Northwestern University Athletics
The 1999-2000 Northwestern Women's Basketball Outlook
10/13/1999 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Oct. 13, 1999
The two biggest changes that will be noticeable about the Northwestern basketball team in 1999-2000, besides an entirely new coaching staff, will be the fitness level of the players and their commitment to defensive fundamentals. Those are the two areas that head coach June Olkowski began to focus on when she first arrived in Evanston last spring. These will be the two starting points from which everything else flows early on.
?The immediate goal for our program is to instill a belief in the players that they can win any game,? said Olkowski. ?We will concentrate on making sure the team is well-conditioned and prepared for any situation on the court. Our players must believe they can win every time they take the floor.?
Eight letterwinners return from last year?s squad, including four starters. Also back is Kristina Divjak, a Kodak Honorable Mention All-American in 1998. Finally, the Wildcats bring in four talented newcomers, filling its needs with a balanced class consisting of a point guard, a shooting guard/small forward, a true forward and a center.
Here is a position-by-position look at the 1999-2000 Wildcats:
POINT GUARDS
Junior Dana Leonard is the returning starter at this position. She played and started in 27 games last year, missing only the Penn State game at home because of a deep contusion on her left shin. Leonard was the Wildcats? top three-point threat a season ago, hitting a team-high 57 treys (57-of-169) for a .337 percentage. She finished third on the team in scoring (12.0 ppg), second in assists (4.2 apg), second in steals (1.4 spg) and fourth in the Big Ten in assist/turnover ratio (1.58).
Leonard will be pushed by freshman Emily Butler out of Greenwood, Ind., a three-time Street & Smith Honorable Mention All-American. Butler helped her Center Grove High School team to an 81-16 record during her four years. In 1996, she became the first and only freshman to be named state finals MVP.
?Emily is a complete player who takes pride in her defense,? Olkowski said. ?She is a fierce competitor.?
SHOOTING GUARDS
Junior Clarissa Flores stepped into the starting lineup when Divjak went out for the season. She was one of three Wildcats to play in all 28 games last year and made 17 starts. She is aggressive on defense and versatile enough to handle the ball in the backcourt or post up a defender in the frontcourt. If she can stay consistent, she will be an important contributor to this team.
Sara Jurek and Ashley Messenger, two hard-working sophomores, will also be battling it out at the shooting guard spot. The coaching staff admired the way that both players practiced and pushed themselves during spring work-outs.
Jurek walked on the team in the preseason last year and saw action in six games. At 5-9, she has surprised the coaching staff with her athleticism and work ethic. Messenger, meanwhile, enrolled at Northwestern last January and immediately joined team practices. Although she suited up for games, she did not see any action. Messenger is a fundamentally sound offensive player with good quickness.
FORWARDS
The competition for time at forward will be fierce with six players vying for minutes.
Divjak was the Big Ten?s scoring champion in 1998 and was looking to pick up where she left off, before knee surgery forced her to miss last season after only four games. Besides her outside shooting prowess and deceptively strong rebounding, Divjak began to add post-up moves to her repertoire before she was sidelined.
Senior Leslie Schock is also back after an excellent junior campaign. Last season, Schock ranked second on the team in scoring (15.1 ppg) and third in rebounding (6.2 rpg). She reached double-figure scoring in 23-of-27 games and at one point had a streak of 10 games with 10 or more points.
After two seasons with the Wildcats, junior Chala Holland has played in 35 games. That experience combined with her spot on this summer?s Big Ten All-Star Foreign Tour Team should make her confident to emerge as a force underneath.
Sophomore Bill?e Russell showed signs of strength and athleticism in the post while playing in five games last season. She scored four points and had three rebounds in 12 minutes of action against Ohio in the Roger L. White Invitational.
The two rookies at this position are Nicole Daniels from White Plains, N.Y. and Natalie Will out of Nappanee, Ind.
Daniels is actually a ?3? player with skills to play either guard or forward. She set the White Plains High School career scoring record for both boys and girls with 1,667 points averaged 19.9 points per game as a senior and was a three-time all-league and all-section honoree. Will is a player who steadily improved throughout her career at Northwood High School. In her senior year, she averaged 18.8 points and 6.5 rebounds per game on her way to being selected a third-team all-state pick. She helped lead Northwood to the state championship title and the Tournament of Champions in Indianapolis a season ago.
CENTERS
Senior Leah Berki is the most experienced player at this position. She has played in 70 games during her career at NU and is a solid rebounder and free-throw shooter.
Junior Tami Sears is one of the most talented players on the team. Last year, she was one of only two players to start in all 28 games. She was the Big Ten?s offensive rebounding leader (4.07 orpg), led Northwestern in overall rebounding (8.3 rpg) and finished fourth overall in the conference. Sears tallied a team-high seven double-doubles and closed out the regular season with a string of five-straight games where she scored in double figures.
Junior Becky Fisher owns the distinction of being the tallest player on the team at 6-4. She played in 13 games a season ago and seems more comfortable with the collegiate game and Big Ten basketball.
Also in the mix at the center position is first-year player Leslie Dolland out of Bloomington, Minn. As a senior at The Blake School in Minneapolis, the 6-2 Dolland averaged 11.4 points and 10.1 rebounds per game. She shot 58 percent from the floor and was a two-time all-state performer.
THE SCHEDULE
NU faces a challenging schedule in 1999-2000. The opener is slated for Nov. 19, at Welsh-Ryan Arena against Northern Illinois. Other nonconference opponents include Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Iowa State, DePaul, Maine, Boston College, Creighton and Loyola-Chicago. The Wildcats host the Roger L. White Invitational and will take on Ivy League co-champion Princeton on Dec. 3, while New Hampshire and Miami (Ohio) do battle in the first game that day. On Dec. 4, the consolation and championship games will be played.
The Big Ten portion of the schedule tips off on Sunday, Jan. 2 at Penn State. The Wildcats play every conference team twice except for Iowa, Wisconsin, Ohio State and Michigan. NU will play those four teams only once. A point to note during the conference schedule is that Big Ten games will now be played in a Thursday-Sunday format, instead of the Friday-Sunday format.
