Marshall University Athletics
Women's Basketball's Crook Close to Milestone
11/8/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Nov. 8, 2010
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. -990 is the magic number for Tynikki Crook, the lone senior on the Marshall women's basketball team. Heading into the Thundering Herd's opening weekend at the Longwood Classic, Crook stands just 10 points shy of hitting her 1,000th point in a Herd uniform but the shy Detroit, Mich. native isn't counting her pennies yet. "It's definitely on my mind but I try not to think about it because I am liable to not hit 10 points my entire season." Crook admitted.
The 6-1 forward has had eight months since the 2009-10 season finale to think of what her senior season is going to be like. "I know Ty is in the best shape she's ever been in, in her life. I think she is primed for the best season she's ever had," head coach Royce Chadwick expressed of his senior leader.
"It's my last season; I'm excited to see how I'm going to do. My last three years, I tried to do everything my upperclassmen needed me to do. It was never about me but all about them because those were their final games." The 2010-11 preseason All-Conference USA first team selection did more than her fare share, averaging 11.6 points per game, 7.1 rebounds per game and 1.3 blocks per game over her first three seasons.
Tynikki and Royce were quick to admit the changes that they've seen in the senior since her first season with the Herd. "She's gotten mentally tougher, she's been able to fight through the tough times," Chadwick stated. The death of Tynikki's brother during her freshman season forced Crook's to grow up in a hurry. "I think it was a situation where she felt very good out there on the basketball court and the tragedies in life kind of went away, while she was out there playing. She's been able to lean on her teammates and lean on her coaches and lean on her family to help her get through the tough times."
"The thing that I think she's come to in college is that she's learned that hard times come and you don't raise the white flag because it gets tough. You dig a little deeper, you reach down within yourself and you show some resiliency. She's had a lot of tough situations to have to fight through in her tenure here and she's done a very good job of bouncing back. Every time something bad came her direction, she was able to cope with it and she's been resilient and I think she's learned an awful lot about life, while she was here at Marshall," Chadwick continued.
"When my brother passed. That was real tough for me. He was one of my biggest fans," Crook admitted. Now over two years later Crook still uses the motivation of the one who introduced her to the game. "Now I'm just playing everything through him and god and I think I'm doing pretty well."
The senior tallied the only double-double in the exhibition contest against West Virginia Wesleyan early last week, recording 20 points and 10 rebounds. The Thundering Herd will continue to count on the forward as the young MU roster features six returners and six newcomers on its 2010-11 squad.
"I don't really know how I am going to do, I'm just going to go out there and play my best and hopefully it will bring some success." Thus far it has seemed to work well for her as this weekend she is expected to become one of only 17 players in Marshall history to hit the 1,000 point mark. "At the end of it all she'll look back and say that was really cool that I was playing at a place that gave me the opportunities to show what I can do," Chadwick said of the milestone. "They [the team] holds a special place in their hearts for her because she is their only senior."
When asked to recall Crook's standout Marshall moment Chadwick said "I hope it's yet to come. I hope that her most shining moment is what she is able to accomplish as a senior, the leadership and the way she made this team mold together because being a very young team, we have one motherly figure that can pull us together and that is going to be Ty."
