| Rae Rippetoe-Blair |
SAN ANTONIO ? UTSA women’s basketball coach Rae Rippetoe-Blair and her squad begin preparations for the 2008-09 season with its first official practice on Friday at the UTSA Recreational and Wellness Center. The team hits the court at 5 p.m.
“We’re just excited about starting already,” Rippetoe-Blair said. “We had an excellent offseason, our seniors came in great shape and shown their leadership from the first day we met as a team. Our newcomers have come in and worked hard to be ready for the first day of practice tomorrow.”
Roadrunner Ruckus, the annual tipoff event for the UTSA men’s and women’s basketball programs, will follow in the Convocation Center. A tailgating party begins at 6 p.m. and doors open at 7:30 p.m.
The women’s team will hold practice on Saturday from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. at the Rec Center and a single session from 6-10 p.m., Sunday in the Convo.
The practices are open to the public.
| UTSA won its first-ever Southland Conference Tournament Championship last spring. |
2008-09 Season Outlook
The 2007-08 season was a memorable year Rippetoe-Blair and the Roadrunners women’s basketball team, as they captured their first-ever Southland Conference Tournament Championship, made their first trip to the NCAA Tournament and set a school record with 23 wins, which was the program’s first 20-win season since 1983-84.
Rippetoe-Blair has her team poised for another run at the SLC Championship and a return trip back to the Big Dance. She welcomes back seven letterwinners, including UTSA’s all-time assists leader and first-team All-SLC performer senior guard Monica Gibbs and SLC Newcomer Of the Year and first-team All-SLC honoree senior forward Onika Anderson. Also coming back for their senior year are guard Andrea Garcia and forward Ryba Pawlaczyk. A trio of sophomore guards in Amber Gregg, Jordan Stark and Whitney York also return.
“We have a good and experienced team coming back,” Rippetoe-Blair said. “The nucleus of our team is back. This team had a taste of success last season in making the NCAA Tournament, and they want it back again.”
The Roadrunners also welcome seven newcomers in junior transfer Valencia Cottom, sophomore transfers Alysse Davis and Rachel Schlosser and freshmen Cori Cooper, JaMorgan Davis, Cierra Martin and Shantel Nwanguma.
UTSA lost all-time 3-point leader Terrie Davis and Amanda Foster to graduation, so Rippetoe-Blair will look at her senior quartet to take over the leadership role.
“I expect leadership from them and that’s what I’ve seen so far. They have come into our workouts in shape and ready for the long season. They’ve also let the newcomers know that they want another championship before they leave.”
| Onika Anderson was the 2007-08 SLC Newcomer of the Year. |
Frontcourt
Anderson and Pawlaczyk give UTSA the presence they need along the front line. Despite the loss of Foster, the addition of four newcomers will add depth down low.
Anderson made an immediate impact last year, as she led the squad in scoring (13.5 ppg), rebounding (8.8 rpg) and field goal percentage (52.0 percent). The Pine Bluff, Ark., native also recorded a team-best nine double-doubles, while playing in 26 games. In conference play, Anderson posted a double-double with 15.8 points and 10.2 rebounds per contest, which ranked second and fifth in the league, respectively. She capped off her inaugural year as the 2008 SLC Newcomer of the Year and first-team All-SLC.
“Onika had a great year and surprised a lot of people around the league.” Rippetoe-Blair said. “She has come into this season focused and ready to play. She’s a great rebounder, a good post defender and a great scorer.”
Joining Anderson in the post is Pawlaczyk. Despite missing the beginning of the season due to injury, the Wroclaw, Poland, native came on strong in the latter part of the year. She appeared in 27 games and posted 78 rebounds and 48 points.
“Ryba struggled with the injury, but she overcame a lot to be one of our key role players late in the season.” Rippetoe-Blair said. “She’s an excellent defender, who can block or alter shots and also is a good rebounder.”
Looking to back up Anderson and Pawlaczyk is Cottom, Cooper, Davis and Nwanguma.
| Monica Gibbs, a first-team All-SLC choice a year ago, is UTSA's all-time assists leader. |
Backcourt
Losing UTSA’s all-time 3-point scorer and the leader of the team in Davis was tough, but the return of five letterwinners will look to fill in the void.
Entering her final season is Gibbs, who is UTSA’s all-time assists leader with 472. The Stillwater, Okla., native, currently sits third with 681 career rebounds and ranks sixth with 63 career blocks. She also is on pace to become the 11th Roadrunner to score more than 1,000 points. Gibbs garnered first-team All-SLC and SLC Tournament MVP honors a year ago. She averaged a league-best 5.91 assists per contest and also posted 7.5 rebounds and 11.2 points per game, which ranked second and third, respectively, on the team.
