basketball preview 2011

Advertisement Tuesday, November 9, 20102 Sports

2010-2011 Basketball PreviewTuesday, November 9, 2010 3Sports

Table of contentsMen’s bios page 4Women’s bios page 5Schedules and key games pages 6-7Men’s season preview page 8Coach profiles page 9Women’s season preview page 10MVC Breakdown page 11Freshmen Bears page 12New Lady Bears page 14

2010-2011 Basketball Preview Tuesday, November 9, 20104 Sports

#1 KeithPickens

#33

NafisRicks

#3 AaronCooper

#21 CalebPatterson

#30 NathanScheer

#10 AdamLeonard

#15 JermaineMallett

#24 KeithDupont

#31 NickValla

CoreyCopeland

#34 KyleWeems

#50 IsaiahRhine

#44 WillCreekmore

#2

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Sophomoreguard/forward

Seniorguard

Freshmanguard

Seniorguard

Seniorguard

Juniorcenter

Sophomoreguard

Freshmanforward

Freshmanguard

Freshmanguard

Juniorforward

Seniorforward/center

Juniorcenter

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2010-2011 Basketball PreviewTuesday, November 9, 2010 5Sports

#33

#15 KendraRoberts

#24 JacquiGriggs

#14 KarlyBuer

#23 JaleshiaRoberson

#25 TiaMays

ChristianaShorter

#40 ReganSoldner

#44 LaceyBoshe

#43 AlyStock

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Juniorforward

Sophomorecenter

Juniorforward

#1#0 HannahWilkerson

WhitneyEdie

#3 DesireePhillips

#12 JasmineMalone

#5 CaseyGarrison

Freshmanguard

Sophomoreguard

Freshman forward

Juniorguard

Juniorguard


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The Standard 2010-2011 Basketball Preview Tuesday, November 9, 20106 Sports

BByy JJoonn PPoooorrmmaannThe Standard

In a season that few peo-ple had high hopes for, theMissouri State men’s bas-ketball team battled throughadversity and exceededexpectations on their way toa CollegeInsider.comTournament championshipin 2009-10.

The Bears made a com-plete turnaround in coachCuonzo Martin’s secondseason at the helm, going24-12. The team was 11-20the season before.

Now that the team hassampled the feeling of suc-cess, many feel like thismight be the year the Bearstake the next step and bringhome a conference title.

Missouri State waspicked to finish second inthe Missouri Valley

Conference preseason poll,behind only Wichita State.

With an experiencedgroup of core players,Martin feels like his team ispoised for even more suc-cess than they achieved ayear ago.

“They won’t be caughtoff guard by anything thisseason,” Martin said. “Theyplayed at a high level andplayed some great competi-tion last season.”

Martin said the biggestkey to improvement is toconcentrate on the details ofthe game and to play betterdefense.

“For us, it’s really doingthe little things on bothends of the floor,” he said,“doing them at a high level,doing them consistently anddoing them throughout thegame. We have to be able toput 40 minutes of quality

defense on the floor. Thathas to do with a lot of littlethings and carrying outassignments.”

The success of the teamall starts with MissouriState’s reigning Player ofthe Year, junior KyleWeems, who led the team inscoring (13.6) and rebound-ing (6.2) last season. Thisyear, he was named to thepreseason All-MVC team.

Weems said, eventhough the team had somesuccess last season, theystill know there is a lot ofwork to be done to get tothe level they want to be at.

“We got a little taste ofsuccess (last season),”Weems said. “It felt good toend the season on a win. Alot of programs don’t get todo that, but we just have tokeep working hard and getbetter as a unit.”

Joining Weems in thestarting lineup will be sen-ior guard Adam Leonard.Leonard was named MVCNewcomer of the Year lastseason and was second onthe team, averaging 13points per game. He also setthe Missouri State single-season record for 3-pointerswith 103.

Leonard said in order forthe Bears to come awaywith conference title, theyhave to play better on theroad, which starts on thedefensive end. The teamwas 1-8 in conference roadgames last season,

“We had one of the bestoffenses last year andabsolutely one of the worstdefenses last year,” he said.“If we can stop some scor-ing by the other teams, our

Bears ready for 2010-11

� See MMEENN’’SS page 9

Cuonzo (CON-zoe)Martin became MissouriState's 16th head men'sbasketball coach onApril 1, 2008. He beginshis third season with theBears in 2010-11.A native of East St.

