Women's basketball gearing for upcoming season

With less than two weeks of practice under its belt, the MSU women’s basketball team still has a lot of work left to do as it prepares for the start of the 2008-09 season.

Problems with consistency, offensive and defensive flow and turnovers have MSU head coach Suzy Merchant worried with the state of her team. At the same time, the second-year coach isn’t overly-concerned about issues that still aren’t up to her standards.

“I think it’s jut a matter of time,” Merchant said. “You don’t want to be playing your best basketball in October, you want to be playing it in March. So it’ll be a work in progress.”

Although the Spartans have struggled in some areas, one thing Merchant can’t fault her team for is its lack of hard work and competitiveness. At last week’s media day, Merchant said her team has already been more competitive and aggressive during practice than it was last year.

That intensity boost isn’t lost on the players, and junior guard Mandy Piechowski said the Spartans realized early on in the summer that they need to bring a hard-working attitude to practice every day.

“Practices have been great for the fact, because we go 5-on-5 against each other and you never know who’s going to win and that’s how it was at open gym all summer,” Piechowski said. “You thought you stacked a team and then you look (and think) ‘Oh, we’re just as good.’ You put the five starters from last year (together) and the other five people are just as good, so I think that can be a good thing for our team.”

Shooter’s touch
As a sophomore last season, Piechowski played in 32 of MSU’s 37 games, shooting 26 percent from beyond the arc. She also started 16 games, mainly in the spot of then-junior guard Mya Johnson, who sat out much of the early season while rehabbing an ACL injury.

With Johnson back and fully healthy this season, as well as the emergence of sophomore guard Brittney Thomas, Piechowski finds herself as one of the first guards off the bench.

Although she will probably start less games this season, the junior said she’s focusing on becoming a knock-down shooter for the Spartans this season in whatever role she has.

“I want to be that release for our post players,” Piechowski said. “When they get double-teamed down there, I’m going to hit that shot and the next time they’re not going to be double-teamed.

“I really think I can be that shooter out there and that leader on the floor for us.”

Ready or not …
At the mention of the exhibition season, which starts with a 7 p.m. game against Saginaw Valley State on Nov. 6, Merchant took a deep sigh and lightly laughed that it was “scary” to think the season is just around the corner.

Although the Spartans have struggled in practice with some mental mistakes, Merchant said she doesn’t really know how her team will respond until they face different competition.

“Until you go against someone outside of the (male practice players) — who know everything you’re doing and their athleticism — (you don’t know how good you are),” Merchant said. “It’ll be interesting for me to see what kind of pace we can play at and what kind of consistency we can have in not turning the ball over.”