President's Report 2007 - Benedict College

BENEDICT
COLLEGE
Best program isn’t the biggest
Men’s and women’s teams have tall postseason expectations
By CHRIS DEARING
Special to The State
Quick, off the top of your head, name the most successful
basketball program – men and women’s combined – in the
Palmetto State this season.
Winthrop or College of Charleston? Nope. They have solid men’s
programs, but the women lack success.
How about Francis Marion or Charleston Southern? Neither one
would qualify.
Furman or Wofford? Not even in the discussion.
Don’t even try to bring the two big schools, South Carolina or
Clemson, into the mix.
Try tiny Benedict, whose men’s and women’s squads are in the
field of 64 for the NCAA Division II tournament.
The women’s team is 20-10 and earned the automatic berth
that went with winning the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic
Conference tournament. They will play today as the No. 8 seed in
the South Region and face the tournament’s No. 1 overall seed,
Florida Gulf Coast (29-0).
The men’s team won the regular-season SIAC title with a 25-4
record to earn a No. 3 seed and will play No. 6 seed Eckerd (25-5)
on Saturday.
“Both of our programs are on the rise,” fifth-year men’s coach and
Benedict alumni Fred Watson said. “We’ve gotten good backing
from the administrators, and they’ve given us the things we need
to be successful. I guess it would be safe to say that we have one
of the better combined programs in the state.”
The women’s team was the runner-up in the SIAC during the
regular season. It overcame several key injuries during the early
part of the season.
Natasha Gray missed time with a hip injury, Val McQueen, the top
perimeter shooter on the team, had a couple of injuries that set
her back, and Aja Trotter missed time with a pulled hamstring.
Throw in a couple of rolled ankles, and it took a while for every
thing to come together. The Tigers have won 10 of 11 entering the
tournament.
“We certainly started off slower than we anticipated,”
said second-year coach and former Eau Claire star
Felicia Jenkins said. “We had everybody coming
back, so we were looking for a big season until the
injury bug bit us.
“As we got healthier and worked harder, the
brighter side started coming at the right time,
and we’re peaking when we need to.”
Head Football Coach,
Stanley Conner
talks to the media
during his first press
conference.
Bennie Lewis was recently
named to the SIAC 2007-2008
Pre-Season All-Conference
Basketball Team.
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