LEWISBURG -- On paper, it would appear that Kathy Fedorjaka is going to have her hands full as she enters her 12th season at Bucknell. Most people see five seniors gone and a roster that has two seniors, one junior, three sophomores and four freshman.
A lot of coaches cringe at numbers like that. Fedorjaka, however, does not look at it that way. Never one to shy away from giving young players key minutes, Fedorjaka is confident her four first-year players can all contribute right away and the sophomores, well, they are way more experienced than most second-year players.
The preseason favorite to win the Patriot League last winter, the Bison went 8-6 in conference play when Amanda Brown missed seven games early with an injury. They pieced it together at the right time and made a run late, winning the league tournament at the end of the season to earn a spot in the NCAA Tournament, where they met No. 1 seed North Carolina.
It is the experience gained in that push to the Patriot League title that has Fedorjaka confident the Bison will fill in the holes left by the departures of players like Hope Foster and Kesha Champion.
"The experience our sophomores gained last year in the second half, especially in March, is huge," said Fedorjaka, Bucknell's all-time winningest women's coach. "Our sophomores might be as good as some juniors and seniors at other places. You can't match the kind of intensity you see in those games. You can't match it in practice or even in games early in the season. It's just different and a lot of our players have been through it.
"They are proven players."
Now, however, players like Taylor Phillips, Joyce Novacek and Cosima Higham will play larger, more key roles. How quickly they adapt to those roles will likely determine BU's success this winter.
"Sometimes when you have a lot of veterans when you were 12-2 the year before, there might be a level of complacency where they think they can turn it on when they have to," said Fedorjaka. "Young kids are hungry. They want the competition and you don't have the lulls. You might have a confidence thing, but you shouldn't have a complacent night."
The Bison will open the season tonight at George Mason with just 10 players on the roster. Seniors Lauren Schober and Amanda Brown both return for their fourth season in the starting lineup. The pair have a combined 130 starts at Bucknell while the remaining seven players on the roster have started just 19 games.
Expected in the lineup when the Bison take the floor tonight will be junior Le'Le' LeSeur as well as Phillips and Novacek. LeSeur was named to the Patriot League's rookie team two years ago while Novacek and Phillips saw action in a 27 combined games as freshmen last winter.
With only 10 players dressing, nearly all of them will see time on a regular basis, led by sophomore forward Higham, who scored a career-high 10 points in BU's win over Holy Cross in the league final.
The four freshmen will also see significant time and all four of them come from winning programs. Morgan Wrightson and Trisha Crewson were both McDonald's All-American candidates; Alison Nahra led her high school team to back-to-back state titles in Ohio and Christina Chukwuedo was the MVP of the Pittsburgh Roundball Classic
"We only have three upperclassmen, so our freshmen and sophomores are going to see big minutes and will need to play important roles," said Fedorjaka. "Some coaches don't like to play freshmen, but I've always been comfortable with it. We have had at least one start almost every season I've been here."
The players hope to carry the momentum of the strong finish, one where their longest win streak of the season came at the perfect moment, putting them in the NCAA Tournament.
The Bison won three games on the road, including an overtime win over Army in the quarterfinals and then a 12-point victory at Holy Cross in the title game.
"Bringing that energy, and carrying things over from last year, that's going to big," said Brown. "The tournament is what really matters. We can build off (last year) because we have a lot of players who were part of it."
"There is a lot of motivation to go out and do it again," said Novacek. "We need to learn from the down times we had last year and keep up a high level of competition all season. We have to play the way we did in the tournament all season."
Sports
College basketball: Fedorjaka believes in her young players
- Sports
-
-
College Lacrosse: Bucknell men prepare to improve upon great season
LEWISBURG -- It started a handful of years ago, when the Bucknell men's lacrosse team put a big 'X' on the national map in Central Pennsylvania with an upset of No. 1 Maryland. From that point on Bison coach Frank Fedorjaka has had a difficult time getting big-time opponents on the schedule, even with Bucknell opting to travel under the worst of circumstances.
-
High school football: Pratt says Kutztown the right fit
SUNBURY -- When Shikellamy's Tyler Pratt joins the Kutztown University football team as a free safety next fall, he will already have a good feeling for what his position coach will expect from him. Pratt, who signed a national letter of intent this week to accept a scholarship offer to play for the Golden Bears, will be under the tutelage of his father's high school football coach.
-
Todd Stanford On high school boys basketball: Increasing the refs' workload
If two heads are better than one, does that mean six eyes are better than four? Not necessarily, according to some Heartland Athletic Conference officials. There is a move afoot in the HAC to cut the number of basketball referees from three to two for part of the season beginning next year.
-
High School Roundup: Greenwood boys complete perfect TVL season
Greenwood capped off an unbeaten 2011-12 Tri-Valley League season by crushing Halifax 61-38 on Thursday Night.
-
Shikellamy Braves pull away from Shamokin
SUNBURY — Tyler Pratt kept Shikellamy in the game in the third quarter Wednesday, scoring all seven of the Braves’ points. He then got some help in the fourth.
-
High School Roundup: Selinsgrove tops Jersey Shore
JERSEY SHORE — With the game tied at 32 at the half, the Selinsgrove boys basketball term went on a big run in the third quarter to open up the game and take a 65-56 Heartland Athletic Conference Division I win over Jersey Shore on Wednesday.
-
Shikellamy Braves rally to stay alive
SELINSGROVE — With 11 losses, the Shikellamy girls basketball team is teetering on the brink of elimination from the District 4 Class AAA playoffs. And on Wednesday night, it looked like the Braves were going to go quietly into the offseason when Selinsgrove built a 14-point lead early in the third quarter.
-
They learn to be tough young
It's difficult to recall exactly how the sequence unfolded because it happened so darn fast. Shikellamy made a couple baskets, and the crowd began to stir. It was still anybody's game, and the Braves had some momentum late in the third quarter of a recent run with Danville.
-
Motorsports: Selinsgrove, Lincoln speedways to host 360 sprint series
MECHANICSBURG -- Mach 1 Chassis of Mechanicsburg will be the title sponsor of the Mid-Atlantic 360 Sprint Car Championship Series, a $120,000 six-race tour that will include five shows at Selinsgrove Speedway and one event at Lincoln Speedway in 2012.
-
Girls basketball: Records fall, Red Tornadoes stay unbeaten
SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT -- An overflow crowd zealously cheered Tierney Pfirman's pursuit of the South Williamsport scoring record throughout Tuesday's game, until their breathless faces matched the Mounties' royal blue.
- More Sports Headlines
-
