December 13, 2005

     WEST HARTFORD -- Liz Stich never broke a bone, not when she played at St. Paul High School in Bristol or at the University of Hartford. She did break her nose, but she figured that didn't count.      Her playing career ended last season after Hartford's run into the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
     But Stich is back on the Hartford sideline, this time with crutches.
     Stich, a fifth-year senior, is a student assistant coach for the Hawks.
     Because she switched majors, she is finishing up her civil engineering degree and will graduate in May.
     Her basketball duties include keeping statistics and preparing the players for games.
     To that end, she was practicing with the Hawks at the Civic Center before the UConn game Dec. 1.
     And well, we'll let Stich - who is just a bit embarrassed about the whole thing - tell you what happened:
     "Practice is over. I was just fooling around and I landed on [my left foot] wrong. I heard it crack. I thought it was my shoe, like a broken air bubble. I pretended like nothing happened. I walked off the court."
     "I didn't think it was that bad. Then I couldn't walk anymore."
     Stich had broken her fifth metatarsal in her left foot.
     Still, Hartford coach Jen Rizzotti has plenty of things for Stich to do on the sideline.
     "She's really a thinker," Rizzotti said. "She keeps a lot of stats for us. She keeps track of things that are important. She's trying not to talk a lot because she's new on the staff, but when she does interject, it's always something that's very useful."
     With 4 minutes left against Manhattan and a timeout called, Stich piped up that the team needed to remember its goal for the game, to keep the Jaspers under 55 points. Manhattan had 48 at the time.
     "I'm thinking more what we need to run and she's thinking, 'We've got to get to our goal,'" Rizzotti said. "Little things she sees from a different perspective. She's a lot closer to where the players are, because she's coming from being in their position. She can give us a much different perspective than the four of us [coaches] who are very far removed from playing."
     Very far?
     "Well, just [associate coach] Kris [Lamb]," Rizzotti said.
     Stich averaged 6.1 points and 3.5 rebounds as a player at Hartford.
     She came off the bench in 30 games last season, averaging 3.1 points and 3.1 rebounds for a team that won a school-record 22 games.
     "It's been a good experience," Stich said. "I love still being part of the team, being involved in the program. I think we have a lot of potential to do some great things this year. I'm thankful that Coach is allowing me to do this."
     "It's definitely a learning experience, as far as seeing things from a different perspective. Even like when I'm with the coaches, then I go play, I feel like I'm a better player - which is really not worth anything right now."
     Stich isn't looking into coaching as a profession, but would like to coach high school or a lower level some day.