Friday Features: Title hopes for DSU boosted by triple threat
By Maurice Patton
As
Delta State looks to extend its women’s basketball postseason, offense shouldn’t be an issue.
The Lady Statesmen take the court in this weekend’s VisitSpaceCoast.com Gulf South Conference tournament with three 1,000-point scorers – and the three do their work all over the floor.
Looking in the low post? There’s senior
Seneca Walton. Want a mid-range threat? See classmate
Rhandi Ball. From the perimeter? Try junior
Chelsey Rhodes.
All three earned all-conference honors this season – first-team for Walton and Rhodes, second-team for Ball – making the Lady Statesmen the only squad to place three of its players among the league’s 10 best.
And the three played key roles in Delta’s revival from an 8-7 start to an 18-9 mark heading into Friday’s tournament semifinal matchup with Shorter.
”It’s not any secret,” veteran coach Craig Roden said of Delta’s slow start, which revolved around a high ankle sprain that hampered Walton through the pre-Christmas portion of the schedule. “She’d try to play, she didn’t play, she’d try to play. She missed maybe four games and (was slowed) probably four more. She tried to battle through it, but she just couldn’t.
“Not only that, but she and (junior forward Becca) Ruckes were out. There’s your presence inside. That’s two big bodies people have to look at. You practice one way all fall, then you have to adjust some things on the fly in the middle of conference play.”
Though Ruckes is still questionable with a concussion, Walton’s return to health and the Lady Statesmen’s rise neatly coincided.
“We’ve played better after Christmas, but you’re a better coach when your players are on the floor,” Roden said. “You get a lot of younger coaches that come in and think it’s ‘their system’. Everybody’s got a system. What are you plugging into your system?”
And in Walton, Rhodes and Ball, Roden had three players who have made an impact since initially stepping on campus. Each of the three are three-time all-GSC selections, with Ball -- one of three players to receive multiple league Player of the Week recognitions this season -- earning conference freshman of the year honors in 2012.
“They all came in and contributed as freshmen,” Roden said. “That’s how you get thousand-point scorers.
“If you’ve got two of the three going, you’re pretty tough to beat. If you’re able to get all three of them shots, you’re hard to beat. Your opponents – they have to try to take certain things away, and they’ve taken one completely away. But when they’re all three healthy and all three going good, you have to pick what you’re going to do.”
Ball was held scoreless in an earlier matchup with Valdosta State, but “she became more of a facilitator” according to Roden, and Rhodes finished with 26 points in a DSU victory.
“They’re all great players and they’re all great kids,” he said. “Ball’s a 3.8 (grade-point average) pre-med student, Rhodes is over a 3.0 and Walton’s an accounting major.
“They’re going to be good ambassadors for the university in future years.”
Follow Patton on Twitter at:
@mopatton_sports. E-mail comments to:
mopattonsports@gmail.com.
Join in on the conversation using #FridayFeatures on
Twitter and
Facebook.
Past Friday Features
11/07/2014 - NCAA Leader Chloe Richards Finds a Home at UNA.
11/14/2014 - Revival of a Rivalry.
11/21/2014 - VSU's Margaret Stauffer Finds Strength in Team, Family.
11/28/2014 - Union Off and Running.
12/05/2014 - UWA Coach Ray Stanfield Pushes Cross Country Teams to Top.
12/12/2014 - CBU Men's Basketball Making Noise.
12/19/2014 - Dickey Says UWG Football 'Right on Schedule'.
12/26/2014 - Youngsters Lead UWF Women.
1/02/2015 - UAH's Owens Rebounds From Car Crash With New Appreciation for Life, Basketball.
1/09/2015 - Freshmen Building Base for Lee Women's Success.
1/16/2015 - UWA's Chad Toocheck Overcame Addiction Lows to Reach Highs on Field.
1/23/2015 - Basketball Court at Delta State Named For a 'Legend'.
1/30/2015 - Shorter Basketball Coaches Celebrate Milestones Victories.
2/06/2015 - Union Outfielder Unfazed by Physical Challenges.
2/13/2015 - VSU's Courtney Albritton Rewriting Record Books.
2/20/2015 - Campbell Leaves 'Mark' as Union Women's Hoops Coach.
2/27/2015 - UNA's Spehr Leads From 'Down Under'.