Louis, Ill., Martin was astar player at Purduefrom 1991-95 for coach

Gene Keady and thenplayed four years pro-fessionally. He coachedat Purdue for eight yearsunder Keady and cur-rent Boilermaker headcoach Matt Painter.In 2009-10, the

Bears finished 24-12,making them the fifthmost-improved programin the nation with a 13-game turnaround in thewin column. MSU wonthe CollegeInsider.com

Postseason Tournamentand tied Kansas for thenational Division I leadin home wins with 19.The Bears led the

Missouri ValleyConference in scoringand assist-to-turnoverratio in 2009-10 andranked in the nationaltop 40 in three statisticalcategories, including24th in turnovers (11.3).Martin finished fourthin the MVC Coach of

the Year voting and sawsix players earn confer-ence postseason honors.In June, 2010, the

Missouri State Board ofGovernors approvedMartin's guaranteedfive-year contractextension through April1, 2015. He was alsoselected to begin a termon the NCAA RegionalAdvisory Committee,starting in 2010-11.

The Standard 2010-2011 Basketball PreviewTuesday, November 9, 2010 7Sports

offense will come and we’ll win games.”Another player that will play an impor-

tant role for the Bears in 2010-11 is seniorforward Jermaine Mallett. He was third onthe team in scoring (10.6) and second inrebounding (5.6) last year.Senior Will Creekmore will be the

Bears’ go-to big man again this seasonafter averaging 8.6 points and 4.7rebounds last year. He also came awaywith CIT Tournament MVP honors as heaveraged 11.7 points and 6.2 rebounds infour tournament games.Rounding out the starting five is senior

point guard Nafis Ricks. Ricks averaged7.4 points and nearly three rebounds andthree assists off the bench last season onhis way to being named a member of theMVC All-Bench team.Other players expected to see playing

time include juniors Caleb Patterson andIsaiah Rhine. Four freshmen, AaronCooper, Corey Copeland, Nathan Scheerand Nick Valla, will also compete to geton the court.The Bears’ first regular season game is

at 8:35 p.m. on Friday against OralRoberts at JQH Arena.

MMeenn’’ssCCoonnttiinnuueedd ffrroomm ppaaggee 88

Cuonzo Martin

Nyla Milleson

Nyla Milleson entersher third season as thehead Lady Bear afterinjecting the storiedMissouri State women’sbasketball program with ablend of youth and opti-mism in her first twocampaigns at the helm.

Milleson was namedthe sixth head coach inthe 39-year history of the

Missouri State women’sbasketball program onApril 9, 2007, after aremarkable seven-yearrun as head coach atDrury University.This year, Milleson

will welcome back 10 let-terwinners from last sea-son’s 22-11 teamthat sawthe Lady Bears finish tiedfor third in the Valley andreturn to the postseasonfor the first time in fourseasons. Missouri Stategarnered 27 of 40 first-

place votes and 385 totalpoints to outpace No. 2UNI in the poll.Missouri State's selec-

tion represents the ninthtime in the last twodecades the Lady Bearshave been the preseasonchoice to win the confer-ence's regular-seasontitle, and its first since the2004-05 campaign. TheLady Bears have capturedthe regular-season crownon seven of the previouseight occasions they have

been picked to win theMVC race.The duo of Garrison

and Roberson formedarguably the deadliestone-two punch in theMVC, particularly duringconference play, in 2009-10.In MSU's 18 Valley

games, they combined for36.1 points per outing,with Garrison's 20.4 ppg,average pacing all scorersby more than three pointsper game.

Cuonzo Martin3rd year at MSU

Nyla Milleson3rd year at MSU

TTHHEE SSTTAANNDDAARRDD 0099--1100 BBAASSKKEETTBBAALLLL PPRREEVVIIEEWW Sports | 98 | Sports

Date Opponent Site TimeFri., Nov. 12 Oral Roberts University Springfield 8:45 p.m.Tue., Nov. 16 Arkansas State University Knoxville, Tenn. 6 p.m.Wed., Nov. 17 Tennessee or Belmont Univ. Knoxville, Tenn. 6/8:30 p.m.Fri., Nov. 19 University of Tulsa Tulsa, Okla. 7 p.m.Mon., Nov. 22- NIT Preseason Tip-Off Springfield or

