Incoming class 10 Freshmen to watch

Women's Basketball, Oct 2003 by Wheelock, Helen

So much more than talent determines whether a high school star will successfully make the transition to Division I basketball. Can she handle going 100 percent every minute of practice? How will she deal with no longer being "the best player" on the team? Can she balance a full load of classes with the demand of four hours a day of practice and weight training?

Can she sublimate her ego for the good of the team? Or handle the pressure of a coach who expects her to make an immediate impact? How will she match up with the bigger, faster and stronger players she'll go against game after game?

Only time will tell. For now, here are some of the incoming freshmen to watch for as the 2003-04 season unfolds.

Alison Bales

Duke

During her career, 6'7'' center Alison Bales led Beavercreek (Ohio) High School to an undefeated season and state championship, and her AAU team to the National Championship three consecutive years. As a senior, Bales averaged 17.6 points and 9.5 rebounds per game, and was named a WBCA, McDonald's and Parade All-American.

"She's very intelligent and knows what she can and can't do," says her high school coach, Ed Zink. "She's an unselfish kid and a tremendous young lady."

Despite her accolades, Zink knows it's unrealistic to expect Bales to earn an enormous amount of playing time, considering Duke returns almost everyone from last year's Final Four team. Once on the court, though, Bales (deliverer of 500 blocks in high school) can make an immediate impact defensively.

"Offensively, she's going to have to be more aggressive and stronger," says Zink.

Summer commitments to AAU prevented Bales from hitting the weight room as often as Zink would like, so he's tried to prepare her for the realities of college.

"They basically tell you what you can and can't do," explains Zink. "I don't know if any kid really realizes the extent of that until she actually gets there."

Jessica Davenport

Ohio State

Center Jessica Davenport, 6'6'', brings impeccable credentials to Coach Jim Foster's Ohio State team. A straight-A student and one of the state's best shot blockers, Davenport earned both WBCA and McDonald's All-American honors this year. There's no doubt of her role at Ohio.

"She's going to bring an inside presence," explains Bill Spencer, Davenport's coach at Independence (Ohio) High School. "When [Jessica and Latoya Turner, a 6'3'' forward] play together, they're going to have a twin towers."

Davenport is a player who runs the floor with surprising speed, and her ball-handling skills are equally impressive. "If you come out on her too quickly," warns Spencer, "she can take you."

Considering Davenport didn't start basketball until the seventh grade, Spencer knows she has tremendous potential in her game and eagerly awaits seeing her talent come to fruition under Foster's tutelage.

"Ohio State has a diamond in the rough," says Spencer. "When they get that carbon off her, they're going to be surprised at what they find."

Lauren Ervin

Kansas

Kansas University coach Marian Washington and Tim Eatman, her assistant coach in charge of recruiting, know exactly how good a player they have in Lauren Ervin. A top-ranked recruit (No. 2 by both Blue Star and All Game Sports recruiting services, No. 6 in the All-Star Girls Report), the 6'2'' power forward averaged 24 points and 18 rebounds per game as a senior at Inglewood (Calif.) High School.

Quick and athletic, Ervin brings a size to the perimeter game that will force double teams on defense and, says Washington, "allow other players on our team to flourish."

An upbeat personality, she's positive and full of enthusiasm. Ervin's arrival on campus is viewed as more than a recruiting coup.

"She will bring back the respectability to the talent level that Coach Washington has coached in the past," explains Eatman, "which will therefore show others for the future that we're back up to where we need to be."

Crystal Erwin Notre Dame

Crystal Erwin, says Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw, "is different than everybody we have. A very physical presence on the court, she's a great rebounder and very willing to bang inside."

After playing for St. Paul (Calif.) High School, where she averaged 22 points, 15 rebounds and 7 assists per game, the 6'2'' power forward comes to Notre Dame a very confident young woman. "She's going to come in looking to take somebody's spot," warns McGraw, "not sit back and say, 'Hey, I'm just a freshman.'"

McGraw expects Ervin's biggest asset will be her effervescent personality. "She was here this summer, and she already knows everyone on campus," says McGraw.

McGraw expects that will translate on the court into being the kind of leader that is not afraid to demand excellence of herself and others. "She's one," adds McGraw, "that will be willing, even as a freshman, to say, 'This is what we've got to do to get it done, because we want to win a National Championship, and that's why I'm here.' "

Katie Gearlds

Purdue

"It's the dream of every coach to have a player like Katie Gearlds," says Steve Cox, assistant coach at Beech Grove (Ind.) High School. That explains why Purdue's coach Kristy Curry has had her eye on her since Gearlds was a sixth grader.