Spartans Host Media Day for Women's Hoops
10/11/2012 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Katie Parker, kparker@uscupstate.edu
SPARTANBURG, S.C. – USC Upstate hosted its portion of the 2012-13 Atlantic Sun Conference Women's Basketball Media Day Thursday inside the Hodge Center as head coach Tammy George and seniors Tee'Ara Copney and Lauren McRoberts spoke with local media members.
The Spartans return four seniors, one sophomore and a red-shirt freshman from the 2011-12 squad. Upstate welcomes seven newcomers to the team, including three junior college transfers.
"We're excited that it's a new year; we're very excited to just get back out on the basketball court," George said. "We've been practicing for a little over a week now and we're just very excited. It's a new year, a new season and we're starting undefeated now so we're very excited. The kids are working hard so we're just looking forward to the upcoming year."
Despite putting together consecutive winning seasons in 2009-10 and 2010-11, the program struggled last season with a 9-21 record. The Spartans regrouped some during conference play, posting an 8-10 mark in A-Sun play and finishing tied for fifth in the team standings.
"I think we've addressed that we needed some help on the inside," George said. "We struggled a little bit last year with defensive rebounding. We've just got to be consistent. If we can stay healthy and just be consistent day-in and day-out at practice, I think we have the talent to do well this year so we've just got to work hard and get better daily."
"All of the new people help balance the court really well," McRoberts said. "We work hard every single day. As a team, once we find the chemistry, we're definitely going to be good. We help each other out; we pass, we cut and the newcomers are starting to learn, slowly but surely they're getting it."
"I think that everybody just has to continue to play hard and play within their roles," Copney said. "We just need to go out there and do what the coaches ask us to do and just play hard, giving 110 percent, whether that's in games or practices."
The Spartans face a difficult schedule this year with four teams from last year's NCAA Tournament on the docket, including A-Sun foe Florida Gulf Coast and three nonconference opponents. Upstate opens the season at Purdue Nov. 10, before heading to West Virginia and Kentucky later in the month.
"Those are going to be tough games for us, but I think I'll be looking for just the development of who we are," George said. "They're going to probably expose a lot of our weaknesses, but we've just got to figure out who we are and just stay in our game-plan and in what we want to do, not necessarily to them, but down the road. We've just got to figure out that we're doing what we need to do to get better at this game."
The Spartans open play Nov. 10 with a 7 p.m. contest at Purdue. They return to the Hodge Center for their home-opener after a four-game road swing, taking on St. Andrews Presbyterian Nov. 19 at 7 p.m.
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