Friday Features: Union women succeed through growing pains
By Maurice Patton
An injury-shortened roster has contributed to a deceptively tough start for Union’s Lady Bulldogs, who head into a Gulf South Conference road trip this weekend with an 8-4 overall record (3-3 GSC).
But veteran coach Mark Campbell is focused on the process – not the results – for his squad.
“All I’m wanting is our maximum effort,” said Campbell, as his team is averaging 79.5 points per game for the year but was held to nearly half that in a 51-41 New Year’s Eve loss at Delta State. In conference play, the Lady Bulldogs scoring at a 62.8-point clip, ranking in the bottom half of the league.
Campbell sees the current situation as a growth opportunity for his program, which has only lost more than six games twice over his 17-year tenure.
“We could easily be 12-0 and not have the knowledge that we’re not very good,” Campbell assessed. “The positive is always to be aware. When you’re unaware of a persisting problem, that can cause a huge problem later.
“We don’t take pride in … taking care of little details that are going to matter later in the year. I’ve got to get better and they’ve got to get better.”
In Union’s favor is offensive balance. Six different players have led the Lady Bulldogs in scoring over the opening dozen games heading into the road swing to Alabama Huntsville and North Alabama – including sophomore guards Jada Perkins and Jada Smith and junior guard Sara Lytle.
Working against them, though, is an injury bug that has whittled a 14-player roster to as few as six on occasion, and to eight on multiple occasions.
“We’ve had several injuries; that’s out of our control,” Campbell said. “Those things shouldn’t get in the way of people having pride and production. Our assists have been down, our post presence has been inconsistent until these last few games. There are a lot of factors that go into it, but there’s no excuse for not taking care of details.”
The latest injury casualty has been senior guard Chelsea Bodiford, who had a team-high 24 points in Union’s 74-66 mid-December win over West Florida. Bodiford underwent surgery this week and is expected to miss the next two or three weeks.
“We think all this is good,” Campbell said of the adverse situations the team has faced. “You always envision you’re going to have tough times. It’s made us look deeply into our souls at certain things. We obviously think we can get a lot better, and that’s what we’re trying to do.
“The times you grow the most is when you’re uncomfortable. If we take advantage of those situations, and if we have character, that character is going to produce fruit.”
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2016-17 GSC Friday Features
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