Elliott, Cats set to start fresh

Taking over a team that has won just six Big East Conference games in the last two years, UC women’s basketball head coach Jamelle Elliott has her work cut out for her.

Elliott is the new head coach in 2009-10, when J. Kelley Hall was fired April 10, after two seasons with the Bearcats.

The new coach and her team was given added motivation recently when they were picked to finish last in the conference.

“That’s voted on by the coaches in the Big East Conference,” Elliott said. “It wasn’t something that I was totally surprised about, but that was something I wasn’t used to, coming from Connecticut and being No. 1.”

Elliott has also been busy working on her team’s chemistry, which she said is one thing that the team lacked when she took over.

“When you talk about being a really good team, I’m talking about relationships off the court, trust, communication; all those things that it takes to be a good team,” Elliott said. “When I first took the job, I saw that was kind of lacking a little bit.”

The team has heeded the advice of their head coach and are now interacting more than they have in the past.

“We just had to make sure that we stuck together when things weren’t going well on and off the floor,” said senior guard Stephanie Stevens. “As long as there’s team chemistry then everything can go well for us.”

On the court, UC will be without Shelly Bellman who will miss all of the 2009-10 season with a knee injury. Bellman started all 28 games for the Cats last season and averaged 6.9 points per game. Cincinnati also graduated its second-leading scorer in forward
Jill Stephens.

The Cats return leading scorer Kahla Roudebush, who led UC in scoring last season with 16.3 points per game and will be looked to as a leader this season by her coach.

“She’s definitely on me with that,” Roudebush said. “Especially when I don’t talk during practice, she’ll remind me.”

UC opens the regular season at home against Furman at 7 p.m., Sunday, Nov. 15, and plays a tough out-of-conference schedule before beginning Big East play against Louisville Saturday, Jan. 2.

UC also travels to Elliott’s former school when they play UConn, Thursday, Jan. 7.

“I was in Connecticut for 16 years so for me that’s like a second home,” Elliott said. “It’s going to be emotional, it’s going to be hard for me but at the same time, my team’s going to be looking at me to be a leader.”