TicketsNov. 15, 2010
By Garrett Sabelhaus
GoBEARCATS.com
Head coach Jamelle Elliott does not want to think where her team might be without Shareese Ulis on the court.
For a team that is picked to finish near the bottom of the BIG EAST, Ulis is the key in making sure the University of Cincinnati women's basketball team improves on its preseason prognostication come seasons end.
"I would definitely say it's a big part to us being successful," Ulis said of carrying the offensive load. "I think if I don't produce offensively we don't have a chance at winning."
She might be right.
Through two games this season the senior guard has scored 33 points accounting for 28.4 percent of the Bearcats' offense.
The scoring shouldn't come as a surprise though. Last season, Ulis scored double-digit points in 18 of the team's 30 games including a 25-point performance against Syracuse in an overtime win on the road.
Ulis, one of two seniors on this year's roster, picked up right where she left off, scoring 15 points in this year's opener and 18 points in game two, leading the team both times.
But something is different this time around.
Ulis wasn't the main scoring threat last year when Kahla Roudebush was in her senior season, averaging 14 points per game to Ulis' 11.4 average.
"With Kahla I didn't have to focus on scoring and making sure the team was doing the things that we needed to do as much as I do now," Ulis said. "I think I need to do both in order for us to win so my mind is in multiple places now whereas last year my main focus was to make sure other people got shots."
With Ulis now in her senior year, she has taken over not just the main scoring role but is now looked at as the team leader; something she says she embraces.
"The biggest thing for me since I'm playing with a lot of freshmen and inexperienced players is that I have to be a leader," she says. "I'm the only one who knows what it takes to win so I definitely have to be a leader at all times."
Ulis does have a very young team with just one other senior in Shelly Bellman who redshirted last season with a knee injury. Seven of the team's 11 players are either freshmen or sophomores meaning Ulis' experience could help the younger players.
Like any player though, Ulis isn't perfect and when she's not, her coach lets her know about it.
"If she sees me doing something that I don't normally do or she knows that I should be doing things at a higher level then she's going to say something," Ulis said of Elliott who is in her second year at UC after a highly successful playing and coaching career at the University of Connecticut.
Ulis says she learns a lot from her coach and more importantly, she doesn't miss games. She was one of just three players to start all 30 games last season despite knee problems that forced her to have surgery on both knees in the off-season.
The Bearcats need Ulis to be as dependable as last year and the way the season has started, it looks like they can count on her through to the end.
UC looks to remain undefeated Sunday against Robert Morris at Fifth Third Arena with tipoff scheduled for 2 p.m.