Time flies in college basketball. All of a sudden, one of Tricia Binford’s most heralded recruiting classes are running out of time and it brings the Montana State women’s basketball team to a paramount season.
[restrict paid=”true”]Four years ago, Binford signed a class of five including the daughter of an NBA Hall of Famer, the daughter of a former NFL draft pick, the daughter of a Bobcat legend, the Montana Gatorade Player of the Year and one of Washington state’s leading scorers. Now Lindsay Stockton, Alexa Dawkins and Jasmine Hommes are seniors. Peyton Ferris and Margreet Barhoum are fourth-year juniors.
The sum total has Montana State chasing lofty expectations entering the upcoming season. The Bobcats were picked to finish in the middle of the 12-team Big Sky Conference but MSU is thinking much bigger than that.
“We think we have an extremely talented team with the experience returning,” said Binford, who signed a one-year contract extension in the off-season as she prepares for her 11th year at the helm. “I’ve been pretty confident that we have one of the best front courts in the Big Sky and I think we will surprise the league with our guard play. Expectations are to be really competitive in this conference and we know the top four teams get a bye in Reno (host of the conference tournament). We feel like we can be on top and make a run.”
Stockton and Dawkins played for the Spokane Sandpipers AAU club team before coming to Montana State. Sophomore guards Delany Junkermier and Hannah Caudill played for the team in their younger days as well. NBA Hall of Fame point guard John Stockton has coached the team throughout the years as Lindsay, his oldest daughter, and his youngest daughter, Laura, each played for the Sandpipers.
With the abrupt departure of assistant Kellee Barney earlier this season, Binford reached out to John Stockton to serve as an assistant during his daughter’s senior year. The NBA’s all-time leader in assists and steals agreed. He will serve as a coach in a unique role, attending games and practices as he is available and working primarily in player development.
“First and foremost, I love the relationships,” Stockton said on the day of his hiring. “You can’t just come in and start spewing information. You get to have a relationship with fellow coaches and the players and that’s stuff you take with you long after you are done. After you have that, it’s an open book. You can say what you want and they can absorb what you want and everyone hopefully they can improve.”
“It’s a perfect transition for us because when he is here, he will be the first one they talk to when they come off the floor before they go to the bench,” Binford said. “That’s instant feedback from someone who knows the game at the highest level. He’s extremely positive and he communicates it very well.”
Montana State opens its season on the road this weekend. MSU plays at Seattle University at 4:30 p.m. on Friday. MSU plays at the University of Nevada on Sunday afternoon. MSU’s home opener is November 20th against the University of Portland. Here’s a look at the upcoming season for Bobcat women’s basketball.
THE BACKCOURT
Lindsay Stockton turned a major corner in the off-season leading up to last campaign. Her off-season work ethic helped her earn the starting nod over veteran senior Ausha Cole. Her continued improvement running the point for MSU will be a key this season for the Bobcats. Last winter, Stockton averaged 8.7 points and 4.3 assists per game. Her assist total ranked fifth in the Big Sky and she averaged nearly 10 points per game during league play.
“Her work ethic has been tremendous again,” Binford said. “She’s had some challenges this summer and fall with injuries. The last three weeks she’s consistently got herself into practice mode.”
Binford said Barhoum — a lightning-quick 5-foot-6 guard from Edmonds, Washington who averaged almost 22 points per game her senior year at Meadowdale High — has been the “biggest surprise” of the off-season thus far. Barhoum averaged 5.0 points per game in 13.5 minutes per game as a redshirt freshman two seasons ago. She missed the group’s freshmen year because of knee surgery and she missed all but six games last season with a foot injury.
“If you come to practices, Margreet is probably our most consistent guard as far as the level and standard of competing, energy, communication,” Binford said. “We’ve been addressing being a more communicative team that is assertive with each other on the defensive end. She’s done all those things extremely consistently.”
Stockton and Barhoum will make up an undersized (Stockton is 5-foot-7) but explosive starting backcourt. Caudill and Junkermier along with senior Michelle Seitz, a former junior college transfer who was hampered by a knee injury most of last season, will buoy the MSU guards.
Caudill — a former high school teammate of the Stockton sisters at Gonzaga Prep in Spokane — scored in double figures six times as a true freshman. The 5-foot-7 guard’s 35 made 3-pointers led the Bobcats and her 7.0 points per game were fourth on the team. Junkermier shot 36.7 percent from beyond the 3-point arc last season, the fourth-best percentage in the Big Sky. The 6-foot product of Mead High in Spokane averaged 4.3 points per game and shot 95 percent from the free throw line in her rookie season.
