As Winston-Salem State’s women’s basketball team heads into its second year in Division I?competition, the team will look alot different than it did last season.
A serious youth-movement is on the way for the Rams this season as the only returning player from last year’s team will be senior guard Keoshia Worthy.
Rams’ second-year head coach Dee Stokes hit the recruiting trail hard in the off-season, signing eight new players and recreating the team in her own image.
“I think shooting the ball is gonna be a strength (for the Rams),” said Stokes. “We’ve tried to recruit kids that can shoot. It’s hard to teach kids how to shoot. It’s easier to teach them how to play defense. You try to recruit players with offensive skills, and I?think we’ve done that for the most part.
Perhaps Stokes’ toughest task this season will be replacing Shalonda Carter’s play inside. Carter finished her career at WSSU with over 1,400 points and 1,000 rebounds. The former CIAA Rookie of the Year led the Rams to a 8-21 record last year, averaging 13.2 points and 10.1 rebounds per game.
One of the players Stokes will be counting on to help fill Carter’s shoes will be freshman Nora Campbell. The 6-foot-2 center from St. Anthony’s high school in Long Island, New York came to the Rams late in the recruiting season.
“Nora has good size,”Stokes said. “We were very fortunate late in the (recruiting)?process to get her and I think she’ll be a contributor right away.”
Stokes admitted that although her team has gotten bigger at the guard positions, they are a little lean upfront.
“We’re a little slim in the post, we actually lost a kid that we were supposed to have had, but we’ll address that in the next recruiting class,” Stokes said.
Although WSSU is not an official member of the MEAC this season, the Rams will play a full conference schedule this year. Last season the Rams defeated three MEAC?teams, Norfolk State, Bethune-Cookman and Morgan State. The Rams defeated NSU and Bethune-Cookman twice last season.
Stokes said that she was pleased about how her team played against their future conference opponents last year.
“I thought that was a good measuring stick for this season,” said Stokes. “But even the teams that we beat last year will be better.?I think it will be a great experience.”