Courtesy of Alex Riley
Star News
Wilmington, NC - Lori Drake got calls about her team.
As coach of the Cape Fear Community College women's basketball squad, she learned her players weren't causing any problems. They weren't being troublemakers. Those phone calls weren't about anything negative.
"I actually would hear from people in the community that they were going and playing. People would say, 'I saw your players at the Y(MCA), working out, lifting weights,' " Drake said.
The six returning Sea Devils and the five newcomers weren't waiting for practice to begin to get acquainted with one another. They took the initiative to organize their own workouts.
Several times a week, players would text each other about pickup games at the Wilmington YMCA. By the time the texts got sent out, most, if not all, of them were on their way to the court.
They would play against each other. They'd play against other teams in the gym. Sometimes, they'd stay for five-plus hours at a time.
"Winner stays on the court," sophomore guard Porsha Buchanan said with a laugh.
It wasn't about getting wins at that point. But it's certainly helping the program get wins now.
CFCC has gotten off to a fast start in 2013, opening the season with an 8-0 record, including wins over a pair of top 10 teams and the program's first appearance in the NJCAA Division II poll.
Playing pickup games at the YMCA is one of several reasons the team has started so strong. After going 9-14 in the program's inaugural season, Drake made some offseason changes.
She cut several players who didn't fit into her scheme. On recruiting visits, Drake often watched practice instead of games to see what type of player she was getting when the fans weren't looking.
After consulting with her returning players, she recruited high energy kids who had a passion for the game.
Once they were on campus, the veterans went to work melding the two groups together.
"We played pickup. We worked out together, we had our team outings," sophomore guard Shanta Williams said. "We went to the beach a couple times and did team workouts there, just to make us grow as a whole off the court because it matters on the court as well."
Coming in, Williams said they knew they had a chance to be a good team. To reach that point, they needed to make sure the chemistry developed quickly and everyone understood they could not play selfishly.
The veterans set the tone; the new players picked up on it immediately.
"We have a young team, so we just set one goal – to play together, play hard and just to win," freshman forward Eboni Gilliam said. "We've been very focused on winning and knocking all these teams off."
That style has led to wins over previous No. 1 Louisburg and previous No. 10 Guilford Tech. The Sea Devils are one victory away from tying their win total from last season.
Playing in the Brunswick Community College Holiday Classic will give CFCC a chance to keep improving. The Sea Devils face NJCAA Division I Harford (Md.) Community College (12-1) on Friday at 10 a.m. and battle fellow Division II program Baltimore County-Dundalk (8-3) at noon Saturday.
Chemistry has helped CFCC get to this point, but there's still a long way to go.
"The chemistry is definitely there. We all have the same goals," Buchanan said.
"There's really nothing that can stop us but ourselves."
