• Format
  • Publications (documents)
• Type
  • Text
• Source institution
  • Western Carolina University
• Identifier
  • HL_WesternCarolinian_1988-11-17_Vol54_No14_10

Sports The Western Carolinian Page 10 Thursday, November 17, 1988 KM^!««t»IW>»W««Ci8tM» pmmsmmmwwmmmwmmM Southern Conference Football Roundup,.. Marshall rallies from behind to win over Cats Saturday's Games Marshall 52, WCU 45 Tenn.-Chatt. 28, App. St. Furman 31, E. Tenn. St. ] Citadel 31, VMI 20 by Larry Gray Sports Kditor 24 4 Marshall Citadel Furman App. St. UT-Chatt. W. Carolina E. Tenn. St. VMI Standings Conference W-L-T 6-1-0 5-1-0 5-1-0 4-3-0 3-3-0 1-5-0 1-6-0 0-5-0 Overall W-L-T 9-1-0 8-2-0 8-2-0 6-4-0 4-7-0 2-8-0 3-8-0 1-9-0 Next Saturday's Games WCU at VMI Citadel at Furman App. St. at Wake Forest Marshall at Youngstown St. To call it a heartbreak would be an understatement. In the last home football game of the year, Western saw a four touchdown - first half lead disappear when the Thundering Herd of Marshall rallied for five touchdowns in the last 21 minutes of the game for a 52- 45 win on Bob Waters Appreciation Day. With the hard-fought come-from-behind victory, Marshall (6-1, 9-1) was guaranteed at least a share of the Southern Conference football championship. The Catamounts (1- 5, 2-8) stormed out to a 35-7 lead at one point in the first half and even held a 14 point lead, 45-31 starting the fourth period, only to see the nationally sixth-ranked Thundering Herd score 21 unanswered points in the fourth quarter. The Thundering Herd rolled up 519 yards of total offense, mostly on the running of junior tailback Ron Darby. Darby rambled for 262 yards on 47 carries in route to crossing the goal line four times. Western averaged an impressive 7.3 yards per play for a total offensive output of 464 yards. Sophomore quarterback Mark Smith completed 17 of 32 passes for 343 yards and tossed two touchdowns and was not intercepted until late in the fourth quarter. Sophomore tailback Carlton Terry rushed for 108 yards on 20 carries in route to scoring three touchdowns. Western's All-America candidate Otis Washington turned in a most impressive performance against The Herd. The Senior split end returned a kickoff 90 yards for a touchdown and caught a 44-yard scoring strike from Smith in the first half. Washington's 296 all-purpose running yards enabled him mmmmmr Terrell Wagner (4) cleans the clock of a Marshall player Brad Kimzey photo to take over the national leadership in that department as he set school and conference records for kickoff return yards in a season (1,047) and game (198). Asked about the loss, Catamount coach Bob Waters said, 'T do not think fatigue was a problem as much as losing it emotionally. . .I'm not sure how much it takes to call a lead comfortable, but we did feel good leading 35-7." Western travels to Lexington, Virginia on Saturday as they play host to the V.M.I. Keydets. Game time is 1:30 p.m. WCU Men's Basketball Team Outlook: "New and Improved" "New and Improved" is probably the most used in advertising. Dave Possinger is not an advertising account executive for Western Carolina University. He is the school's new head basketball coach and he will guarantee that his product is "new", but will not lead the consumer to believe that the bottom line - the number of wins - is going to be "improved". Virtually everything about Western Carolina's 1988-89 basketball program is new from the coaching staff to most of the players to the style of play. Even the uniforms are new. The Catamounts' fans are looking for something "new" and, hopefully, "improved" in the bottom line area after suffering through 10-19 and 8-19 in the last two seasons, respectively. Possinger has not been accustomed to anything less than 30 wins per season in each of the last seven winters. The 45 year old mentor was the winningest coach on all levels of college basketball over the past seven seasons as his teams at St. Thomas Aquinas College of New York won at least 30 games in each of those seasons. However, rebuilding a basketball program is nothing new for Possinger. He inherited a team that was 10-22 when he accepted the job at St. Thomas Aquinas and pro duced a 16-16 record in his first year despite not being able to recruit for that initial season due to the lateness in being hired. Eight straight Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference championships and seven straight trips to the NAIA Tournament in Kansas City followed before he left last March after posting a phenomenal 295-49 record. Rebuilding might be too mild a term to describe Possinger's task at WCU. The Catamounts defeated only four NCAA Division I opponents last season and finished last in the nine-team Southern Conference standings. Over the last two seasons, they have posted only six wins in conference play. Possinger's task was not made easier with the date of his appointment (last April), which was at the tail end of the recruiting season, and a lack of returning talent and experience. Only three players return who compiled significant playing time. "We made some immediate steps towards turning this program in the right direction with some last second recruiting," said Possinger. "We will take some more steps on the playing floor with our philosophy of hard work, discipline and organization," he added. Possinger does not pull any punches in assessing his first WCU team. 'This team is small, youngand not deep in any area. Our major objective is to get better with each practice and from game to game. Hopefully, Bennie Goettie is a unanimous all-conference pick by the end of the season, we can have a cohesive unit that can compete in the Southern Conference," he offered. 