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Sunday, November 4, 2001
Exhibition game is less necessary than in years past
With an established team at her side, this game is just for fun for Estes
By Matt Young
Caller-Times

Houston Jaguars at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi

LOCATION: Memorial Coliseum (3,500).
TIME: 3 p.m.
NEXT GAME: vs. NWBL USA Elite, 7 p.m. Friday at Memorial Coliseum.
THE SCOOP: The Islanders will be without 6-foot-2 center Jean Clark, who has been suspended for three games due to academic reasons. Clark was the team’s leader in rebounds and blocked shots and the team’s third-leading scorer last season. . . . A&M-Corpus Christi coach Sheryl Estes says she wants to get a good look at her team’s running game in the first exhibition of the season. “I want to see us get up and down the floor and do a good job of transition on offense,” Estes said. “We also want to establish ourselves early on defense as far as pressure defense and get some fast-break opportunities out of that.” . . . The Houston Jaguars are composed of former college players that are trying to latch on with the WNBA or a professional league overseas.

Since the birth of the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi women's basketball program two seasons ago, coach Sheryl Estes has always desperately needed the two exhibition games that precede the regular season.
   The first season, those exhibition games were the first chance Estes had to evaluate any of her players against outside competition. Last season, the games gave her a chance to look at a large recruiting class and evaluate how they fit in with the holdovers from the inaugural season.
   This season's different.
   A&M-Corpus Christi tips off its third season with an exhibition against the Houston Jaguars at 3 p.m. today at Memorial Coliseum. The Islanders will play another exhibition Friday before starting the regular season against Rice on Nov. 17 at the coliseum.
   These exhibitions aren't nearly as mandatory for A&M-Corpus Christi as they have been in the past, because 12 of the 14 players on the Islanders' roster have played at least one season under Estes, including seven players that have been there since the start. That leaves just two players - freshmen Laura Jones and Emily Hartman - that will be playing under Estes for the first time.
   "We'd like to get everybody an opportunity to play and see what they can do, including the freshmen," Estes said. "At the same time, we'll be looking to get a game rotation set that we'll be able to use for the first game."
   That rotation figures to be dominated by the veterans, which means these two exhibitions could represent a couple of the few early opportunities Jones and Hartman will get to shine.
   "It's kind of fun being just one of two freshmen on the team," said Jones, who played at Victoria Memorial High School last season. "It's relaxing, because there's not a lot of pressure on us to come in and perform. There's players already here that are established, and we can learn a lot from watching them."
   Although the Islanders will open the season with an experienced squad, they won't be nearly as experienced as their competition. The Jaguars are made up of players that played college ball and are trying to latch on with the WNBA or a professional league overseas. Among the players expected to make the trip for the Jaguars are Sheila Etheredge, a former All-American at Louisiana Tech and Lacharlotte Smith, a former member of the WNBA's Orlando Miracle.


Contact Matt Young at 886-3702 or youngm@caller.com

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