Nov. 26 New York, N.Y. TBAWed., Dec. 1 Arkansas-Little Rock Springfield 7:05 p.m.Sat., Dec. 4 Central Arkansas Springfield 7:05 p.m.Sat., Dec. 11 Oklahoma State University Stillwater, Okla. 7 p.m.Sat., Dec. 18 Saint Louis University Springfield 7:05 p.m.Wed., Dec. 22 Arkansas State University Springfield 7:05 p.m.Wed., Dec. 29 University of Northern Iowa Cedar Falls, Iowa 7:05 p.m.Sat., Jan. 1 Illinois State University Springfield 7:05 p.m.Tue., Jan. 4 Creighton University Omaha, Neb. 7:05 p.m.Fri., Jan. 7 University of Evansville Springfield 7:05 p.m.Sun., Jan. 9 Wichita State University Wichita, Kan. 7:35 p.m.Wed., Jan. 12 Southern Illinois University Springfield 7:05 p.m.Sun., Jan. 16 Bradley University Peoria, Ill. 7:05 p.m.Wed., Jan. 19 Indiana State University Terre Haute, Ind. 6:05 p.m.Sat., Jan. 22 Creighton University Springfield 4:05 p.m.Tue., Jan. 25 Drake University Des Moines, Iowa 7:05 p.mSun., Jan. 30 University of Northern Iowa Springfield 7:05 p.m.Wed., Feb. 2 University of Evansville Evansville, Ind. 7:05 p.m.Sat., Feb. 5 Indiana State University Springfield 2:05 p.m.Wed., Feb. 9 Bradley University Springfield 7:05 p.m.Sat., Feb. 12 Illinois State University Normal, Ill. 7:05 p.m.Tue., Feb. 15 Drake University Springfield 7:05 p.m.Feb. 18, 19 or 20 ESPN BracketBusters (TBA) TBA TBAWed., Feb. 23 Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Ill. 7:05 p.m.Sat., Feb. 26 Wichita State University Springfield TBAThu., March 3- Sun., March 6 State Farm MVC Tournament St. Louis, Mo. TBA

Bears’ Schedule Lady Bears’ ScheduleDate Opponent Site TimeFri, Nov. 12 Lamar University Springfield 5:35 p.m. Sun, Nov. 14- Preseason WNITSun, Nov. 21 (opponents TBA) TBA TBASat, Nov. 27 Louisiana Tech University Springfield 2:05 p.m. Tue, Nov. 30 Oral Roberts University Springfield 7:05 p.m. Fri, Dec. 3 Eastern Michigan University Springfield 7:05 p.m. Sun, Dec. 5 Arkansas State University Springfield 2:05 p.m. Thu, Dec. 9 SIUE Springfield 7:05 p.m. Sun, Dec. 12 Saint Louis University St. Louis, Mo. 2:00 p.m. Fri, Dec. 17 Coppin State University Baltimore, Md. 3:30 p.m. Sun, Dec. 19 Georgetown University Washington, D.C. 1:00 p.m. Tue, Dec. 21 Morgan State University Baltimore, Md. 4:30 p.m. Fri, Dec. 31 Southern Illinois University Springfield 1:05 p.m. Sun, Jan. 2 University of Evansville Springfield 2:05 p.m. Thu, Jan. 6 University of Northern Iowa Cedar Falls, Iowa 7:05 p.m. Sat, Jan. 8 Bradley University Peoria, Ill. 7:05 p.m. Tue, Jan. 11 Illinois State University Springfield 7:05 p.m. Sun, Jan. 16 Indiana State University Springfield 2:05 p.m. Fri, Jan. 21 Wichita State University Springfield 7:05 p.m. Thu, Jan. 27 Creighton University Omaha, Neb. 7:05 p.m. Sat, Jan. 29 Drake University Des Moines, Iowa 2:05 p.m. Fri, Feb. 4 Bradley University Springfield 7:05 p.m. Sun, Feb. 6 University of Northern Iowa Springfield 2:05 p.m. Thu, Feb. 10 Indiana State University Terre Haute, Ind. 6:05 p.m. Sat, Feb. 12 Illinois State University Normal, Ill. 1:05 p.m. Thu, Feb. 17 Wichita State University Wichita, Kan. 5:35 p.m. Fri, Feb. 25 Drake University Springfield 7:05 p.m. Sun, Feb. 27 Creighton University Springfield 2:05 p.m. Thu, Mar. 3 University of Evansville Evansville, Ind. 7:00 p.m. Sat, Mar. 5 Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Ill. 2:05 p.m. Thu, Mar. 10-Sun, Mar. 13 State Farm MVC Tournament St. Charles, Mo. TBA

Bearsʼ Must-See Games Lady Bears ̓Must-See GamesMissouri State vs. Oral Roberts Nov. 12The Bears will open their 2010 campaign against OralRoberts on Nov. 12 at JQH. Both MSU and ORU arepicked second in their respective conferences.

