Wilmington, NC - Looking to keep the Cape Fear Community College women's basketball program at the forefront of the Region 10 Conference, first-year Head Coach Chris Harris is excited about his crop of players heading into the 2015-16 season.
Harris makes his debut as head of the Sea Devils in his nineteenth season of college coaching and twentieth overall. He arrives at CFCC after spending the 2014-15 campaign as an assistant coach at Presbyterian College, an NCAA I Division program in Clinton, South Carolina. He helped guide the Blue Hose to a 16-15 record and quarterfinal appearance in the Big South Tournament.
"We're really excited about the upcoming season and the potential to take this program to the next level," said Harris. "Lori [Drake] did a tremendous job getting it off the ground, with a lot of success, which is a tribute to the job she did, but also a tribute to the administration at Cape Fear Community College in general. It's an exciting opportunity."
Cape Fear has seven sophomores and eight first-year players on the roster, with Monica Alexander leading the bunch along with classmate Jasmine Brown. Destiny Campbell, TaKwana Bland and De'najah Parker are getting their first taste of college basketball, but Harris believes they have the tools to make their freshmen year a memorable one.
"It's hard to separate the sophomores and freshmen because we're gelling together," Harris added. "The experienced players definitely know what it takes to be successful at this level from a preparation and work ethic standpoint. Everybody is still getting used to me still and I'm working to get chemistry with them. It's a work in progress but we'll get there."
Campbell was one of the top recruits coming out of the state of North Carolina in high school, with a commitment to James Madison before landing at Cape Fear Community College. Porter played a big role in the success at Bertie High School, while Bland was highly decorated as an All-Region player out of Riverside High School in Williamston, North Carolina.
"We've got some players that have had success in high school and anytime you can take players like that with some base of talent they're already ahead of the curve a bit," Harris said. "They're beginning to understand what it takes to make that next step and we're here to continue improving day in and day out."
The Sea Devils have been an instant success since their inaugural season in 2012-13 and Harris looks to continue the push after a 26-7 record last year and No. 12 national ranking during the year.
"Coach Mantlo and Robby McGee made it clear when I took this job that it was time to take this program to the next step," said Harris. "We want to be in the national conversation and I think there are three areas of focus to get there. Anytime you have a program that's had success, it starts with recruiting. We've got to continue to grow and get better players every year, establish a firm foundation in the state. Developing those players and helping them become even better suited for this level is the next step. The third thing is scheduling. Increasing our strength of schedule will ultimately bring better players, help those players develop and then winning at that level will bring the national attention."
Following a 60-49 setback in the season opener against Bryant and Stratton College, Cape Fear heads to Louisburg this weekend for games against Montgomery College (Maryland) and Frederick Community College.
Courtesy of Joe Catenacci