Friday November 3, 2023: Women's Basketball
This week we sat down with Lady Bear's Head Coach Paula Lee to discuss the upcoming 2023-2024 season. Coach Lee, begins her fourteenth season at the helm of the Lady Bears program. This will also be the 15th season of Lady Bears Basketball at BRCC. Lets see what she had to say about her team and the upcoming season.
Q&A Session
· General thoughts about this year's team?
This year's team will go through some growing pains, every time we step on the court to compete, 5 freshmen will be leading the way. It's going to be an adjustment to the pace of the game as well as playing with a shot clock. These young ladies are very coachable and they want to learn. I can honestly say it's never a dull moment around them and they are teaching me a lot.
· Talk a bit about which Freshman or freshman's do you think can make an impact on this season.
Honestly, since they are all Freshman, they all must make an impact
· Which do you expect to get out of your returners Pierce and Kelly (who was part of team but did not play last season) this season?
I expect Pierce and Kelly to be leaders. They have been around the Program and know what's expected as a Lady Bear
· Keys to success, keys to maintaining the BRCC winning culture you have rebuilt over the last two seasons?
The key will be how quickly these Freshman adjust to the college game and learn how to compete on every possession. They have to embrace everything that is being taught and be willing to adjust the way they have played for the last 4 years in high school.
· Strength of team so far?
The strength of the team so far is the team's cohesiveness. They lookout for each other like sisters and usually that's something that doesn't happen until later in the semester
· Areas of improvement
The area in which we really need to improve is size and height, but that's not going to happen this season. Learning to play at a different level, getting better at the basic fundamentals and being patient.
· Game style- uptempo/slow?
Game style will be situational, but of course we would love to play in an up-tempo manner. However, they haven't proved to me that they can make good decisions when we play fast.
· Addition of Coach Cole and Jailin Cherry- What has she brought to the program?
The addition of Coach Cole and Cherry has been so beneficial. The wealth of experience that they bring to the table is priceless. The players are now recipients of learning the game from different perspectives and now they get more opportunities to work on individual skill development
· Overall goal of the season?
The overall goal for the season is to always win the LCCAC as well as win the Region #23 Tournament and advance to the National Tournament. But my personal goal is for this team to prove the naysayers wrong, prove that no matter their height or skill level that they can gel as a team and be successful.
The Lady Bears open the 2023-2024 season at home on November 3, 2023 in the nightcap of the Lady Bears Classic. The Lady Bears will face Northeast Mississippi at 7:30 pm in the Bonne Sante Wellness Center
For more information about Lady Bears Basketball follow us on Twitter at (brcc_ladybears) and Facebook and Instagram at (BRCCAthletics).