Feb 21, 2007

Oaks on a mission to return to NAIA tourney

By Julio Lara / Daily News Correspondent

There is nothing new about success for the Menlo College women's basketball team.

With their most recent victory over William Jessup University the Lady Oaks sealed the deal on their second straight California Pacific Conference title. Three days later, All-American Kepua Lee's 29-point performance gave coach Caitlin Collier and her team their first undefeated regular season in school history, locking up the number one seed in this weekend's Cal-Pac tournament.

The Lady Oaks haven't lost a game since Dec. 30, 2006, and maybe even more impressively, no one in the Cal-Pac has beaten them in a regular season matchup since mid-December ... of 2005.

And yet, no one on the Menlo College side looks surprised, nor are they satisfied with stopping the ride just yet.

"It hasn't really sunk in since we're taking it game by game," Collier said. "But looking back, it feels really good. We just want to try and stay focused, and continue to improve."

Improving on a 16-0 conference record and a 23-2 overall record translates into trouble for the opposition.

"We want to improve on the little things," said Collier, in her eighth season. "We don't want to take our success for granted and that's the challenge - keeping the players looking toward their goals."

The Lady Oaks have done an extraordinary job at knocking down these short-term goals - repeating as conference champs, check, repeating as tournament champs, well, check back in a week.

Because of their number one seeding, Menlo will enjoy a couple of byes in the tournament, ultimately beginning play in the semifinals against either No. 4 seed Bethany, William Jessup or CSU East Bay to name a few. Collier acknowledges regular season records mean very little when it comes to tournament time. So although it's been a couple of Justin Timberlake hits since the Lady Oaks have tasted regular season defeat, Collier keeps her team hungry.

"The slate is clean," Collier said. "Our opponents are looking at this as their opportunity to get to the national tournament in Iowa. Nothing is going to be easy, every game should be a battle. William Jessup and Bethany are tough, they've played us close this year, we can't looked beyond them."

True, both Jessup and Bethany are legitimate threats to the Lady Oaks' success - Bethany with the long-distance presence that is Vanessa Irvin, a former NAIA player of week, and Jessup with its great post play.

But Menlo has in Lee, a superstar capable of carrying a team through something like the Cal-Pac tournament - a fact that has already been proven with Menlo's success last season. No longer just a perimeter player, Lee has demonstrated a new love for her inside game, making her more versatile and unfortunately for the competition, that can be much more dangerous. Collier has been quoted as saying that Lee "is simply the best player we've had in this program to date and the amazing thing is that she sets the example with her work ethic and attitude every day."

"Our scorers need to come to play," Collier said, speaking mostly about Emily Zygmontowicz and Kelci Fushikoshi, a duo that, along with Lee, must produce during the tournament at Cal-State East Bay, to give Menlo its best shot at repeating. "If they come to play, we'll be tough to beat."

There is no reason to believe that they won't.

Menlo College, because of dual-affiliation with the NAIA and the NCAA, is not allowed to give out scholarships to players, making recruiting an uphill battle. Still, the Lady Oaks were able to not only win the Cal-Pac tournament last season, but make it to the NAIA Sweet Sixteen, making them the only non-scholarship program to accomplish that.

No sweat though, coach Collier with her ability to keep her team hungry, focused and always looking forward has the Lady Oaks going into the tournament with a bull's-eye on their back, a tournament championship to defend and a flight to the NAIA national tournament in Sioux City as the No. 9 ranked team in the nation, that they most certainly expect to catch.

And of course, that should surprise no one.