Missouri State vs. Oklahoma State Dec. 11On Dec. 11, MSU will take on Big 12 school OklahomaState in Stillwater, Okla. The Cowboys were a No. 7 seedin the NCAA tournament last year before being elimi-nated in the first round by Georgia Tech.

Missouri State vs. Wichita State Jan. 9A true test for MSU, the Bears will travel to Wichita,Kan., to take on the conference-favorite Shockers. Lastseason the Bears played Wichita State three times andlost all three games including their final game in theMVC Tournament in St. Louis.

Missouri State vs. Southern Illinois Jan. 12MSU will match up against conference rival SouthernIllinois twice this year, once at home on Jan. 12 and onceaway in the second-to-last game of the season on Feb. 23.The teams split this conference series last year 1-1.

Missouri State vs. Lamar Nov. 12The Lady Bears start the season with a WNIT game Nov. 12against Lamar. Lamar went 26-8 last season in Division II bas-ketball.

Missouri State vs. Oral Roberts Nov. 30Part of a long line of games at home for the Lady Bears, thisNov. 30 game may help build momentum for a winning streak.ORU earned a No. 19 ranking in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Preseason Top 25 poll.

Missouri State vs. Georgetown Dec. 19On Dec. 19, the Lady Bears will face off against powerhouseGeorgetown in Washington D.C. The Lady Bears opened lastseason against Georgetown, suffering a 55-79 loss. The Hoyasstart the season ranked No. 13 in the Associated Press Presea-son Poll.

Missouri State vs. UNI Jan. 6 & Feb. 6The Lady Bears will take on the rival Panthers in Iowa on Jan.6 and at JQH on Feb. 6. UNI comes in ranked second in thepreseason MVC poll. MSU beat UNI in both games last sea-son.


BByy BBeennjjaammeenn LLooeewwnnaauuThe Standard

Eight months removed from a trip to theWomen’s National Invitation Tournament(WNIT) and a 22-11 season, the Lady Bearsown first place in the Missouri ValleyConference preseason rankings.“We have the respect from our confer-

ence, that they feel like that’s where weneed to be, and so we have to come in day-in and day-out and prove that that’s wherewe’re at,” junior guard Casey Garrison said.Last year the Lady Bears finished third

in conference during the regular season,which was good enough for the No. 3 seedin the MVC Tournament. However, theywere knocked out in their first game of thetournament by Wichita State.Despite being ousted from the confer-

ence tournament early, the Lady Bearsreceived the chance to play in the WNITand made it as far as the third round wherethey were outscored by Illinois.

The Lady Bears are returning 10 playersfrom last year’s team, seven of which areupperclassmen, bringing much experienceback for the 2010-11 campaign.“They’re providing us very good leader-

ship,” head coach Nyla Milleson said. “Ithink we’ve got a good deal of experience,so some of the detailed things that we needto really focus on, need to continue to be inemphasis.”Three freshmen and a sophomore trans-

fer will be joining the 10 returning playerson the roster this season.Freshman guards Karly Buer and

Hannah Wilkerson, freshman forwardDesiree Phillips and sophomore forward TiaMays will help the returning players inhopes of adding to last season’s success.“Everyone seems really positive about

this year, and we just have to keep workingin practice every day,” Buer said.Even though the majority of the roster is

returning from last season, improvementsstill need to be made.

“We look a lot better than we have.We’re a lot faster, stronger, quicker, but westill have a lot of things to improve on,”Garrison said.Continuity on the offensive front and

defensive positioning are both areas in needof improvement for the Lady Bears,Milleson said.Over the course of practices and exhibi-

tions games, the Lady Bears have remainedhealthy with the exception of one key play-er.“We’re waiting on Jacque Griggs,”

Milleson said. “She had knee surgery in thespring, so she’s not back 100 percent yet.We don’t really have a time table for her, butshe’s not back yet practicing.”With improvements being made and the

injury to Griggs accounted for, the Bearswill be starting their regular season in lessthan a week.The first game for the Lady Bears is at

5:35 p.m. Friday at home against LamarUniversity.

