In this file photo, junior Brittany Spears (22) dribbles down the court during the CU versus Nebraska women's basketball game at Coors Events Center on Jan. 30. (CU Independent/Stephanie Davis)
CU women’s basketball team has quite the season ahead of them. Last season the Buffs finished 13-17 (3-13 Big 12).
New head coach Linda Lappe said she is ready to make a fresh start and help the team become re-focused on what is important.
Lappe herself knows a thing or two about what it takes to be a true Buffalo. After all, she helped CU make three consecutive NCAA appearances from 2001-2003, including an Elite Eight appearance in 2002 and a spot in the Sweet 16 as a senior in 2003.
She averaged 7.8 points, 3.7 rebounds and 2.0 assists in her 115 games as a Buff from 1998-2003. She was a two-year captain and an All-Big 12 Conference honorable mention selection.
More recently, during her three years as head coach at Metro State College in Denver, Lappe led her team to top-three finishes and winning records in the Eastern Division of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference each season. Her record was 50-36.
Her return to CU makes her the youngest women’s basketball head coach at a BCS Conference school and the third youngest coach overall.
At Friday’s basketball media day, Lappe and her team could barely contain their excitement to start the season and begin a new era.
“We are extremely excited for the upcoming season,” Lappe said. “It’s easy to talk about something that you love, and I love CU women’s basketball. I’m so happy to be a part of something so special.”
Lappe described the importance of starting the season out on the right foot and instilling the “Colorado way” within the team. She describes this as discipline and excellence on and off the court.
“We are very mentally tough,” Lappe said. “We’re very disciplined. We’re very fundamental. We play tough, hard-nosed defense, and that’s kind of where everything starts.
Sophomore guard/forward and Boulder native Meagan Malcolm-Peck said that she had CU season tickets as a child and remembers watching Lappe play and bring that type of spirit to the court.
Malcolm-Peck said she is ready for the intensity that Lappe is bringing to this year’s team and is excited to add her part to the “Colorado way.”
“[Lappe’s] awesome,” Malcolm-Peck said. “We all love her so much. She’s really dedicated. She definitely instills in us a work ethic, and it’s just a step up from last year.”
Last year, Malcolm-Peck averaged 5.3 points, 3.7 rebounds and 1.1 blocked shots per game as a true freshman. She led the Buffs with 34 blocks on the season, the fifth-best single-season mark in CU freshman history, and the third best among freshman in the Big 12.
She said she hopes that the experience she and fellow sophomore guard Chucky Jeffery gained last year can make them leaders to the freshmen of the team. While she said that they are excited and ready to go, she also wants them to keep a good attitude and give 100 percent.
She and her fellow teammates also look to senior forward Brittany Spears to be another leader on the team.
Lappe said she agrees that Spears is stepping up even more as a leader this year. Spears has led CU in scoring and rebounding the last two seasons and is one of six CU players to record 1,500 points and 700 career rebounds. Lappe said her quickness and skills in defense and making baskets make her an ideal player to follow.
“Brittany Spears obviously does a very good job,” Lappe said. “She’s in really good shape right now. She’s not the most vocal leader, but the team really looks up to her because she wins almost every sprint and she’s a very, very good player.”
Spears has always been described as a silent leader, but she said that this season, that will change.
“I think this year I’m being more vocal because coach is making me,” Spears joked. “If I don’t talk, we’ve got to run. So I’m being more vocal this year than ever before.”
The freshmen of the team said they are learning from their older teammates, but also feel like they have something to prove.
Lappe said she is already very impressed by what some of her younger players are already doing.
Freshman guard Brittany Wilson had an 131-9 record with three state titles at Long Beach Poly High School. She was named first team all state, Co-MVP of the Moore League and a McDonald’s All-American Candidate.
Wilson said she is ready to bring her winning spirit to Colorado and blow everyone’s expectations out of the water.
“All of our expectations are high – from the coaches, from the players,” Lappe said. “We just know this year’s going to be a lot different.
As for being voted to finish last in the league, Wilson confidently believes that is not true.
Fellow freshman, forward Shae Kelley, said she is also feeling very prepared to bring her strength –especially her rebounding, driving and energy – to the young team.
Kelley was the 2010 Denver Post Ms. Colorado Basketball Award winner, the 2010 Denver Prep League Player of the Year and a three-time All-League first team selection. Last year Kelley led Denver East to its first ever girls’ basketball state title and was named the Colorado Class 5A State Finals MVP.
Despite the differences she has noticed between high school and college, she said she knows that she can’t let inexperience hold her back.
“We have a young team,” Kelley said. “We kind of don’t have time to be freshmen.”
Lappe said that the team still needs to work on many of the areas that they were deficient in last season such as rebounding, getting to the line and transition defense. She said she knows that her team will face many challenges in the coming season, but she also knows that they team is tackling them one day at a time.
“The team that you see on Nov. 5 against Western State and then Nov. 12 against Regis is not going to be even close to the same team that you’re going to see at the beginning of December,” Lappe said. “And that’s not going to be anywhere close to the team you’re going to see in January, February, March, and so on and so forth.”
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Marlee Horn at marlee.horn@colorado.edu.
