Trojan News

01.06.2010  |  Women's Basketball  |  Viewed 319 times
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - NAIA Number-16 Trevecca opened the pre-conference schedule with three straight wins before falling to No. 24 Oklahoma Christian at the Southern Nazarene Classic. Trevecca bounced back with a win over then No. 15 Southern Nazarene and NCAA D2 Erskine College in the North Georgia Classic. North Georgia hung loss two on the Trojans despite trailing by 20 points. No. 25 Georgetown shocked Trevecca at Moore Gym in the next outing. Trevecca won a pair of games to bounce back before losing their last pre-conference game to No. 18 Wayland Baptist in the Daytona Beach Shootout. Trevecca was playing without two of its starters.

Trevecca will kick-off the TranSouth Athletic Conference season on Thursday, January 7 when they host Mid-Continent University at 6 p.m.

Trevecca coach Gary Van Atta learned a great deal from his teams play during the pre-conference schedule.

"I found out more about this year's team in the pre-conference schedule than I did over that same time period with my first four teams here at Trevecca," Van Atta said. "It's been telling of our strengths and weakness'. We found out where we are young and where we are experienced."

"The good news is, despite producing more losses than we had hoped for, I think we are further along than I expected to be. This team is improving and beginning to create its own identity."

Senior point guard Christian Gibson leads the TranSouth with 3.36 steals per game Abby Lawson is third in the TSAC with 1.36 spg. Trevecca has three of the top four block leaders in the conference. London Elie (2), K.C. Van Atta (1.5), and Abby Lawson (1.36) are the three Trojans in the top four. Lawson leads TNU with 4.27 assists per game and is second in the TSAC. Gibson is third in the conference with 3.73 apg. Gibson is No. 7 in the NAIA is steals while Elie is No. 11 in blocks. As a team the Trojans are No. 1 in the NAIA in blocks per game.

With the youth movement this year the Trojans have had some pleasant surprises in the early part of the season.

"London Elie has been able to step in and rebound and her court maturity has been incredible," said coach Van Atta. "Paige McFarlin has been shooting incredibly and has finally seen some relief from her injuries the last two years. Chelsea Taylor and Casey Pigue have both had great pre-conference play.

Trevecca has five different players atop the five major statistics categories. Van Atta leads the team with 12.2 points per game. Angelica Sails is tops in rebounds with 7.0 per game. As mentioned Lawson (assists), Gibson (steals), and Elie (blocks) topped in the other three categories.

Lawson is approaching (1447) the 1500 career point mark and already has 522 career rebounds, 288 assists, 235 steals, and 141 blocks. Van Atta, a junior, is just 107 points away from the 1000 career point mark. The team leader in scoring is also delivering career-high pace of 4.3 rebounds, 1.4 steals, and 1.5 blocks per game. Van Atta is tied with Hilary Howard Montgomery and Mariska Reed with 169 made career three point baskets. They are just three behind Jennifer Wilson who hit 172 in her career.

Van Atta believes this year's TranSouth conference race might be more difficult than in past years.

"It's hard to say this with a straight face, but this might be the best and deepest our conference has been in my time at Trevecca. From top to bottom it is going to be difficult to get a win at home or on the road. Union is clearly the top team and ranked Number-1 in the NAIA. Freed is playing at a high level and ranked in the top 10. Bethel is going to be a contender again this year. Then you have Lyon who has some tremendous talent and Martin Methodist that looks to be very strong again."