Hurricanes Host Eastern Kentucky
Nov. 23, 1999
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The University of Miami women’s basketball team(1-0, 0-0 BIG EAST) will host Eastern Kentucky (1-1, 0-0 OVC) on Wednesday,November 24 at 7:30 p.m., at the Knight Sports Complex on the Coral GablesCampus.
WELCOME TO MIAMI….This is the second meeting between the two teams.Eastern Kentucky holds a 1-0 advantage after defeating UM, 81-74, during the1984-85 season.
UM returns seven letterwinners from last year’s squad that finishedwith a 15-14 overall record and a trip to the Women’s National InvitationalTournament.
The Lady Colonels return four starters and eight letterwinners fromlast year’s 11-16 team. They are led by junior Charlotte Sizemore, a1998-99 Ohio Valley Conference first-team selection.
LAST TIME OUT….UM handed Furman a, 88-46, thrashing in Sunday’s homeopener. Sheila James led the scoring contingent with 21 points includingfive three-pointers. Freshman Amanda Papuga was next with 19.
FOR OPENERS….Miami is 20-8 all-time in season-openers, including 9-3during the Ferne Labati era. The Hurricanes have won the past two seasonopeners. In the 27 years of the program’s existence, 14 season openers havebeen played at home, with UM winning 11 of those contests.
THE COACHES….Head coach Ferne Labati is the all-time winningest coach atthe University of Miami. In her 12th season at the helm, Labati’s recordstands at 205-117 (.637). She has led her teams to six berths in postseason play, four trips to the NCAA tournament and two to the Women’s NIT.The ‘Canes have made two consecutive post season appearances, the 1998-99trip to the NCAA tourney and last year’s invitation to the WNIT. TheHurricanes won back-to-back BIG EAST regular season and tournament titles in1992 and 1993, while finishing as high as No. 6 nationally. Her 1996-97team won a share of the BIG EAST 7 division title.
Eastern Kentucky is headed by Larry Joe Inman. Inman is enteringhis 11th season at EKU and his 20th overall as a collegiate head coach. Hiscareer record stands at 334-203 (.621).
Tonight’s Probable Starter’s
Miami Hurricanes –
1-0-, 0-0- BIG EAST
| Pos. | No. | Player | Ht. | Cl. | |
| F | 31 | Alicia Hartlaub | 6-2 | FR | |
| F | 25 | Meghan Saake | 5-10 | FR | |
| C | 41 | Camilla …sth | 6-2 | JR | |
| G | 13 | Gina Graziani | 5-8 | SR | |
| G | 5 | Sheila James | 5-5 | SO |
Head Coach: Ferne Labati
Eastern Kentucky-
1-1-, 0-0-Ohio Valley Conference
| Pos. | No. | Player | Ht. | Cl. | ||
| F | 40 | Charlotte Sizemore | 5-11 | JR | ||
| F | 31 | Larrya Wall | 5-11 | JR | ||
| C | 33 | Candice Finley | 6-1 | JR | ||
| G | 12 | Zoey Artist | 5-10 | SO | ||
| G | 3 | Marla Gearhart | 5-9 | SR |
Head Coach: Larry Joe Inman
ANOTHER MILESTONE…With just nine more wins, Hurricane head coach FerneLabati will reach the 350 career-win plateau. Labati is in 21st year as ahead coach with an overall record of 341-239. That record includes fiveseasons spent at Trenton State College (80-61), four seasons at FairleighDickinson (56-61) and her time spent here in Coral Gables (205-117). OnJanuary 25, 1996, she became the all-time winningest coach at the Universityof Miami, surpassing Lin Dunn with 150 wins at UM. With that win, shebecame only the second men’s or women’s basketball coach to reach the150-win plateau. On February 2, 1997 Labati became the 59th women’sbasketball coach in NCAA history to win 300 career games in a 70-56 win overVillanova.
THE FERNE LABATI SHOW…Coach Labati’s hour-long show will be broadcastFriday’s at 5 p.m. on SportsChannel beginning January 15, 2000. The show’stopic will focus on the Hurricanes progress throughout the year but willalso include human interest features as well as basketball tips for youngHurricanes.
PRESEASON HYPE..Announced at the 1999 BIG EAST Women’s Basketball MediaLuncheon on Oct. 28, The University of Miami women’s basketball team wasselected to finish seventh by a vote of the league’s coaches.
Connecticut (142 points) received 10 first-place votes in garneringpreseason top honors. Rutgers (135) received three first place votes inbeing selected second followed by Notre Dame (121), Boston College (112),Georgetown (90) and Villanova (86). Miami, which returns sevenletterwinners from last season’s 15-14 squad, received 79 points.
Rounding out the preseason coaches’ poll was Syracuse (59), St.John’s (46), Pittsburgh (44), Seton Hall (39), Providence (38) and WestVirginia (23).
THE DISH ON GRAZIANI…Senior guard Gina Graziani prepares for her finalseason donning the Orange and Green. She has led the Hurricanes in assistsin each of the previous three seasons. She led the BIG EAST conference inthat category during both her freshman and sophomore campaigns. She needsless than 100 assists to become the BIG EAST career leader in assists. Thesenior currenly ranks third all-time at UM with 566 assists and needs 128 totake over the No. 1 spot held by Jeannie Hebert (694).
