They play nothing alike. One brings a strong defensive presence and penetration skills, while the other provides instant firepower from the perimeter. They are sophomore starting point guard Sakera Young and freshman sharp-shooting backup Kim Benton.
Their vastly different styles of play compliment each other so well on the court, that Massachusetts women’s basketball coach Marnie Dacko has started to put them on the floor together.
Whether they’re paired together or not, the Massachusetts women’s basketball team (14-11, 4-6 Atlantic 10) will need them both at their finest for the remainder of the season if they wish to make a run in the conference tournament.
The importance of her floor generals is certainly not lost on Dacko as the season winds down.
“They are really important to the team’s success,” she said. “They handle the ball 95 percent of the time, so I think that they need to be able to make the decisions with the basketball. There are plenty of minutes to go around and when you look at their minutes played, it’s clear they are both very valuable to this team.”
Young began the 2006-07 campaign with the starting nod, but the spot-on shooting from Benton was too much to keep relegated to the bench for long. Benton’s 30-for-76 shooting from behind the arc in non-conference play propelled her into a starting role.
Due to her recent struggles, Benton has since lost the starting job back to Young, but her record-setting performance Sunday at the Mullins Center is a sign that her shot has returned to previous form.
“I’m happy she got it back,” Dacko said. “She started the season out on fire, and as shooters do sometimes, she got into a slump. But at the same time, there are other things that Kim can bring besides her shot. I think she has to understand that she can create for other people and we want her to really hone in on her defensive skills.”
The defensive ability that Dacko wants to see more of from Benton is one of the main reasons why Young has found her way back into the starting five.
“Sakera can really put a lot of pressure on the other teams’ guards,” Dacko said. “She’s somebody who can get some steals and create more easy buckets off of transition because of her defensive presence. She also brings a fast tempo style to our offense and she’s getting more and more confident in what she can do.”
Despite her long stretch of struggles from the field, Benton is far and away the team leader in 3-pointers made at 44. It’s something her fellow counterpart is well-aware of.
“She’s a great offensive-minded player and one of the best shooters on our team,” Young said. “She’s a great shooter and I can penetrate and kick it out to her because she’s automatic.”
Although she wasn’t quite automatic against Rhode Island, she wasn’t far off. Her six 3-pointers against the Rams set a new Mullins Center record for any UMass player, and she raised her season’s scoring average to 6.4 per game with her career-high 18-point performance.
The accuracy of her shot may have returned, but Benton is still conscious of the fact that her individual defense needs to improve. She’d be well-advised to watch her fellow teammate on the defensive end of the floor.
“She definitely brings a strong defensive presence to the team,” Benton said of Young. “She’s really quick and defensively she can stop almost any guard. We’re pretty much the opposite type of player.”
Young’s game isn’t centered on shooting in the least bit – Benton has attempted 124 three-pointers, while Young has only taken 60 shots total – but rather distributing the basketball to her weapons in the low post, namely junior Kate Mills and senior Tamara Tatham.
They may play differently, but if Benton is knocking down triples and Young is setting up her teammates, it makes defeating Duquesne on Friday that much easier. And that’s the one area where they don’t differ.
Eli Rosenswaike can be reached at [email protected]
