Nov. 5, 2009

ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- This week finds the Navy women's basketball team three quarters of the way through its preseason. After first taking to the court for the official start of practice in mid-October, Navy is just one week away from its first game of the year. The Mids will open their season Nov. 13 against High Point in Elon, N.C.

The first few weeks of practice this year have been slightly different from last season when head coach Stefanie Pemper was leading her first Navy team through its paces. Whereas both players and coaches were new to each other a year ago, this year the head coach has the benefit of having seven players on the court who are returning for their second season under her leadership.

"I'm happy with where we're at after three weeks," said Pemper. "Our practices have had a real good pace to them and a good level of intensity. Offensively we're emphasizing reading the defense and being aggressive and that's helped us push the ball in transition and put pressure on the defense. Our defense deserves credit, too, because it's the effort on that end that's forcing our players to be better offensively.

"It's great having seven returning players who know a lot of what to expect and can perform to their abilities because they're more comfortable than they were a year ago. We're ahead of where we were last year at this time, sure, but more than that we've been able to progress to some concepts we never even got to last year and that's exciting."

Navy returns six players who appeared in at least 20 games during last year's 16-15 campaign for the Mids. This includes four of the top-five scorers from the 2008-09 squad that guided Navy to its highest league placement (tie for third) in a decade. That wealth of returning players who spent last year learning are now in the roles of teachers as they are helping to mentor an eight-member freshman class.

"The returning players overall have been terrific," said Pemper. "It's so important that they lead not only by example but lead in terms of being coachable and they're doing that. When you have a big freshman class there's going to be mistakes and a team grows best when there's a culture of `I'm going to work my hardest and respond well to my coaches because they're trying to make us better.' Ninety-nine percent of the time we have that.

"With the exception of our out-of-bounds plays the freshmen are learning fast. They're a good group of young women and there's a nice spirit and sense of humor there that helps them feel comfortable and perform."

The three weeks since the first official practice may have gone by quickly, but the number of days before the first game are dwindling, too. With that in mind, there is still much to be accomplished by the Mids between now and when they walk onto the court for the opening tipoff of the year on Nov. 13.

"I'm looking forward to our scrimmages," said Pemper. "One compliment our players deserve is that they've really been competing in practice. I'm curious to see how the referees call our scrimmages. We've been getting after it; we'll see if we have to adjust anything before the Elon Tournament.

"Otherwise, we need to put in some quick hitters and a few more out-of-bounds plays, and we need to become a better defensive rebounding team."

Beyond the on-the-court learning by the players, Pemper has been pleased with other aspects of the team she has witnessed during the preseason.

"I always answer `no' to the question of whether there have been any surprises, but this year I can honestly say I'm surprised at how strong the camaraderie is on our team already," said Pemper. "Credit goes to everyone but I'll especially praise the seniors. Those women will fight for playing time all year and yet they're showing commitment to our team values and providing a positive leadership presence and it's directly contributing to good team morale."