When she walked into the locker room at halftime, Kathy Fedorjaka heard the grumbling. The Bucknell women's coach knew, instantly, she didn't have to say a word.
When a team gets to the point where in can motivate itself, without the benefit of a paint-peeling halftime diatribe, a coach has the team right where they want them. Fedorjaka's Bison might not quite be where she wants them yet, but they are getting closer.
With the 14-game Patriot League blitz kicking off Saturday, all league teams are finishing up their nonleague slates this week. The Bison -- an NCAA tournament team a year ago -- are in the middle of the pack record-wise right now and they've been up-and-down since the season tipped off in mid-November. Three wins followed by four losses and now four wins in five games.
But at halftime of Friday's game against Buffalo, the Bison were "only" up eight points. Some had to feel like they should have been up at least a dozen, maybe more, against a team averaging better than 20 turnovers a game.
"This team is able to really motivate itself," the coach said. "When I got in the locker room I didn't have to say much. They already knew what they needed to do."
That is what Fedorjaka wants to see. It was proof that a talk the players and coaches had a little less than a month ago was starting to sink in.
Sitting in the locker room following a 37-point loss at Penn State on Dec. 9, the coach and her young team -- one with just two seniors and one junior among its 10 players -- looked at what was ahead. Specifically, they looked at the rest of the nonleague slate following a 10-day break for exams.
There were six games, most if not all of them winnable. To turn into the kind of team that can make another run at not just the league's berth to the NCAA tournament, but also a possible regular-season title, Fedorjaka and her players decided it was going to take a 5-1 mark in those six games to jump-start the league schedule.
"We talked about how we play teams like Penn State for a reason," Fedorjaka said. "It didn't feel good that night, losing never does, but we play those teams to get better and be prepared for league play."
It has showed in the recent surge.
Following Monday's victory at Howard, the Bison are 4-1 in that crucial six-game stretch leading into Saturday's Patriot League opener at Sojka Pavilion against Navy. Home wins over Wofford and Buffalo sandwiched around a tough win at St. Francis and then last night's victory. That leaves Wednesday's visit from Cornell (4-6) as the only thing separating Bucknell from carrying some serious momentum into league play.
"We're starting to play better, getting some balanced scoring, but now we have to finish this off," the coach said. "The younger players are really starting to get comfortable and the experienced players we have are doing a great job."
The fact that Bucknell is 6-5 and surging is a testament to not only Fedorjaka and her coaching staff -- which features two new assistants -- and her senior captains Amanda Brown and Lauren Schober, but also the growth of the young players on the roster.
Seven of Bucknell's 10 players are either freshmen or sophomores. Against Buffalo, BU started two seniors, a sophomore and two freshmen. Then Cosi Higham, another sophomore, came off the bench and nearly got a double-double.
The early grind is paying dividends for the Bison now. Players like Higham and Joyce Novacek, who saw key minutes during Bucknell's run to the NCAA tournament last winter, are now critical to the team's success. The growth of freshman starters Morgan Wrightson and Trisha Crewson is vital, as are the minutes other newcomers like Christina Chukwuedo offer to spell Brown.
In the frigid winter months in Central Pennsylvania, the team is beginning to blossom. With the Patriot League season about to kick off, it has to. Good news is Fedorjaka won't have to say much to get them driving straight if they veer slightly off course.
n E-mail comments to bbowman@dailyitem.com.
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