Lady Bears set for season

The Standard 2010-2011 Basketball PreviewTuesday, November 9, 2010 11Sports

1. Wichita State: The Shockers finishedsecond last year and are coming back with astrong squad.Many pick them as the favorites asthey returned many players from last season.

2. Missouri State: The Bears come into theseason off a College-Insider.com Tournamentwin. The team hopes to do better against confer-ence teams after finishing 8-10 in the Valley.However, the preseason poll ranked the Bears asthe second best team in the conference.

3. Northern Iowa:After a Sweet 16 appear-ance and a huge victory overKansas, UNI headsinto the 2010-11 season as the top team in theconference. They have been conference champi-ons two years in a row.

4. Creighton:With a new coach, this teamwill be in a transition year. However, they stillhave a lot of returning players and can easilymake a run late in the year.

5. Bradley: The Braves started out strong

last year but ended with a bad stretch. However,they did finish with a .500 conference recordand come into this season with four returningstarters.

6. Illinois State: The Redbirds will have toreplace their top three scorers from last season.However, over the last three seasons, they havewon more games (71) than any other Valleyschool.

8. Indiana State:This teamwill also have afairly young team.With redshirts and freshmen,the team doesn’t have a lot of experience.However, with a lot of talented players, the teamdoes have some depth.

9. Drake: The theme of young players alsogoes with this year’s Drake team. This year is arebuilding year for the Bulldogs.

7. Southern Illinois: After losing threestarters and a key reserve player, this team isstarting fresh. But with a disappointing year lastseason, that might be a good thing.

10. Evansville: In many polls, they’reranked at the bottom of the conference. Manydon’t even think they can repeat their nine winsagainst conference teams from last year.

MVC: Lady Bears are No. 1, Bears are No. 22010-11 men’s MVC

preseason poll1. Missouri State: With reigning MVC

Player of the Year Casey Garrison leading theway, the LadyBears are ranked first coming intothe season.

2. Northern Iowa: Along with their men’steam, UNI won the MVC championship lastyear and made their NCAA tournament debut.They’re ranked second this year with threereturning starters.

3. Creighton: The Bluejays are ranked thirdcoming into the season. Last year they finishedwith 20 wins for the third straight time, and thisyear they hope to make it four with three return-ing starters and many newcomers.

4. Illinois State: New coach StephanieGlance will take the reins this year with just tworeturning starters. However, the team doesn’tlack experiencewith five seniors and a run to theWNIT semifinals last year.

5. Wichita State: The Shockers won their

first ever post season game last year in the inau-gural Women’s Basketball Invitational. Theyhave three returning starters with one lone sen-ior.

6. Bradley: The Braves come into the sea-son with a brand new arena. They also returnthree starters including their top two scorersfrom last year.

7. Drake: After a .500 season last year, theBulldogs hope their three returning starters willput them over the hump.

8. Indiana State: First year head coach TeriMoren begins her year with four returningstarters. With a new coach, this could be a tran-sition year. However, the team does have someexperience.

9. Southern Illinois: With 11 newcomers,the Salukis come into the season a little young.However, three senior starters hope to provideleadership and bring the team up from theirlower ranking in the preseason.

10. Evansville: The team returns threestarters and five of their top seven scorers fromlast year.

2010-11 women’sMVC preseason poll


Men’s team welcomes four freshmenBByy JJoonn PPoooorrmmaannThe Standard

The transition from high schoolhoops to Division I basketball can be achallenging task. Every year, theMissouri State basketball team brings ina new crop of young freshmen that arelooking to make a difference for theBears.

This year, the team welcomes in fourfreshman players: Nathan Scheer,Aaron Cooper, Corey Copeland andNick Valla.

Each player has a different set ofskills to bring to the table. However,head coach Cuonzo Martin has threemain expectations for his youngsters.

“Just focus on defending, rebound-ing and playing hard,” Martin said.“Consume yourself with playingdefense all the time, and then, whenyour offense comes, it’s just an addedbonus.”