'The work ethic of this team is good," he said. "We have been working them long and hard and their enthusiasm to learn and improve is outstanding. They are doing a great job in learning our defensive system. The only way we are going to stay in a game this season is with defense. We are attempting to make the players realize that if they work long and hard at making our defense work, it can keep them in games," he explained. The small contingent of returnees is led by power forward Bennie Goettie who led the '87-'88 Catamounts in scoring (19.4 and ranked in the top five in four Southern Conference statistical categories - scoring, rebounding (7.5), field goal percentage (57.4) and blocked shots (19). He is a consensus pick for a first team spot on the pre-season all-conference team. He scored 20 points in 16 games last season and finished the season strong with 22 or more points in each of the last five games against East Tennessee State, The Citadel, Furman, Marshall and VMI. "Bennie is a prime time player," says Possinger of the 6-5 senior who has played only on season at WCU after transferring from Lake City (FL) Community College. "I feel sure he will be one of the better player in the conference." Six foot four inch Robert Hill, a senior swing- man, is the other returning starter. A return to his sophomore season form would give the Catamounts' chances for success a boost. He led the team in scoring as a sophomore with a 15.1 average, led the league in free throw percentage (85%) and was a second team selection on the conference's all-tournament team. Last winter, his field goal percentage dropped nine points to 41% and his scoring average fell to 11.3 points a game. "Robert has shot the ball better in pre-season than he did last year," noted Possinger. "I think we've found the range where he can be consistently effective. We are looking for him to have a good senior season." The only other return ing player to see action as a starter last season is senior point guard Maurice Johnson. He started in eight games and dished out 67 assists. He averaged 2.4 points, but averaged taking just over two shots from the floor per game. "Maurice is giving us leadership in the backcourt," stated Possinger. "He is playing much more under control this year, has great court awareness, is playing within his limitations, and is probably our best defender on the perimeter." Junior guard Myron Lewis and senior center Brian Campbell are the other returnees from last season's squad. Lewis saw action in 24 games, mostly at the shooting guard, and hit on 48% of his shots. Campbell, the team's biggest man at 6-8, appeared in 22 games. "Myron has shot the ball well in preseason and impressed us with his intelligence on the floor. Brian is being counted on for quality minutes as a reboun- der and defender," said Possinger. The key losses from last season's squad were a pair of seniors - shooting guard Robert Hutchison, the team's No. 2 scorer (15.2ppg), and center Andre Gault, the leading rebounder (8.2rpg and 10.7 ppg) - and point guard Kenny Brown who averaged 6.8 ppg and 4.9 assists as a See OUTLOOK, next page + Lady Cats' Basketball team looks toward promising season Herb Pickard AiMiatant Sport. Editor Kim Mclnturff (one of many returning players) going for two against Furman last season The football season is all but over, and it's about that time again. Time for Catamount basketball, and the Lady Cats are fired up for a promising year. The Lady Cats are under the leadership of Dr. Tony Baldwin and Assistant Coach Ms. Eva Breidenthal. Dr. Baldwin is beginning his fourth season here at Western, where he had compiled 30-49 record with a rebuilding WCU program. His previous coaching job was at Belmont Abbey where he posted an impressive 51-20 record in only three years. First year assistant coach Eva Breidenthal, comes to WCU from Avery County High School where she was head varsity coach. Over the past three years the women's basketball program has seen more bad times than good, as any program in the rebuilding stage usually does. This year, however, the Lady Cats are looking for a great team with a great season. Coach Baldwin feels that this might be the year for the Lady Cats, although he is careful not to predict too much. "With our returning players and our new recruits this year's team should be coming into its own. I think that we can do great things but I don't want to set the goals too high in the pre-season," he noted. The Lady Cats return junior point guard Laura Vannoy who led last year's Cats in playing time last season while averaging 9.7 points per game. Also in the back court the Catamounts are armed with Roxy Williams, a sophomore guard who not only averaged 7.9 points per game, but also pulled down 6.6 rebounds per game, all while leading the Lady Cats in scoring percentage last year. The Lady Cats acquired new talent in the form of Lynn Rhymer and Tracy Absher. Rhymer comes to the Cats from ETSU where she started and averaged 10.7 points per game, while Absher comes from Lees- McRae, where as a 6'-0 post player she scored 15 points a game and was a two-time all- conference performer. Baldwin also recruited three standout high school players. Charlene Penland from Hayesville High, Amy McEntire, from McDowell High in Marion and Julie Donaldson, the Lady Cats' tallest recruit at 6'-3" is from South Gwinnett High in Snellville, GA. The Lady Cats strength will be in their speed and versatility. "Our greatest advantage is our back court speed. We have the fastest guards I think that we've ever had...you could see as many as 10 or 12 completely different starting line ups this year from us...It all depends on who we're playing," said coach Baldwin. The Lady Cats will be striving for the Southern Conference championship along with perhaps the most competitive teams in the country. An added incentive is an automatic NCAA Tournament given to the conference tourney champ. The Catamounts will play a tough schedule both inside and outside of the Southern Conference as they meet the likes of N.C. State, Georgia Tech and Eastern Kentucky. Barring all injuries the Lady Cats should provide serious contention for both the conference title and the NCAA bid.

The Western Carolinian is Western Carolina University’s student-run newspaper. The paper was published as the Cullowhee Yodel from 1924 to 1931 before changing its name to The Western Carolinian in 1933.

• Creator
  • Western Carolina University
• Format
  • Publications (documents)
• Type
  • Text
• Date
  • Date original: 1988-11-17
  • Date digitized: 2019-09-05
• Extent
  • Dimension: 22.75" x 14.25"
  • Pages: 12 pages
• Subject - Topic
  • College student newspapers and periodicals
  • Cullowhee (N.C.) -- Newspapers
  • Universities and colleges -- North Carolina -- Cullowhee -- Newspapers
• Location
  • Jackson County (N.C.)
  • Cullowhee (N.C.)
• Source institution
  • Western Carolina University
• Source Collection
  • WCU Students Newspapers Collection
• Identifier
  • HL_WesternCarolinian_1988-11-17_Vol54_No14
• Repository
  • Western Carolina University Hunter Library