Sports: Women's Hoops Goes for 5th NCAA
Under Joanne P. McCallie, in her seventh season as head women’s basketball coach, MSU has gone to four straight NCAA tournaments—including a championship game appearance in 2005.
This year, “Coach P” has both the depth and the speed to make her fifth straight trip to the Big Dance. Senior guards Victoria Lucas-Perry and Rene Haynes are speedsters who earned Honorable Mention All-Big Ten honors. They will combine with All-Freshman forward Aisha Jefferson and Mia Johnson, a transfer from St. Louis who was a member of Conference USA’s All-Freshman team in 2004-05, to give MSU great athletic prowess.
“We have a chance to be one of the fastest, quickest and most athletic teams in the history of Spartan women’s basketball,” says McCallie, who led the U.S. Under 20 Women’s Basketball Team to a FIBA championship in Mexico in August.
Replacing forward Liz Shimek and guard Lindsay Bowen, both 1,700-point producers, will not be easy. But McCallie has reloaded with a terrific freshman class featuring 6-9 Allyssa DeHaan, the 2005 Michigan Miss Basketball, a prolific shot-blocker who averaged nine rejections per game.
“I see this as one of the deepest teams we’ve ever had,” McCallie says. “I see the chance to use many lineups. I see a chance to play a lot of players. Everyone can contribute, and that’s a big key.”
The MSU backcourt will welcome highly touted freshmen Takeya Fortner and Mandy Piechowski, and an improving junior Alisa Wulff. Joining Jefferson and Johnson on the frontcourt are junior Laura Hall and senior Katrina Grantham, and post players sophomore Lauren Aitch and senior Myisha Bannister, who returns after an ACL injury.
Once again, MSU boasts a tough schedule that could pay dividends down the road. MSU will play at Maryland on CBS and host LSU at the Breslin Center.
“It’s consistent with what we’ve done,” she notes. “This schedule reflects a consistent philosophy of wanting to play great competition in order to prepare us for March.”