah Morton and Sara Mosiman will likely be the Huskies' starting backcourt for the opener, with Kingma providing a scoring punch off the bench.
Washington went to the NCAA tournament 10 straight seasons between 1985 and 1995, and went another six times between 1997 and 2007 with Daugherty as head coach. In 2001, the Huskies reached the regional finals before losing to Southwest Missouri State.
While no one is reaching that far, everyone is confident the projections that Washington would finish last in the Pac-10 will be proven wrong.
"Our team is a lot more focused on our expectations this year and not the expectations others have for us," Whitcomb said. "I don't think we expected people after the way last year played out to do any better than that. Our focus is going to be the belief that this year is bigger and better for us."
-- Tim Booth
Signings
Dorsett's daughter among 5 signing with Okla. St.
STILLWATER, Okla. — The daughter of Hall of Fame running back Tony Dorsett signed on Wednesday to play basketball at Oklahoma State.
Jazmyn Dorsett of Frisco was one of five players to sign with the Cowgirls on the first day of the NCAA's early signing period.
The 5-foot-11 guard averaged 9.3 points, 6.6 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 2.0 steals last season as Frisco went 33-4.
Her father starred for the Dallas Cowboys. Also on Wednesday, the daughter of former Cowboys defensive lineman Jim Jeffcoat signed with Oklahoma.
Guard Tiffany Bias of Andover, Kan.; guard-forward Jenni Bryant of Coweta; 6-foot-6 center Vicky McIntyre of Omaha, Neb.; and center Kendra Suttles of Lawton also signed with Oklahoma State.
Oklahoma State coach Kurt Budke says Bias is considered one of the nation's top high school point guards.
Oklahoma women sign 5 players, including 6-6 post
NORMAN, Okla. — Oklahoma signed five players to national letters of intent on Wednesday, including a 6-foot-6 center and top guards from Nevada, Texas and Arkansas.
Center Nicole Griffin from Milwaukee will become the tallest player ever to play for Oklahoma's women. She averaged 17 points, 11 rebounds and 7 blocked shots per game as a junior.
Aaryn Ellenberg from Las Vegas is considered by recruiting experts to be one of the nation's top guards and averaged 18 points, four rebounds and three assists per game as a junior.
Morgan Hook of Lowell, Ark., and Alexann Yancey of Dallas, who also signed Wednesday, are considered among the best guards in their home states.
Another signee, Jacqueline Jeffcoat, a 6-foot-3 forward-center from Dallas, is the daughter of former Dallas Cowboys defensive lineman Jim Jeffcoat. She and Yancey are teammates at Plano West High School.
Gophers women sign four recruits for next season
MINNEAPOLIS — The Minnesota women's basketball team has four new recruits for next season's team.
Wednesday was signing day for national letters of intent.
The Gophers added Janelle Cannon of Wheeling, Ill., Kionna Kellogg of Ames, Iowa, Sari Noga of Parkers Prairie, Minn., and Micaella Riche Glaucester, Ontario. Cannon is a 5-foot-8 shooting guard. Noga is a 5-foot-10 shooting guard. Kellogg is a 6-foot-1 center. Riche is a 6-foot-2 power forward.
Elsewhere
Two Buckeyes suspended three games
COLUMBUS, Ohio — No. 3 Ohio State is suspending two of its seniors, including two-time Big Ten defensive player of the year Shavelle Little, for the first three games of the season.
The suspensions, announced Wednesday night by coach Jim Foster, are a result of what a university statement termed "an NCAA secondary rules violation."
Little and Cherise Daniel will be permitted to practice with the team during the suspension.
Little has led the team in steals each of the last two seasons. Daniel, also a guard, has appeared in 52 games off the bench in her first three seasons.
The Buckeyes, five-time defending Big Ten champions, open their season on Friday at home against Eastern Illinois in the opening round of the Women's NIT.
Lady Griz open regular season on road
MISSOULA, Mont. — The Montana women's basketball team opens regular season play this weekend on the road.
The Lady Griz will play at Colorado State at 7 p.m. Friday and then at Wyoming at 2 p.m. on Sunday.
Montana returns two starters and six other letterwinners from last year's 28-5 team that won the Big Sky Conference regular-season and tournament titles and advanced to the program's 18th NCAA tournament.
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