VI women's basketball needs a little aggression in 2008-09

BY SPENCER CAMPBELL
BRISTOL HERALD COURIER

BRISTOL, Va. – Virginia Intermont head coach Jaclyn Dickens called the team’s practice to a halt.

She eyed her players with a ball under her arm and said in a soft, measured voice that was nearly drowned out in the gym’s acoustics, “That’s what happened so many times in the scrimmage. Somebody would pick up their dribble and everybody would just stand there waiting for it.”

That kind of malaise led to eight straight losses to close out VI’s 2007-08 season.

While the Cobras’ 2007-08 campaign started out as disappointing, with the team going 7-16 in its first 23 games, it finished as abysmal, with VI limping home to a 7-24 record and an eighth-place finish in the Appalachian Athletic Conference.

The losing wasn’t the worst aspect of the team’s end-of-the-year collapse. It wasn’t even closing out conference play with losses to Bluefield and UVa.-Wise, the league’s two worst teams.

No, the worst aspect of the eight-game slide was the quitting.

“I think we got to the point last year where we almost gave up,” Cobra head coach Jaclyn Dickens said. “We stopped working hard, stopped doing the little things that can make you win and we’ve got to play as a team.

“Everybody has to play hard. We can’t just have two people playing hard and three people not playing hard.”

That’s why the third-year Cobra coach has headed into this season preaching one simple message: aggression.

Practice resumed, but before long Dickens again called for the ball. She addressed a player who looked confused on defense.

“You might not be in the right spot,” she said. “But being aggressive makes it right.”

Helping VI make it right this season are four returning starters, including 2007-08 freshman All-AAC performer Haley Odle. The 5-foot-9 sophomore forward averaged 13.9 points and 6.23 rebounds a contest last year – first and second, respectively, on the team.

An Odle ankle injury will leave the post-scoring responsibilities to Michelle Shockley, at least in the early going. The 5-foot-10 senior averaged 9.93 points and led the Cobras in rebounding (6.41 per game) in 2007-08.

Also returning is sniper Kendra Newman, a 5-foot-4 senior guard out of Pigeon’s Forge, Tenn., who connected on 75 three-point shots for the Cobras last season on her way to 9.17 PPG.

But perhaps no player is more crucial to VI’s resurgence than senior Autumn Arney.

The 5-foot-5 senior point guard was second on the team in scoring (12 points) and first in assists (4.21) in 2007-08, on her way to third-team All-AAC honors.

The Wise, Va., native will be counted on to lead the high-energy, frenzied VI offense.

“We always want to push it on offense,” Dickens said. “Especially with Autumn on the floor because she’s so quick with the ball. Not just with the ball, but without. If we can get people to run with her then we want to look to get it and go.

“It’s just a matter of them wanting to do it. If they want to sprint down the court, then we’re going to be able to use that as a strength.”

Competing for the fifth starting spot will be a pair of freshmen post players and one redshirt sophomore returning from injury.

Nicole Collins, a freshman post from Atlanta, has the inside track to start in the blocks if she begins to exhibit the kind of aggressive defense Dickens is looking for.

Ashley Grimm, a 5-foot-11 freshman, has proven to be young, but powerful in the post. She will see considerable action while Odle is nursing her ailing ankle.

After a successful freshman season that saw her score 5.43 PPG, redshirt sophomore post Morghan Arnold returns to the VI lineup after a car accident forced her to miss the entire 2007-2008 campaign.

“A deeper bench helps,” Dickens said. “The biggest thing is them trusting each other now. Knowing that they’re going to catch this pass, they’re going to score this easy bucket. They’re going to defend if I defend. Last year we didn’t have that trust, that belief in each other.”

Even with experience, teamwork and a bright class of freshman, the Cobras have a long way to go to erase their reputation as AAC cellar dwellers. Heading into tonight’s season opener at Pikeville College, VI has been picked to finish eighth in the conference’s preseason ranking.

“We’re trying to stay positive,” Odle said. “If somebody makes a mistake we have to lift them back up. We can’t put people down for what they’ve done wrong. We’re going to have to start working together because we can’t do it by ourselves.”

“We learned that last year with a lot of losses.”

scampbell@bristolnews.com|(276) 645-2543

AT A GLANCE: VIRGINIA INTERMONT WOMEN
Nickname: Cobras
Arena: Virginia High School
Coach: Jaclyn Dickens (15-47 in third season)
Last season: 7-24, 4-14 in Appalachian Athletic Conference (eighth, lost in the first round of the conference tournament).
Key Returners: Haley Odle (Soph., F, 5-9), 13.9 points, 6.23 rebounds; Autumn Arney (Senior, G, 5-5), 12 points, 4.21 assists, 46 steals; Michelle Shockley (Senior, C, 5-10), 9.93 points, 6.41 rebounds; Kendra Newman (Senior, G, 5-4), 48 steals, 29 percent 3-pt percentage.
Key Loss: None.
Key Newcomers: Morghan Arnold (Soph., C-F, 5-10), Church Hill, Tenn.; Nicole Collins, (Fresh., F, 5-10), Atlanta, Ga., Ashley Grimm, (Fresh., C-F, 5-11), Bristol, Va.
Strengths: Haley Odle’s inside scoring and Autumn Arney’s speed give the Cobra offense a multi-faceted look that can adapt to different defenses.
Biggest Concern: Effort. With VI packing it in early last season, the team must keep focus throughout the year if it wants to compete.
Analysis: Dickens has added some size to the middle of the Cobra defense and four starters return from last year’s squad. None of that matters if VI plays sloppy on defense, as it has had a penchant for doing in fall practices and in its first scrimmage of the season. The Cobras must improve, or it will be another disappointing season in Bristol, Va.