This is the first installment of a three-part series.
With less than a week away from the 2009-10 basketball season tipping off, TarletonSports.com will take a closer look at the upcoming season for the TexAnns over the next three days, beginning with Wednesday's preview of the guards.
The TexAnns return four guards from a team that went 16-12 overall and 7-5 in the Lone Star Conference South Division last season. Sonya Sundberg is in her third season with the TexAnns, while Shelby Adamson, Tara Towns and Lisa Parker return for their sophomore campaigns. Head coach Ronnie Hearne welcomes Whitney McCorkle as the TexAnns' lone freshman to the team as well. Tomika Lynce, a sophomore, will sit out and red-shirt the 2009-10 season.
RETURNING PLAYERS
Sundberg returns for her junior season and will run the TexAnn offense at the point. Sundberg has started in all 56 games that she has played in heading into this season. She averaged 8.8 points per contest last season, collected a career-high 118 assists and was named an All-LSC South Division Honorable Mention selection. She was also named to the LSC All-Academic Commissioner's Honor Roll for her efforts in the classroom as well. She was second on the team with 51 steals and grabbed 62 rebounds, including 17 boards on the offensive side of the ball. Sundberg has 215 career assists heading into this season, the second-most assists from a TexAnn over the last five years. She recorded a season-high 19 points on two different occasions in 2008-09.
Adamson started in all 28 games for the TexAnns last year and returns to the team following a season where she was named an All-LSC Honorable Mention selection and the LSC Freshman of the Year in the south division. Adamson, who plays the No. 2 guard position, led the TexAnns with 59 steals and ranked sixth in the LSC averaging 2.1 steals a game. In just her first season she recorded a season-high eight steals at home against Texas A&M-Kingsville back on Jan. 14, which led the conference for most steals in a game. She averaged 10.3 points per contest and ranked third on the team with a 42.2% (95-225) shooting percentage from the field. Adamson shot 75.0% (84-112) from the charity stripe and 31.0% (91-97) from beyond the arc. A native of Rockwall, Adamson also grabbed 108 rebounds and dished out 78 assists in 2008-09.
Towns played in 25 games in her first season for the TexAnns, averaging 3.1 points per game in a little over 300 minutes played. The Dublin native tallied 13 steals on the defensive side of the court, while dishing out 26 assists on offense. She grabbed 55 rebounds, with more than half of them (29) coming offensively. Towns shot 35.5% (27-76) from the field, including 34.8% (8-23) from behind the three-point line. She shot 59.3% (16-27) from the charity stripe as a freshman. She posted a season-high 12 points against Texas Wesleyan, while shooting 62.5% percent from the floor in that game.
Parker is in her second season with the TexAnns and will back-up Sundberg at the point guard position. The Boyd native saw action in 26 games last season, but none were better than the game she had against East Central. Parker scored 17 points while draining 5-of-7 shots from downtown. For the season, Parker averaged 3.6 points per contest with a 35.7% (30-84) from the field. She shot 28.6% (14-49) from beyond the arc and 63.3% (19-30) from the free-throw line. She had 24 assists and collected 15 steals as well.
NEWCOMERS
McCorkle joins the TexAnns after a stellar prep career at Windthorst High School where she was a two-time Texas Association of Basketball Coaches Class 1-A All-Region selection. A four-time all-district honoree, McCorkle was also named her district's defensive MVP her sophomore season. She earned academic all-state accolades her senior season after averaging 12.3 points, 5.6 rebounds, 3.3 steals and 3.2 assists per game.
NOTABLE STATS
The guard play from last season accounted for more than 49 percent of Tarleton's point total. The four returning players averaged a little over 25 points of the TexAnns' 67.4 points per contest. Sundberg and Adamson alone were responsible for just over 50 percent of the team's total in assists last season.
The TexAnns will host Texas-Permian Basin this coming Tuesday, Nov. 17 for the season-opener. Tip-off is scheduled for 6 p.m. inside Wisdom Gym.
Coming tomorrow, Thursday, Nov. 12, a preview of the forward position.
