The georgetown women’s basketball team is ready to make changes after last year’s disappointing season. Ranked last in the Big East by the coaches’ preseason poll, the Hoyas know that the only way to go is up.
“I think being ranked last serves our team as motivation,” senior forward Kieraah Marlow said. “No one wants to be last, so when we came back from the Big East, we let everyone know what everyone expected of us. We are going to take it from here, work hard everyday and prove everyone wrong.”
The Hoyas worked hard in the off-season. Change and the rebuilding stage demand a lot from players, but they have been willing to adjust. Some alterations are coming from two new assistant coaches who will join the Hoyas this year: Keith Brown spent the past 11 years coaching a team in the Amateur Athletic Union, and Cory McNeill coached at Coppin State University for the last five years.
“The new coaches that I brought on, they bring a different level of competition into our practice, and intensity as well,” Head Coach Terri Williams-Flournoy said.
The team lost one senior from last year, Kate Carlin, along with forward Katrina Wheeler, who would have been a junior this year but transferred to Towson University to join the Tigers’ squad. Five new players will look to fill those holes and add depth to the squad.
Three seniors will lead this year’s squad. Marlow and guard Kristin Heidloff are joined by center Aminata Diop who transferred from Southeastern Illinois College to join the Hoyas in her junior year. Heidloff, who currently ranks fifth all-time among Hoyas with 122 career three-pointers, will see most of her time at the two-guard position. Marlow, who garnered all-conference recognition three times during her career and whose 16.0 scoring average places her eighth in the Big East, will be the starting power forward. The 6’5” Diop, a native of Senegal, will assist Marlow in the post.
“Kie is strong,” Williams-Flournoy said of her captain. “She is athletic. She can play inside and out. Aminata is thin, but still aggressive. You duck from her elbows.”
The sophomore class features two strong performers in the backcourt. Shanice Fuller started in all of the Hoyas’ games last year, playing the point guard position. This year she will be rotating to shooting guard.
“My role is a little different now this year,” Fuller said. “I learned a lot from last year, coming in and playing as a freshman. I got more experience and know what to look for when I go out there.”
Meredith Cox, who was often criticized for not shooting enough last year, is entering the season with extra practice under her belt. During the team’s summer league play Cox focused on getting off quicker shots.
Jaleessa Butler, another sophomore, will play a vital role for the Hoyas as a back-up for Marlow.
“Jaleessa brings a little athleticism in there,” William’s Flornouy said. “Soft as a butterfly, but still her athleticism helps her inside.”
Sophomore guard Kenya Kirkland suffered an elbow injury last season, but she managed to start in two of the team’s final three games. In the off-season, however, Kirkland committed herself to improving her game and conditioning.
“I think Kenya has improved more than anybody,” Heidloff said. “I don’t think she is the same player at all that she was at this point last season.”
“Before she hurt her elbow she was right at the turning point where she was playing very aggressive,” Williams-Flournoy added. “She was kind of kid we had to have on the floor because she always made something happen. The players have definitely enjoyed her. You know when Kenya is on your team. She is going to bring intensity. She is going to get up in somebody’s face. She is going to guard someone. She is going to get a steal.”
Red-shirt junior guard Brina Pollack was another player plagued by an injury last year. She was sidelined by ankle complications 13 games into the season.
“Brina is back,” William-Flournoy said. “She is still playing injured, but she is learning to deal with her injury and pain. She has been practicing well for us, so she is another kid who is going to step in and help us.”
The team brought in two new freshmen this year. Katreese Locket, a native of Flagstaff, Arizona, is classified as a shooting guard. The homegrown Monica McNutt played all five positions at The Academy of the Holy Cross. During her high school career, she led the team in points per game, free-throw percentage, field goal percentage and three-point field goal percentage.
“Going into any new situation there is always some aspect of nervousness,” McNutt said. “I am a freshman in a program in the Big East. I am excited, but I am also aware that there is a lot of hard work involved. I have great teammates, great coaching staff and support, and I want to be able to contribute to this program.”
The new squad also features two junior-college transfers, who will face the challenge of Big East competition.
“Junior college is fast and nobody plays defense,” junior guard Karee Houlette said. “All you do is run up and down the court. Once you get up to this level it is a more fundamental, controlled game.”
Houlette and Beata Widding both come to the Hoyas from Panola J.C. in Carthage, Texas. Widding is a native of Sweden, where she held a spot on the 2004 Swedish All-Star Team. Her expertise is at the point guard position. At Panola she led the team in points, assists, three-point field goal percentage and free throw percentage and was named Panola J.C. Female Athlete of the Year.
The team is comprised of four post players and nine guards. With the season opener just a week away, Coach Flornouy is still not ready to make a decision on certain positions.
“There are three guard spots and every spot is open to anybody right now,” Cox said. “I feel like it is a lot more competitive. You can see people having a little attitude out there. Off the court we’re fine, but on the court you get that little ‘Hey, I want this spot. Hey, I want to make this basket. I want to show her I can play defense.’”
Every guard feels the competition at practice and can sense the intensity rising as the time for determining the spots draws closer.
“Every day, day in and day out, all the guards are fighting for positions and fighting for playing time,” Heidloff said. “That is just going to make the whole team better.”
But at the other side of the court, the Hoyas are lacking power under the boards after junior forward Katrina Wheeler transferred to Towson. With only four post players, Georgetown cannot fall into foul trouble. Kieraah Marlow and Aminata Diop will start at the post and Butler will fill in for Marlow, while Hatton will sub in for Diop.
“Krystal has experience playing the post at the school she was at before,” Marlow said. “I think she’ll do great filling in for Katrina. She’s physical, and she finishes. So I think it will be interesting playing with her and Aminata down low.”
The Hoyas’ goal is simple: improvement. In team meetings they have expressed the idea that they need to put everything into games. The team’s catchphrase is “ferocious.”
Some think it’s difficult to stand in the shadow of the men’s program, which holds the top spot in the Big East, while the women are near the bottom of the rankings. The team doesn’t see the situation that way at all.
“It’s great,” Coach William-Flournoy said. “We love it. The more successful the men are, the more it helps us as well, just to have the Georgetown name out there, back in the public eye. We are not jealous of it. We don’t envy it. Coach Thompson and I talk a lot. He keeps winning. That’s what I want him to do.”
The players share the same ideas in their goals. Winning games is key, but to begin, they need to improve as a team.
“The team has come a long way,” Hatton said. “We used this summer as rebuilding, so the team chemistry is better, a lot better. We actually mesh on the court.”
The team is trying not to focus on last season, but some things stick with them. When asked what game she was anticipating, Marlow’s response was quick: “I want to get Louisville.”
Last year, the team came close to upsetting nationally ranked Louisville, but the game slipped away from the Hoyas in the last seconds.
Success this season is possible, despite the doubters, the Hoyas say. No team can intimidate them.
“I know people say it a lot, that we don’t have anything to lose, but we really don’t,” Fuller said. “So we have to go out there and just fight and just do what we’ve got to do because we are all we got. We believe in each other.”