“We are a lot faster this year,” Binford said. “We are going to get some more opportunities in the first 10 seconds of the shot clock. I think we have a lot more depth at guard.”
Seitz, a 5-foot-6 shooting guard, averaged just 3.6 minutes per game last season. Her final year at Walla Walla Community College, she averaged 15.6 points per game and shot 36 percent from beyond the 3-point arc.
THE FORWARDS
Montana State has a solid core of returners but it’s an unknown commodity that might put MSU over the top. The aforementioned players all played key roles in MSU’s 15-15 season last winter but Riley Nordgaard was not a part of the active roster. This season, the 5-foot-10 Canby, Minnesota native will be Montana State’s starter at small forward.
The 2012 Minnesota Class A Player of the Year played two seasons at Division II Augustana College before transferring to Montana State. She made an impression all last winter during practice with her diverse skill set and her aggressive attitude. Now she’ll be relied on heavily to lead the Bobcats.
“Riley pushes everybody,” Binford said. “She’s an energy type of player. Riley is so quick to the punch and there are times our posts are boxing out and it’s allowing Riley to go pursue and get the rebound.”
“Riley is an unknown and no one has had a chance to see her.”
Norgaard will find relief from Junkermier, 6-foot-1 true freshman Annika Lai and the 5-foot-9 Ferris on occasion.
THE POSTS
Hommes has proven she is one of the most consistent scorers in the Big Sky. The 6-foot-1 senior is the niece of Brooke and Blythe Hommes, the latter of whom was the Big Sky MVP in 1996-97. A year after earning second-team All-Big Sky honors by averaging 17 points per game, Jasmine has the award in her sites as well.
“What makes Jasmine great is the fact that she competes every day at a high level,” Binford said. “That continues to get her cardio improved, her fitness improved and when you continue to become a better athlete, a stronger and faster and better conditioned athlete, you are able to do things more consistently.”
Last season, Hommes led MSU in scoring in 20 of 30 games. She scored at least 20 points on 10 separate occasions, including a career-high 25 points in a 65-57 win over rival and eventual Big Sky tournament champion Montana.
“Everybody in this conference knows the kind of player Jasmine is but I think we are going to have a more complete team around Jasmine this year,” Binford said. “There will be some nights where some other kids will be the leading scorer and that will be fine for Jasmine as long as we are playing as a team and getting the best shot for the team.”
Dawkins, a 6-foot-1 product of Bozeman High whose father, Dale, was drafted out of Miami by the New York Jets, will start alongside Hommes in the frontcourt. Last season, the smooth power forward averaged 6.9 points and 5.1 rebounds her game. Dawkins scored in double figures five times and shot 45 percent from the floor despite battling an ailing knee for most of the season.
Ferris is perhaps MSU’s most versatile player, a 5-foot-9 powerhouse who can play small forward or in the post. The 2011-12 Montana Gatorade Player of the Year at Twin Bridges started a handful of games as a true freshman before missing the duration of the campaign two seasons ago. Last season, she transitioned from guard to power forward and thrived. She switched to a reserve role and finished second on the team in scoring (8.8 points per game) and rebounding (5.2). She scored in double figures 11 times and was named the Big Sky ‘s Top Reserve as the top bench player in the league.
Amy Davis, a 6-foot-1 sophomore from Bozeman High, averaged 2.9 rebounds in 10.3 minutes per game last season. She’s expected to fill a similar role this season.
THE OUTLOOK
Binford has won 120 games in her 10 previous years at the helm. MSU has qualified for the last eight Big Sky Conference tournaments. The Bobcats have played in the tournament’s championship game but have made first-round exits more often than not. With an experienced point guard in Stockton, two veteran posts in Dawkins and Hommes, a sparkplug off the bench in Ferris and a deep collection of perimeter players, MSU hopes to earn its first-ever NCAA Tournament berth.
“The chemistry is just starting to show in a lot of different ways,” Binford said. “Our cohesion and our bench, the excitement for one another, playing looser knowing where each other is going to be, I think there is a lot of confidence in what we are doing as a group offensively. But we’ve also gained some confidence in the fact that we can defend at a high level. Those things are pretty fun.”
[/restrict]Photos by Brooks Nuanez or noted. All Rights Reserved.
