TicketsJan. 14, 2009
By MARK SCHMETZER
When J. Kelley Hall was recruiting G.G. Williams during the summer of the 2007 Amateur Athletic Union season, her team often faced a Georgia team that was led by a point guard the University of Cincinnati women's basketball coach couldn't ignore.
When he found out he still had a shot at landing Shanasa Sanders, he went after her, too.
Hall was convincing enough that Sanders signed a letter of intent in November 2007 to join the Bearcats this season. She arrived just in time.
UC lost junior point guard Carla Jacobs, the team's assists leader in each of the past two seasons, to a season-ending injury before preseason practice even got under way — far enough in advance that she was redshirted for the 2008-09 season and isn't even listed on the UC roster.
That left the job of running the offense in the hands of either 5-foot-7 junior Stephanie Stevens, whose two-season total of 46 assists were fewer than half the 111 Jacobs racked up last season alone, or the 5-7 Sanders. Hall, in his second season with the Bearcats, planned to use both players, but then Stevens contracted an illness that left her unable to even practice until just a couple of days before UC's Dec. 7 Skyline Chili Women's Crosstown Shootout win over 23rd-ranked Xavier.
By default, Sanders took over and quickly proved that she was up to the task. She started each of UC's first nine games, averaging 7.4 points, 2.6 assists and 30.6 minutes per game. Much to Hall's liking, the freshman was sinking her free throws — shooting at a .765 clip (13-for-17) — and not turning the ball over as much as might be expected from a player in her first exposure to the so-called "next level," committing just 23 in those nine games.
"The things we look for in a point guard are athleticism and the ability to push the ball and make free throws," said Hall, whose Bearcats won seven of their first nine games and were within a possession of forcing overtime in the two losses, both of which were by three points. "She's exceeded expectations. She gets a little better each game."
"I knew, being the point guard, I had to step up my game," said Sanders, who was born in New York and grew up in Savannah, Ga., and Jacksonville, Fla. "Being a freshman, I had a lot to learn, and I still do, but my coaches and teammates are encouraging. They tell me to keep my head up and not to worry about mistakes. They know I'm young.
"I feel like it's coming along good. I think our chemistry's good. I feel like I'm fitting in great. We've been playing together enough that I know my teammates' strengths and weaknesses."
Going into the season, Sanders felt that quickly becoming part of the mix was probably the most imposing obstacle she faced. UC has three players — senior forward Jill Stephens, junior center Natasha Graboski and redshirt junior guard Kahla Roudebush — who started most of the games last season, and two others — redshirt junior forward Michelle Jones and redshirt junior guard-forward Shelly Bellman — who missed all of last season after starting for most of the previous two.
The roster also includes senior guard Angel Morgan, a starter two seasons ago and a key bench player last season.
"To me, just being young was the biggest challenge," Sanders said. "I was thinking, 'Wow, I'm so young. Will they listen to me? They're all older than me.' My biggest thing was wondering if they'd pay attention."
Hall saw no problem.
"Early on, they were trying to help her a lot," he said. "They know she can handle herself, and that's good, because they've got their hands full.
"What we planned to do with Shanasa was bring her along slowly, because we still had Stephanie Stevens, but Stephanie was in and out of the hospital for two weeks. At that point, it was no decision. We had to go with Shanasa. She didn't get to sit and watch and play maybe half of the game. This was on-the-job training."
Sanders, Williams and junior forward Elisa Shoate, a transfer from Arkansas-Fort Smith junior college, are Hall's first three recruits for UC from the South, where the coach was born and has spent most of his life. Sanders lived in New York City until she was three years old, when her family moved to Georgia. They moved again to Florida before her junior year in high school, and she ended up at Ribault Senior High School in Jacksonville. As a prep junior, she averaged 17.1 points, 3.4 assists and 3.6 steals per game. Last season, she averaged 17.5 points, 5.3 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 2.8 steals while leading the Trojans team to the Florida Class 3-A state semifinals for the first time in four seasons. She was named the Jacksonville-based Florida Times-Union newspaper's player of the year. Ribault was 50-12 in her two seasons.
"Without Shanasa, we wouldn't have accomplished anything these last two seasons," Ribault coach Shelia Seymore-Pennick told the Times-Union. "She was just what we needed: a winner. She was our floor general and did a great job of dictating the tempo for us."
Sanders also attracted attention in AAU competition — though not as much as first believed by Hall in the summer of 2007.
"She was playing on a traveling team, and she wanted to play big-time basketball," Hall recalled. "That's the way I found her. I went to Clemson to watch G.G., and they played against each other. I saw her play in five different places, but I thought she was going to Georgia Tech, so I didn't pursue it. After I found out she wasn't, I pursued her hard."
Sanders wasn't completely under the recruiting radar. Besides UC, she made official recruiting visits to Samford University in Birmingham, Ala., the University of Central Florida and the University of New Orleans. She visited Cincinnati in August 2007, and the school and its BIG EAST affiliation paid off.
"I loved the coaching staff and the school," said Sanders, a sports administration major. "I just liked the ratio of class sizes and the one-on-one help we could get in the (Richard E.) Lindner Center. I loved the conference. I want to play against some of best players in the world."
Sanders isn't sure where she wants her major to take her. "Right now, I'm just trying to get these courses out of the way," she said. "I don't have a goal yet."
She was more concerned about UC's upcoming opponents. Following non-conference home games against Davidson on Dec. 21 and St. Francis (Pa.) on Dec. 30, Sanders and the Bearcats open BIG EAST play against Villanova on Jan. 3. Perennial Division I national championship contenders Connecticut and Notre Dame loom on the horizon as back-to-back opponents. UC will host UConn at Fifth Third Arena on Jan. 24 before traveling to South Bend, Ind., to face the Fighting Irish on Jan. 31.
Hall is hoping that UC's non-conference schedule will have Sanders ready, because she still has work to do.
"Her decision-making and completely understanding our offense and what we're trying to do," he said about the areas in which she needed to work. "Point guard is the toughest position to play on the court. She's got the ball in her hands 70-80 percent of the time, and when the other team has possession, the other point guard's got it.
"We think she'll be ready. She likes competition. She respects our opponents. She knows what she's getting into. We have some tough games down the road in January and February. She understands that she's got some issues down the road."