January 9, 2007

     Babette Noah is ambitious. So much so that the Southern Connecticut State women's basketball senior center believes the Owls can remain unbeaten this season.
     Southern, after all, is more than halfway there. The Owls are 14-0 overall and 9-0 in the Northeast-10 Conference with 13 games remaining. Add in three more in the NE-10 tournament and then, gasp, six in the NCAA tournament and the Southern would finish 36-0.
     "I'm ambitious," said Noah, who is averaging a double-double with 10 points and 10.4 rebounds. "As much as I respect the teams we are playing, I know that we are going for every one of the games."
     Coach Joe Frager is also ambitious.
     In 1998, he took over a program that hadn't been to the postseason in 13 years and has built a Division II power. The Owls are currently ranked a program-high fifth nationally after going 29-4 last season and advancing to the NCAA Division II tournament Sweet 16 after winning the Northeast-10 Conference regular season and postseason championships.
     But Frager, who is 68-10 over the last three seasons, doesn't hesitate when asked the chances of going unbeaten.
     "No," Frager said. "It's highly unlikely that anyone in our conference is going to run the table. It's just too competitive."
     Take this week for example.
     The Owls host a Pace team tonight at Moore Fieldhouse that is 11-3 overall, 6-3 in the NE-10 and receiving votes in the top 25. Only Southern's scoring defense of 49.5 points allowed per game is better than Pace's (51.1).
     The Owls then travel to Syracuse, N.Y., for a Thursday night game before playing No. 19 American International Saturday in Springfield, Mass. The Yellow Jackets, led by New Haven's Krystal Pressley, are the team that ended Southern's season last year in the Sweet 16 at Moore Fieldhouse before advancing all the way to the championship game.
     After that? How about two of the next four games featuring No. 15 Stonehill at home Jan. 23 and No. 24 Saint Rose in Albany, N.Y. Jan. 31.
     Southern's strength is that it has several standouts, all of who are capable of leading the team on any given night.
     Junior power forward Kate Lynch leads the team in scoring at 17.7 and averages 5.8 rebounds. But Shamika Jackson, a 6-1 junior wing, is also capable of going off on any given night as is Noah or junior shooting guard Michelle Martinek, who has vastly improved.
     A perfect example was Jackson's 27-point performance in a 64-46 win at Bentley last Wednesday, which allowed her to share NE-10 player of the week honors Monday. In that game, Lynch was held to a season-low seven points.
     "That's what makes us a great team," Jackson said. "We always have players that can step in if either me or Kate aren't having a good time."
     The other factor is the work put in by Frager and Laura Scinto, his top assistant who juggles her job as a nurse and scouting game tape.
     "Coach just does a good job of preparing us for each game," Lynch said. "The staff puts hours and hours in preparing us, and we try to reciprocate by doing our jobs."
     And part of doing their jobs is not looking too far ahead but keeping their focus on the next game. Even the ever ambitious Noah won't get caught up with going unbeaten or being ranked fifth.
     "We only think about the next game," Noah said. "We know we can't think about AIC. We have to think about Pace and then going on that long ride to play LeMoyne. So we can't think ahead."
     But that doesn't mean they can't dream, and believe, about an unbeaten season.