Lady Jags have a lot of potential

Greg Wilson doesn't like the word potential, but he has a hard time avoiding it when he describes the Augusta State women's basketball team.

"We've got a chance to be good, but I don't know how soon," he said after practice Monday. "I just finished telling them, potential's a dirty word. I don't like that word. It means you're not very good yet."

But the Lady Jaguars are getting there, or at least they seem to be. Unlike the other area colleges, the Lady Jaguars started their season last weekend and are off to a 1-2 start - earning a 66-55 win against Southern Indiana in their final game of a tournament last weekend in Disney's Tip-Off Classic in Lake Buena Vista, Fla.

With nine newcomers, the Lady Jaguars needed a couple of games to figure things out.

"The first game we didn't have a clue," Wilson said. "Didn't know who to throw it to, didn't know who wanted the ball where. ... The second game, you could see all the lights start to come on. Then, the third game we just blew them right out."

They also committed 40 turnovers in that win, but Wilson said 22 came in the final 12 minutes, after Augusta State built a 25-point lead. While he hopes 40 was an aberration, Wilson expects his team to turn the ball over - an inevitable by-product of pushing the pace of the game.

"We throw it off the back wall and we turn it over, but we run with it, and we hopefully get easy baskets to balance it out," Wilson said.

It will be a lot easier for the Lady Jaguars to run this year. They finished last season with seven healthy players, one of them a walk-on. This year, Wilson will have 14 suit up. Wilson said he has no problem putting any of them in a game.

Senior forward Eva Vodrazkova and junior forward Shirrell Ford are the two returning starters from last year's team that went 14-14. Both are thrilled to see plenty of players ready and able to give them a breather.

"We didn't have any rest at all (last year)," Vodrazkova said. "This year should be better because our bench is really good, so everybody can play the same amount of time."

One player Wilson will look at to provide a spark off the bench is junior transfer Tamala Turner. The 6-foot forward recorded a double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds in the Lady Jaguars' win.

"She has the ability to be as good as she wants to be in this league," Wilson said. "We've got to be able to get her the ball, and she's got to be able to make good decisions with it, but she has really got the potential to be the one that people talk about."

There goes that word again. But Wilson's not the only one who sees it.

"You can see everyone has their different style of play, we're just all learning how to work together," Ford said. "That's the biggest thing, and once we get over that, then I think our team will be pretty awesome."