Women’s Basketball Posed to Surprise Opponents

Yuba College’s Women’s Basketball team is posed to surprise opponents this year with their new fierce moves and strategies. Coach Bob Brown is anticipating an exciting season that will hopefully fill up the gym and shed some light on this talented team of his.

Last season, the women won only two games. Although they lost most of their games, some by quite a few points, they played as if the games were close and exhibited a lot of determination that the coach was proud of.

The coach trusts that his team will win more games this season because the team is tougher and has more talent. Brown’s team is mostly comprised of local players from Lindhurst, Marysville, Sutter and Yuba City, but he does have one player from Vallejo and three from out-of-state: one from Texas and two from Hawaii. Brown feels that his team is pretty well rounded. This year he has a lot of strong 5’9″ and 5’10” players and one strong 6’3″ player. He also only has two returning players: Cocoa Barganier and Stephanie Cardenas, both of whom he claims could play in a big Division 2 or a small Division 1 program. However, he expects to have about eight or nine returning players next season.

Over the summer, the women competed in the Delta, Diablo and Ventura shootout competitions and several other games. They played in about 12 games in the preseason and held about six basketball camps for junior high students. They were quite busy this summer, and the coach believes that it will improve their game during the season. The women who played over the summer will not be as intimidated by the good competition that they will face this season. Brown pointed out that the team is in a tough league that has a lot of Division 1 and 2 players.

He explained that most of the other colleges have players that just focus on basketball, whereas he has a lot of players that play two or three sports and do not get the chance to be year round basketball players.

This affects how they fare during the season, so the coach believes that the more time they are able to spend training and focusing on the game, the better they will become.

Coach Brown has his women weight train three times a week, practice from 6 to 8 p.m., during which time they shoot around, practicing skill shots, bank shots, free throws and three pointers. Then they run and stretch for about thirty minutes and work on one on one on pivoting and defense.

Returning player Barganier believes that the team will at least be a 500 team and is very optimistic about the season. She feels that as long as the 49er women continue coming to practice, they will have better ball handling and will not be as weak as they were last year in the guarding area. As for herself, she hopes to be able to make sure that everyone stays together and works together as a true team should. She commented that she was going to work hard this season and desires to have a good turnout in the gym.

Cardenas has the same expectations for the team as Barganier. She explains that they should have a good season because so far everyone is getting along well. She added that the team is quicker than last year’s because they have a lot of speed and a great defense. One of her goals for her individual performance is to keep a positive attitude throughout the whole season and to give more than 100 percent to the game.

All in all, this team is hot and raring to go, not fearing any team. This is one team that when people come to see, they will be a fun team to watch and will surprise everyone. So come on out and see what the Lady 49ers has to offer.