Corpus Christi Caller Times Caller.com - Isles women tip off for first time against Houston Flight

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Monday, November 8, 1999

Isles women tip off for first time against Houston Flight
A&M-Corpus Christi plays exhibition tonight at Coliseum
By Matt Young

Caller-Times
Staff writer Matt Young can be reached at 886-4304 or by e-mail at youngm@caller.com

George Tuley/Caller-Times

Sophmore center/forward Jean Clark (left) shows off the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders' road uniform, while junior forward Detra Johnson models the Isles' home uniform.

Sheryl Estes knows her players are excited about making their season debut tonight, but she has a warning for them: This isn't your ordinary exhibition game.
   The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi women's basketball team plays the Houston Flight in an exhibition at 7 p.m. today at Memorial Coliseum.
   The Islanders, who are composed of eight freshmen and no seniors, will take on a Houston Flight team made up of former collegiate players trying to work their way into the WNBA.
   "It's only the first exhibition game, but this actually might be our toughest game of the year," Estes said. "You'll have a very experienced team against the most inexperienced team in the nation."
   The Islanders will be looking to learn some valuable lessons against the much more mature Flight, which has four former ABL players on its roster.
   "We need all the experience we can get at this point," Estes said. "I've told our players to expect a very physical game from the Flight players, and that's good because playing physical is probably the thing we are least prepared for."
   The Flight, which is traveling around the state playing exhibitions against several Division I schools, beat North Texas by 10 points last week.
   Although the Islanders would like to make a good first impression for the home crowd, Estes knows winning isn't their key objective.
   "Anytime you step on the floor, you want to win, but we're looking to use this game to make us better," Estes said. "I need to see our team playing together on the floor. This will give me a chance to evaluate our personnel and work on different rotations. Right now, we're still not real sure on who will be playing with who."
   The only thing Estes knows for sure is the Islanders will rely heavily on its only two players with Division I experience - Jean Clark and Detra Johnson. Clark, who transferred from Connecticut, and Johnson, who transferred from Texas Tech, figure to be the team's leaders in its first season.
   "Jean is as talented as a lot of players that I've ever coached, and that's including the pro level," said Estes, who coached the Colorado Xplosion in the ABL. "Detra has two years of experience at an excellent college program, and she's shown us that she's a great player."
   The Islanders have almost two weeks to get all the kinks worked out before the real games begin. They play another exhibition game against Monterrey Tech at 3 p.m. Sunday at Memorial Coliseum.
   The Islanders' regular season begins against North Texas at 3 p.m. Nov. 19 at Memorial Coliseum.
   "A year ago, I didn't think it was possible to speak of a team in the present tense, but here we are," Estes said. "For us, the future is now, and that makes it a little more scary."

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