Marshall University Athletics
Women's Basketball To Open Season At Appalachian State
11/13/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Nov. 13, 2008
BOONE, N.C. - Marshall's regular season gets under way Friday evening as the Thundering Herd women's basketball team will face Appalachian State at 7 p.m. at the Holmes Center.
The Herd is coming off of a 2-0 run in its preseason games. Marshall faced the Exodus All-Stars in its opener, taking a 78-41 win. In the second exhibition game against the DT-3 All-Star team, the Herd came away with a 71-56 win.
What is impressive about the second game is that the DT-3 team recorded wins over West Virginia, George Washington and Richmond. They also played solid against nationally ranked opponents Maryland and Virginia, leading both at halftime.
Casey Baker and Tynikki Crook have been the most impressive players for the Herd in the preseason. Against DT-3, Baker recorded a triple-double, scoring 14 points, grabbing 14 boards and notching 10 assists. She also had 12 points against Exodus.
Crook had double-doubles and 20-point performances in each game. She scored 20 points and had 12 rebounds against Exodus and followed that up with 22 points and another 12-rebound performance against DT-3. She will be looking for her fourth consecutive double-double and sixth, counting the exhibition games.
Marshall's roster features nine newcomers, many of whom played valuable minutes in the preseason. Angelica "Stick" Harris was the top performing newcomer in the Exodus contest, finishing with 11 points and three rebounds. Over the two preseason games, Harris played the most minutes of any newcomer with 51.
Andrea Ibezim was the top newcomer in the DT-3 game, scoring 12 points and grabbing six boards. She was also solid in the first game, finishing with eight points and six rebounds. Freshman Rashedah Henriques also came alive in the second game, scoring nine points.
The defense and the rebounding of the Herd was the story in its exhibition games. MU held Exodus to .318 shooting and followed that up by holding DT-3 to .297. Last season, Marshall held just one opponent to a lower percentage, that being a .262 performance by Memphis.
On the rebounding end, the Herd grabbed 51 and 57 boards in the two games. Last year, the team had four 50-rebound performances over the course of the season.
Appalachian State is coming off of an 8-22 season last year. They return six players from last year's team, with only one of those returners having started last year. Their top returning scorer is senior forward Brittany Mixon, who averaged 8.7 points and 6.5 rebounds per game.
In their lone exhibition game, the Mountaineers fell to California (Pa.) by a 72-58 margin.
Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. All women's basketball games will be carried on WMUL 88.1 FM, Marshall's student radio station. The broadcasts will also be carried live on the web at http://www.marshall.edu/wmul/.
