up two

By

ADAM DAIGLE

LORMAN &045; What else can a coach do to replace nearly 39 points a game?

Go after guards. Shooting guards.

Alcorn State women’s basketball coach Shirley Walker has two signed up so far to replace the four seniors who were key cogs in the Lady Braves’ SWAC Championship team last season. Only one starter returns from that bunch, leaving the veteran head coach with quite possibly one of her biggest recruiting challenges in several years.

Now she’s got to keep up with the SWAC’s version of the Joneses &045; others in the conference have reeled in nice recruits in order to knock off the champion.

&uot;That’s what we’re looking at &045; the guard play is what we really need,&uot; Walker said. &uot;We know we’re going to be up against some tough competition in our conference and non-conference. I know everybody has had a chance to do a lot of good recruiting. I know Coach (Nate) Kilbert at Mississippi Valley did real well in guards, Texas Southern did real well in a lot of guard positions and don’t let me forget about Southern and how they got a big girl to transfer from Purdue.&uot;

So far Walker signed guard 5-6 guard Brittany Myatt out of King High School in Detroit and 6-1 guard/forward Keisha Roland out of Angelina (Texas) Junior College. The Lady Braves already had Shawntawnee Collins signed up after she sat out last season following her transfer from Texas Southern.

Myatt, a quick little guard who earned All-City honors in high school, could wind up sharing the point guard duties with Taneka Nunez or taking the shooting guard slot.

&uot;I think both (recruits) are going to be real good for the program,&uot; Walker said. &uot;What we’re really short in is the guards. My assistant coach knew about her. He had a contact there and had recruited her well. He thought she would be a good point guard for us.&uot;

Roland, who played one season at Angelina after a standout prep career at nearby Shelbyville, may be able to go down low some for the Lady Braves or play the small forward spot.

The Lady Braves’ biggest hole is the hole vacated by LaToya Johnson, who played both the 2 and the 3 on the floor and led the team in scoring at 12.4 points per game.

&uot;She may play down low,&uot; Walker said. &uot;Hopefully we’ll be able to plug both of them in there, they can learn the system and they can do something.&uot;

Collins stayed one season and appeared in 13 games without any starts and scored 25 points for the season. Collins may wind up at small forward or power forward positions.

&uot;She made a phone call to me one day,&uot; Walker said. &uot;Of course, we played against them and she felt Alcorn would be the school in the conference she would transfer to. She’s good as far as academics and athletics. We think she can add plenty to our program. We’re working on two positions with her. She has the ability to do two positions.&uot;

The recruiting agenda, however, doesn’t include finding a starting small forward since Natasha Dennis decided to return her senior season. The junior from Woodville is nearing graduation and was considering not returning for her senior season, and she even was included in the annual Senior Night festivities.

Instead, Dennis and her six points and five rebounds a game will return for 2005-06.