By Everett Corder and Hannah Hipp
With only three new players this upcoming season, Texas Tech Women’s Basketball Coach Candi Whitaker hopes to regain the dominance the team had in the 1990s through experience.
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Having players who have been together for two or three years helps, Whitaker said.
Lady Raider Basketball Coach Candi Whitaker. Allison Terry/The Hub@TTU
“I like their team chemistry. I like how they work,” she said. “You know, obviously we always think we can do better, but for the most part the competition level is high and they come to work every day.”
Although the Lady Raiders retained a large number of players from last year, there are only four seniors on the team. They will attempt to fill the leadership roles left vacant by star players Amber Battle and Kelsi Baker, who both graduated last year.
“Last year, we had like two or three go-to individuals and now we work more, like, collaboratively and more team based — that’s our offense,” senior forward Jamie Roe said. “We’re not going to go to one particular person to score.”
One of the biggest changes to the team during the off-season was the addition of Assistant Coach Ray Caldwell. Freshman guard Japreece Dean said his work with the team will help them.
Caldwell has worked in basketball for most of his life, according to the Texas Tech athletics website, and has coached at various levels in the sport for the past eight years.
Dean said Caldwell has helped her with late shot clock situations during the preseason practices, and he encourages each player to use their unique strengths to perform to the best of their ability.
“For me, he, like, works on getting separation so I can get my shot off cause I’m smaller than other people,” Dean said. “I feel like he uses what we have, like our body types, to work on how to get the shot off.”
Roe said players typically get tired of practicing against their teammates during the offseason, but that has not been the case with this team.
In just a few days, the United Supermarkets Arena will be filled with fans as they take on Eastern New Mexico University.
The group is competitive, she said, and it will be exciting to see what they can do when the season begins.
“You would think that over the course of competing against one another…that eventually people would back off,” Roe said, “but that’s what’s so impressive about this team is that we’re continuing to come at each other and it’s amazing.”
The Lady Raiders will play their first game of the season on Nov. 7 at 2 p.m. against Eastern New Mexico University at the United Supermarkets Arena.
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