ASSISTS
| 1. Jeannie Hebert (119 games, 1988-92) | 694 |
| 2. Loretta Harvey (122 games, 1981-84) | 588 |
| 3. Gina Graziani (83 games, 1996-present) | 566 |
| 4. Maria Rivera (112 games, 1984-88) | 487 |
| 5. Robin Harmony (125 games, 1980-84) | 445 |
| 6. Elaine Harlow (115 games, 1986-90) | 432 |
| 7. Della Wilson (86 games, 1990-93) | 351 |
| 8. Frances Savage (94 games, 1988-92) | 226 |
| 9. Ronnie McGarry (117 games, 1990-94) | 215 |
| 10. Carla Harris (92 games, 1990-93) | 207 |
MIAMI INKS TWO DURING SIGNING PERIOD: Head women’s basketball coach FerneLabati announces the signing of Shannon Presswood and Shaquana Wilkins tonational letters of intent to attend the University of Miami next fall.
Presswood, a 6-4 center out of Orangeville, Ontario, Canada led theOrangeville District Secondary School to the 1998-99 bronze medal at theOntario “AA” Championship last year. As a junior, she averaged 18.0 pointsand 9.0 rebounds per game. In addition, Presswood has spent the last threeyears playing for the Royal City Rebels club team. Last season, she scored21 points and 10 rebounds per game while leading the Rebels to the Ontario”AA” consolation championship. She chose UM over East Carolina, Toledo andWest Virginia.
Wilkins, a 6-2 forward out of Orlando, Florida, attends Winter Park Highschool where as a junior she helped her team to a 24-4 overall record. Herteam earned a spot in the Florida High School Athletic Association RegionalTournament while Wilkins averaged 15.0 points and 11.1 rebounds per gamewhile shooting 53.4% from the floor. Wilkins also plays for the OrlandoWarriors AAU team, averaging 13.5 ppg and 9.3 rpg. The Warriors finished13th in the AAU National Championships this past summer.
OH CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAIN….Head coach Ferne Labati announced the captains forthe 1999-2000 basketball season. Senior Gina Graziani was selected as teamcaptain while junior Camilla …sth was chosen to serve as co-captain.
HOME SWEET HOME….The ‘Canes won their season-opener on Sunday vs. Furman,88-46. The ‘Canes will remain at home until they travel to nearby FloridaAtlantic in Boca Raton on Saturday, December 11. Meaning, the Hurricaneswill play the their first five contests of the 1999-2000 season on familiarterritory at the Knight Sports Complex. This is the first time in programhistory that UM has played more than the first three games of the season athome. UM played the first three games at home in 1975-76, going 1-2 andthen again in 1989-90 in Labati’s second season at the Gables. That year,the Hurricanes went 3-0, defeating Florida (76-61), Niagara (88-52) andArizona (85-65).
WE GOT NEXT….Following tonight’e contest, the Hurricanes will host Tulaneon November 28 at 2 p.m. at the Knight Sports Complex.
PLAYING THE BEST….Going into the 1999-2000 season, the Hurricanes areslated to play five teams ranked in the the AP Top 25 as of November 17.No. 7 N.C. State will travel to South Florida to participate in the OrangeBowl Fab Four on December 19. The ‘Canes open their BIG EAST scheduleJanuary 5 on the road vs. No. 8 Rutgers. UM hosts No. 6 Notre Dame onJanuary 22. UM will face No. 1 Connecticut on January 29 at the Miami Arenaand then again on February 8 in Storrs. The No. 18 Boston College Eagleswill fly south to face UM on February 2.
A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN….The BIG EAST Conference has four member schools inthe AP Top 25 poll as of November 17. Connecticut checks in at No. 1followed by No. 7 Notre Dame, No. 10 Rutgers and No. 20 Boston College.
SUPER FROSH….In the win over Furman, UM’s freshmen had impressive debuts.Alicia Hartlaub and Meghan Saake each recorded their first career starts.Hartlaub played a team-high 26 minutes and managed six points and fiverebounds. Saake scored eight points, snagged five rebounds and collectedthree dishes. Amanda Papuga led all newcomers in scoring with 19 points on9-for-12 shooting she also led the team in assists with six.
PLAYING LIKE A VETERAN…. Guard Amanda Papuga looked anything but green inher first appearance in a collegiate game. Papuga came off the bench toscore 19 points, shooting 9-for-12 from the field. She had a team-high sixdishes and garnered two thefts in 21 minutes of play. For her performancein the win vs. Furman (88-46), she was named BIG EAST Rookie of the Week.
NO SMALL FEAT…. Listed as a mere 5-5, guard Sheila James is the smallestplayer on the UM roster but her play is anything but small. James scored acareer-high and team-leading 21 points in Sunday’s rout of Furman (88-46).James shot 8-for-15 from the field including a 5-for-7 effort from the arc.The guard also picked up four steals and five assists.
