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Friday,
March 26, 2004 |
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Core
of women’s basketball team leaving
Coach
says seniors were heart of Lady Frogs this year
Graduating
players drove the women’s basketball team to success,
Jeff Mittie says.
By John
Ashley Menzies
The
Lady Frogs have put themselves on the map in women’s
college basketball.
They’ve won four straight combined regular season
and conference tournament championships. And have been
to the NCAA tournament three of those years as well.
What was the core behind that team?
The seniors.
TCU’s fab five of seniors consists of: guard Ebony
Shaw, forward Tiffany Evans, guard Kim Ortega, forward
Tracy Wynn and forward Amy Pack.
Shaw and Evans have been at TCU for all four seasons.
Ortega and Wynn transferred from Seward County Community
College and Pack transferred in from Texas-El Paso.
Shaw, who is from Fort Worth, said it has been great to
be a part of all the firsts that have occurred while she
has been here. She said she chose TCU because she believed
the program would turn around with head coach Jeff Mittie.
“Mittie was telling us the truth about getting us
there,” she said.
Mittie said no one that he can remember is tougher than
Shaw.
Evans has also been at TCU for all four years of winning.
Mittie said no one is more versatile than Evans and that
it gets back to just how much Evans and Shaw have won.
He said no one has won more games than Shaw and Evans,
and that is how players should be judged.
“Ebony (Shaw) and Tiffany (Evans) brought a lot of
athleticism and speed and competitiveness,” Mittie
said. “They gave a boost and contributed to a team
that won 25 games (their first season).”
Mittie said both Wynn and Ortega transferred from a championship
program in Seward County C.C.
Last season was Ortega’s first full season and said
she was recruited heavily and that helped push her into
coming to TCU.
“I knew I wanted to go to a program on the rise,”
Ortega said. “TCU has come a long way, and I felt
I fit into the program real well.”
Wynn agreed and said she liked the coaches and thought
she would also be a good fit at TCU.
Mittie said Wynn was one of hardest workers he’s
coached. Her intangibles that make her special, he said.
“The stats might not show it,” Mittie said.
“It isn’t just what she does on the court that
we like, but off the court as well.”
Mittie said he would remember all of the long-range treys
Ortega hit.
“We might not be where we were this season without
her,” Mittie said.
Pack said the team itself was reason why she came to TCU
from El Paso.
“The fact that it was a winning team and the chemistry,”
Pack said.
She said it has been great winning and has enjoyed going
to the NCAA Tournament.
“We definitely had to work really hard to get there,”
she said.
Mittie said Pack is a crafty player and has played many
roles throughout her career.
“She played as a starter and a sixth woman as the
first person off the bench,” Mittie said. “She
gave a big offensive boost when she was out there.”
Shaw said there was a winning attitude right from the
beginning.
“We felt that we could win from the start,”
Shaw said. “My freshman year we won the WAC and the
tourney. It was fun ‘cause no one expected us to
win. We took everyone by surprise.”
Mittie said next year the team will still be a talented
group but hopes that the seniors will pass on their traits
to the younger players.
Pack said the younger players “need to know that
this is a winning team and that you will have to work
to get to where the team wants to be.”
Shaw said TCU has been put on the map and has become a
powerhouse program.
“We want to show that TCU is one of those schools
accustomed to going to the tourney,” Shaw said. “(We)
want to leave a mark that we’re one of those teams.”
Mittie said this group has accomplished a lot and will
miss how consistent they were.
“It has been fun to watch them grow and mature as
a team,” Mittie said. |
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