Valla, a 6-foot-2 walk-on, is oneplayer that Martin expects good thingsfrom. In high school, he was rated asone of the best point guards in Chicago.

“He’ll surprise a lot of people,”Martin said. “He’s a guy who came inbenching 300 pounds in July as a fresh-man. He’s physical, plays hard and he

really competes.”Martin said Valla is very talented and

will give the Bears much-needed depthat the guard position.

“He is one of those guys that’s all-purpose,” Martin said. “He can handlethe ball as a point (guard), fight guysthrough screens and attack the basketwell.”

Scheer, from Washington, Mo., willalso provide the Bears with depth. In theteam’s first exhibition game againstUpper Iowa, Scheer snagged a spot inthe starting line-up as a replacement forinjured senior Adam Leonard.

“Scheer is one of the guys that doesthe little things,” Martin said. “Hemakes shots, he’s a good physical guyand he can defend inside and outside.”

Cooper and Copeland, a duo ofguards from Arkansas, are two guys thatMartin believes can be playmakers.

“Aaron Cooper is a guy that reallypushes the ball and is a really good on-the-ball defender for a freshman,”Martin said. “He’s one of those guysthat’s really good at pressuring the ball.”

“Corey Copeland is a guy that canreally score the ball. He has a scorer’smindset. He’s one of those guys who’sin attack mode at all times, which is

good.”Both Cooper and Copeland said the

tempo of the college game is somethingthat they will have to adjust to.

“The biggest difference (from highschool to college) is probably the speedof the game,” Copeland said. “It’s a lotdifferent from high school. There arethings you can do in high school thatdon’t necessarily work in college. It’spretty much the game speed. You haveto get used to it.”

The veteran players on the teamhave been doing their best to prepare thefreshmen for the speed of the game,among other things.

“They communicate a lot with me,”Cooper said. “They help me understandthings and break it down for me.”

Copeland said both the coaches andolder players have been very supportiveand have given him some helpful tips.

“If you make a mistake, don’t hangyour head,” Copeland said. “If youmake a mistake, just go ahead and playthrough it and make the next play.”

If these four freshmen hope to getanything out of their first season, it willlikely be to gain valuable playing expe-rience for the years to come and to makea difference any way they can.

AdvertisementTuesday, November 9, 2010 13Sports


BByy BBeennjjaammeenn LLooeewwnnaauuThe Standard

For the 2010-11 season, the LadyBears have added four players to a ros-ter that has 10 returning players fromlast year’s team.Three freshmen and one sophomore

transfer are new to the Lady Bears’roster this season.“I really feel like they’re really

going to help out our program now andthrough the next few years,” juniorguard Casey Garrison said.Two of the four newcomers for the

Lady Bears are forwards: sophomoreTia Mays and freshman DesireePhillips.The other two freshmen for the

Lady Bears, Karly Buer and HannahWilkerson, are both guards.

“I think they really addressed someneeds that we had and again they eachkind of bring their own strengths to thetable, not only for this year, but for the

future,” head coach Nyla Millesonsaid.In the Lady Bears’ first exhibition

game against Rogers State University,Buer, along with junior guard JasmineMalone, tied for leading scorer with 17points. “I got that feeling of playing college

ball out of the way,” Buer said.In the game, Buer, Mays, Phillips

and Wilkerson all played at least 12minutes while combining to score 34of the team’s 87 points.However, the learning experience

goes beyond exhibition games.Practices and advice from the olderplayers who were once in their shoesare also a part of the equation.“It’s just a lot of teaching and show-

ing them what we did wrong and help-ing them correct those mistakes,”Garrison said.Game experience and learning the

ropes from the 10 returning playersbecomes even more important with the

first regular season game less than aweek away.“They’re definitely bringing a dif-

ferent level of intensity to our prac-tices and a different level of competi-tion toward our practices and ourgames,” Garrison said.With the addition of four new play-

ers, the Lady Bears will be looking tobuild off of a 2009-10 campaign wherethey posted a 22-11 overall record aftera trip to the Women’s NationalInvitation Tournament (WNIT).“I was very excited when I signed to

come here to play,” Buer said. “Thetradition has been great at MissouriState. We’re looking to build it backup, so that’s really exciting.”The first regular season game for

the Lady Bears is at 5:35 p.m. Friday athome against Lamar University.

Lady Bears add new talents

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