“Monica has meant so much to our program the last three years,” Rippetoe-Blair said. “She worked really hard this summer and is in the best shape of her career. She’s also improved her jump shot and I think she has the potential to have her best season yet.”
Also look for the trio of Gregg, Stark and York to see a lot of action.
York was one of two players who appeared in all 33 games as the point guard during her freshman season. The Bryan native became the first Roadrunner to garner back-to-back SLC Player of the Week honors. She ranked second on the team in assists (2.42 apg), third in field goal percentage (43.9 percent) and fourth in scoring (9.6 ppg).
“Whitney had an incredible season for us and it was a surprise to see a freshman be our starting point guard,” Rippetoe-Blair said. “She handled the situation well and ran our offense without a hitch. She will be more vocal and lead the offense again this season.”
Stark, will look to fill in Davis’ shooting shoes this year. The Weatherford, Okla., native saw action in 31 contests and also made five starts. She averaged 8.7 points and hauled in 4.4 boards per game in her rookie campaign. She also tallied 56 3-pointers, which ranked second on the team, and collected 42 steals and 19 blocks.
“Jordan had a good freshman year, but I am looking for her to come in and take on the shooter role for us,” Rippetoe-Blair said. “She’s just one of those players that isn’t shy to shoot the ball from anywhere on the court.”
Gregg, who hails from Austin, made three starts in 32 games of action last season. She averaged 4.6 points per game, while connecting on 30 3-pointers. Gregg also recorded 20 steals, while dishing out 30 assists.
“Amber was one of our key players coming off the bench and provided a spark to the team last season.” Rippetoe-Blair said. “She’s a good shooter who can handle the ball and defend.”
Garcia begins her final season in a Roadrunner uniform. The Mathis native had her best season in 2007-08. She played in a career-high 24 games, totaled 20 points and was 83 percent from the free throw line.
“Andrea had a great junior year and I think she will have a better senior season,” Rippetoe-Blair said. “She has contributed in so many different ways from leading the practice team to coming in to games and providing a boost.”
Looking to see action is a pair of transfers in Davis from Memphis and Schlosser from Collin County CC, and redshirt freshman Martin.
Schedule
The 2008-09 schedule is highlighted by 18 home games, three tournaments, a full slate of 16 Southland Conference contests and five teams that played in the postseason last year (Kansas State, Oral Roberts, Prairie View A&M, TCU and Texas State).
“This year’s schedule is going to be tougher than our previous ones,” Rippetoe-Blair said. “We are playing teams with postseason experience on the road and it’s going to be a challenge, but I think this will be a benefit for us. We want to see where our program stands against bigger schools, because that’s where we want to be. It also gets us ready for conference play.”
UTSA begins the year with a pair of exhibition games against Dallas Diesel on Nov. 2 and St. Edward’s on Nov. 8. The Roadrunners then open the regular season at home versus Texas A&M International on Nov. 14.
UTSA’s first road tests start on Nov. 16 at TCU, a 2008 WNIT participant, followed by visits to Wichita State (Nov. 21) and defending Big 12 Conference Regular Season Champion and WNIT participant Kansas State (Nov. 23).
The Roadrunners return to the Convocation Center to host the Star Shuttle & Charter-Grayline Thanksgiving Classic on Nov. 28-29. UTSA opens the tournament against Arkansas State and closes out the event versus North Texas.
UTSA is slated to play five games in December. The Roadrunners host Huston-Tillotson on Dec. 6, then head to Mexico for the Cozumel Cup on Dec. 19-20 and end the calendar year with the Wells Fargo New Year’s Classic on Dec. 29-30, against Colorado State and High Point.
UTSA enters the new year with its final two non-conference games against Conference USA members Rice (Jan. 3) and Tulsa (Jan. 5).
The Roadrunners open SLC competition on the road at McNeese State on Jan. 10, then return to the Alamo City to host Nicholls four days later. The Birds’ next five contests are against West Division foes ? at UT Arlington (Jan. 17), against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (Jan. 24), at I-35 rival and WNIT participant Texas State (Jan. 28), versus Lamar (Jan. 31) and at Sam Houston State (Feb. 4).
A Feb. 7 contest against Southeastern Louisiana, is followed by a road game at Central Arkansas on Feb. 11. UTSA then will play four of its final seven regular season games in San Antonio, beginning with UTA on Valentine’s Day. The Roadrunners travel to Corpus Christi for a showdown against the Islanders on Feb. 18 and then host their only back-to-back home tilts of the league ledger versus Sam Houston State (Feb. 21) and Northwestern State (Feb. 25).
UTSA plays its final home regular season game against Texas State on March 4 and then travels to Nacogdoches to face Stephen F. Austin on March 7 to close out the slate.
This year’s SLC Tournament will be played March 11-15 at the Merrell Center in Katy.