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Even when she heads home to Choctaw following the final summer practice Tuesday, freshman guard Ana Llanusa isn’t going to be done working.
With LaNesia Williams living close by in Oklahoma City, the two are already planning to meet up at a gym to keep practicing in the short interim before they return to school for the fall semester.
It’s the kind of thing that the veteran players have been doing all summer to help the freshmen acclimate to college basketball.
“We’re taking initiative even on the court, spending extra time with them, watching film, getting them in the gym with us,” said Maddie Manning, entering her sixth year on the team after receiving a medical hardship waiver. “It’s making sure they understand, so they can shine when they come out here in front of the coaches and that they don’t have to go through that same freshmen thing that everybody else has to go through.
“We’re trying to skip that because we’re going to need them. It’s no secret. We’re going to need everybody to win games.”
Thanks to relatively new NCAA rules, the team has been able to practice for two hours a week during the summer, and it’s already paying off for Llanusa and fellow freshman Mandy Simpson.
“I could not have expected more from either one of them,” coach Sherri Coale said. “They’ve been just terrific. They both have a really strong sense of personal confidence, so they own what they do, and they’re OK with failing. They know that’s just a step to doing something well next.”
Pierre-Louis benefits from summer conditioning
With the fire from a six-point, seven-rebound performance in the 108-82 season-ending loss to Washington still smoldering, Vionise Pierre-Louis is approaching this season with a determination that she sometimes lacked last season. The senior has already dedicated herself to eating better and working out harder through the summer workouts.
“It’s just very simply, she just drew a line and said, ‘This is how I’m going to behave,’” Coale said. “And by that, I mean, in terms of taking care of her body, in terms of stretching appropriately, in terms of eating and hydrating and all that stuff.
“She’s been dominant as a result of that. Granted, we don’t have a lot of size to go up against in practice every day, but just the fluidity of the movement and the explosiveness, the ability to endure and sustain for longer periods of time, it’s just all been so different.”
Pierre-Louis’ determination stems from a personal decision and a team-oriented one. With Nancy Mulkey’s transfer to Rice, OU is especially thin in the post, and she’ll be asked to play more minutes.
“This was our first summer doing conditioning all summer and that paid off huge for ViVi,” Manning said. “We have two fives. She’s going to have to play a lot of minutes. She knew that. She took initiative with it. She asked for more work to do. It’s been awesome. On the court, nobody can stop her this summer.”
Quotable
Coale on her team’s attitude during summer workouts with only 10 players on the roster:
“Everybody’s got an oar, and everybody’s rowing the boat.”
With LaNesia Williams living close by in Oklahoma City, the two are already planning to meet up at a gym to keep practicing in the short interim before they return to school for the fall semester.
It’s the kind of thing that the veteran players have been doing all summer to help the freshmen acclimate to college basketball.
“We’re taking initiative even on the court, spending extra time with them, watching film, getting them in the gym with us,” said Maddie Manning, entering her sixth year on the team after receiving a medical hardship waiver. “It’s making sure they understand, so they can shine when they come out here in front of the coaches and that they don’t have to go through that same freshmen thing that everybody else has to go through.
“We’re trying to skip that because we’re going to need them. It’s no secret. We’re going to need everybody to win games.”
Thanks to relatively new NCAA rules, the team has been able to practice for two hours a week during the summer, and it’s already paying off for Llanusa and fellow freshman Mandy Simpson.
“I could not have expected more from either one of them,” coach Sherri Coale said. “They’ve been just terrific. They both have a really strong sense of personal confidence, so they own what they do, and they’re OK with failing. They know that’s just a step to doing something well next.”
Pierre-Louis benefits from summer conditioning
With the fire from a six-point, seven-rebound performance in the 108-82 season-ending loss to Washington still smoldering, Vionise Pierre-Louis is approaching this season with a determination that she sometimes lacked last season. The senior has already dedicated herself to eating better and working out harder through the summer workouts.
“It’s just very simply, she just drew a line and said, ‘This is how I’m going to behave,’” Coale said. “And by that, I mean, in terms of taking care of her body, in terms of stretching appropriately, in terms of eating and hydrating and all that stuff.
“She’s been dominant as a result of that. Granted, we don’t have a lot of size to go up against in practice every day, but just the fluidity of the movement and the explosiveness, the ability to endure and sustain for longer periods of time, it’s just all been so different.”
Pierre-Louis’ determination stems from a personal decision and a team-oriented one. With Nancy Mulkey’s transfer to Rice, OU is especially thin in the post, and she’ll be asked to play more minutes.
“This was our first summer doing conditioning all summer and that paid off huge for ViVi,” Manning said. “We have two fives. She’s going to have to play a lot of minutes. She knew that. She took initiative with it. She asked for more work to do. It’s been awesome. On the court, nobody can stop her this summer.”
Quotable
Coale on her team’s attitude during summer workouts with only 10 players on the roster:
“Everybody’s got an oar, and everybody’s rowing the boat.”
