The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ron Aldy Talks to the Media
10/26/1999 | Women's Basketball
Oct. 25, 1999
"We are anxious to get started. We've been working hard all season, and most of our players reported back in better shape. Our first practices have been pretty good, especially with the blending in of seven newcomers. Things are going well at the beginning, compared to the last couple of years."
Talk about replacing Tarsha Bethley and who might do that?
"It is going to be hard for us to have one player that can replace Tarsha Bethley. She did so many things for us that we are going to need two or three different players step up and share the load that Tarsha carried. A lot of the coaches in our league are probably looking at the loss of Tarsha and thinking that it is going to be hard for us to do as well as we did last year. We have a few players that were in their first year last year including Frankie Boyd and Takela Corbitt that with a year of experience can definitely help in that area. We also have several newcomers that can help share that load a little bit. Hopefully we'll have several people that can make up for what all she did."
Talk about making postseason play last year and what effect that has had on this year?
"Our players were more motivated to work harder in the weight room and in their conditioning throughout the whole offseason. They worked harder then they've worked the previous couple years. I think most of that had to do with getting to postseason, but also being a little disappointed that we didn't get to the Tournament (NCAA). With that fresh on their minds, it carried over immediately into their offseason work. The returning players have done a good job of getting the newcomers motivated to work a little harder for us to do even better than we did last year as far as postseason play."
Talk about Frankie Boyd and her improvement from last year to this year?
"Frankie made tremendous strides during last year. Toward the end of the year she got to where she could stay on the floor more minutes, which is something she had a lot of problems doing early in the year. She became more consistent with her rebounding, and her scoring. She had some really good games toward the end of the year that we felt like she was capable of having throughout the year. In the beginning, Frankie didn't feel really comfortable coming in and us asking her to do as much as we asked her to do. But late in the year, she started being able to handle what we wanted her to do. Frankie has worked harder this offseason to get stronger, improve her skills and increase her confidence. For us to be improved and progress, Frankie will have to play a big part. From our early looks at her in practice, it looks like she's on her way to being able to do that."
Talk briefly about each one of your newcomers?
Latasha Moore - Junior forward from Howard Junior College
"Offensively, Latasha has a lot of tools. She possesses quickness, speed, and jumping ability to be a good defender and rebounder. She is working hard at trying to be a more well rounded player. She's probably considered a fine offensive player and one with tremendous potential, but we are working to develop her to where she can help us not only offensively, but defensively in rebounding. She's one that could add an immediate impact to our team."
Von Kirk - Sophomore guard/forward from Trinity Valley Community College
"Von has excellent range with her three-point shooting. She's got a tremendous head for the game with her knowledge and her instincts. She's a winner. Her high school won state championships, and her junior college won the national championship. She's a winner in all areas. We feel like she will impact us immediately."
Leah Henley - Freshman guard/forward from Warren, Ark.
"Leah's going through a transition of having played inside in high school for the most part, because that's where her team needed her to play, to playing on the perimeter in our program. Her toughness and her rebounding ability, are there. Her offensive skills as far as perimeter play, are improving rapidly. We feel like she is going to be able to help us in a lot of areas early in the season."
LaTasha Harris - Freshman post player from Texarkana, Ark.
"LaTasha had only been here a couple of weeks, and through her individual workouts and her conditioning, was found to have a knee problem. She had some surgery to correct a meniscus problem. She's rehabing and back working out and practicing. She's probably about 75 to 80 percent. LaTasha's a very gifted athlete and if she can regain the strength in her knee, can help us because of her athleticism and ability to run the floor. She can rebound, and score inside. She can provide us some depth at the five position."
Shayla Day - Freshman post player from New Madrid, Mo.
"Shayla has good quickness for a post player. She runs the floor better than average. She scored and rebounded in high school, but it's a little different at this level because of the physical part of the game. She's going through that transition right now. We hope in time that she can get more accustomed to the nature of the game at this level."
Kayla Madewell - Freshman forward from Farmington, Ark.
"Kayla's a gifted offensive player, who can shoot the three. She has a tremendous head for the game with good instincts, especially offensively. For Kayla to be the kind of player we need her to be, she's got to rebound and defend a little tougher. She has made a lot of strides in the first couple of practices. Offensively she can help us right now, but defensively and rebounding she needs to get a little tougher. She is another freshman who will probably see a lot of minutes."
Kesha Howell - Junior walk-on guard from Northwest J.C.
"Kesha's one that comes every day with a tremendous attitude and work ethic and we are excited to have her in our program. She brings a lot of enthusiasm and intensity to our team. She's fundamentally sound. She played in a good program here (Oxford) and was a winner and then she played in a good program at Northwest Junior College She can help us out at the point guard position."
Talk about the battle at point guard with Chandra Dorsey and Takela Corbitt?
"It is probably the most competitive position that we have in practice every day. It's almost a war between those two even though they are very good friends. They battle each other so hard that it is almost like two rival enemies going after each other. But it's very healthy, because it carries over into other positions and other players. They are setting the tone in practice as far as intensity and competitiveness. It's hard to say that one is ahead of the other. Takela's probably got more starts for her career, but Chandra came on at the end of last year and played and started some. It's picked up where it left off last year."
What kind of team can we expect from the Lady Rebels this year?
"We would like to pick up the pace of play, defensively and offensively. We feel there are some things that are going to allow us to do that. One is more depth. We feel like we have more players that can play and contribute. But, we haven't been able to look at it with all aspects involved enough, to tell if we are really going too able to, but that's what we'd like to do. There are going to be some folks we play where we may not want to pick up the pace. We may want to keep them from doing that."
What are some realistic goals for this team?
"One goal that probably stands out in all our players and coaching staff's minds is to make the NCAA Tournament. That's one thing we are shooting for and envisioning. It's a carry over from last year, where we feel like we fell one step short of where we would have liked to have been. All teams at this point in the season have visions of being in the tournament. The key in our league is you need to win half your conference games. If you win half your conference games, then you have a really good chance of getting into the tournament. That's a measuring stick that we use. Of course we would like to win more than half our conference games. We had a team last year that got in below 500 (6-8) in conference play, but that's not going to happen often."
