According to Sunday’s schedule, there was a Massachusetts women’s basketball exhibition game at the Mullins Center. It should have read “The Katie Nelson Show” for the first half.
The rookie point guard silenced some of UMass’ preseason questions by scoring her team’s first five points and 11 in the first half.
Much has been made in the preseason of filling the shoes of graduated star point guard Kathy Coyner, who led the team in minutes played, scoring and assists last season, but Nelson, along with classmate Monique Govan and sophomore Cleo Foster, calmed the collective uneasiness with solid performances in Sunday’s 61-46 victory over the National Basketball League Travel Elite team.
In a game that was virtually over when the Maroon and White ended the first half with a 10-0 run, Nelson went a perfect four-for-four from behind the arc and scored 14 points.
“Hopefully it will be this accurate all throughout the season,” Nelson said with a chuckle.
The freshman did show some green, however, with four turnovers in her 25 minutes of action.
“We missed a little bit of Coyner’s presence in the discipline [aspect],” UMass Head Coach Joanie O’Brien said, “but you saw the good things that we can do [at point guard].”
Not that Nelson, or O’Brien, sees herself as a shoe-filler.
“A lot of people have compared me to [Kathy Coyner],” the Ellicot City, Md. native said. “But I’m just trying do my own thing.”
“She is going to get that comparison a lot, but she’s very different.” O’Brien said. “She’s a little bit bigger, a little more athletic. I think she has done a good job picking things up.”
O’Brien looks for Govan to pick up some of the slack as well. The freshman responded with four assists and, more importantly, zero turnovers in 16 minutes of action.
“She’s more the prototype point guard,” O’Brien said, while pointing out that Govan and Nelson will probably find themselves on the court together at times.
And while a win is nice in the preseason, it isn’t the first priority for the coach.
“You are trying to find out who can play well together and what combinations work,” O’Brien said. “You get some people that practice okay, but when the lights come on they play well and sometimes you get people who practice well and the lights come on and they don’t play well.”
Junior forward Nekole Smith was one player of particular interest. After dislocating her knee one year to the day of this exhibition, the Ann Arbor, Mich. native led all scorers with 15 while grabbing seven rebounds in just 16 minutes of play – effectively declaring herself ready for the 2001 season.
Junior post players Siiri Liivandi and Jennifer Butler controlled the boards. The two combined for 13 offensive rebounds, but struggled to turn them into points. Liivandi was able to draw two shooting fouls off the offensive boards, but shot just 0-for-4 from the field while Butler struggled underneath to a four-for-15 shooting performance.
“I think you’ll see [the missed put backs] correct pretty quickly,” O’Brien said.
Butler made up for shooting problems on defense, however, where she grabbed seven more rebounds, caused two steals, and made two blocks.
The depth in both the frontcourt and backcourt is something O’Brien isn’t used to, but definitely looking forward to utilizing.
“It’s going to be nice to look down the bench and know that you’ve got five or six people you can put in and not drop off too far,” the eleven-year coaching veteran said.
After more than two weeks of just practicing, it was especially nice to see some other players opposite her Maroon and White, especially with an opening date at Holy Cross looming.
“We have been in practice for 18 days, it gets boring after a little while,” O’Brien said.
“We’ll see the intensity in practice pick up a little as that game gets closer.”
The regular season gets closer every day and with confidence to build on after Sunday’s thrashing of the NWBL elite travel team, Coach O’Brien’s squad will be ready for Nov. 16.
