49ers get ready to rule Big West

By Gerald Frazier
Daily Forty-Niner

The Long Beach State  women's basketball team returns with four starters and 10 letter winners, all hoping to conquer this season's Big West Conference.

"They want to win the Big West and go to the NCAA tournament," Head Coach Dallas Boychuk-Bolla said.

The 49ers were close last year, winning 12 out of 15 games. Despite losing to UC Santa Barbara on the race to the Big West Championship game, the team received a bid in the National Women's Invitational Tournament.

"Last year we won 22 games and they are starting to get a lot of confidence getting on the floor and expecting whoever they play, they are going to win," Boychuk-Bolla said. "This year we want to go even further. I think it was good to get three games of post-season experience."

With five seniors and five juniors, the team boasts a roster that has both experience and depth, which will be needed when they play Pac-10, SEC, Big 10 and Big 12 teams.

Boychuk-Bolla will find out how the team plays and reacts to adversity early on in the season.

"I think they will do well because they are so close and they get along well," Boychuk-Bolla said.

This year's team also has another attribute vital to a winning season: chemistry.  The ability to work as a team can sometimes go further than talent alone.

"We have really good chemistry on the team, on and off the floor," Boychuk-Bolla said. "It is very important, more important than a lot of things, and when we bring in recruits they can see that."

Despite the team's impressive lineup, Rhonda Smith, who was drafted in the fourth round of the WNBA's expansion, will be missed in the middle defensively.

"Having someone 6-foot-8 really helps your team," Boychuk-Bolla said. Smith anchored a defense that stifled opponents all last year.

At .360, the 49ers ranked fourth in the nation in defensive field goal percentage, with Smith recording 118 blocks ? the third-highest single season total in the Big West.

The team should also do well offensively, Boychuk-Bolla said.

"The scoring is going to be a lot more balanced this year," Boychuk-Bolla said. "I think we will be a well-rounded team. We have a lot of experience."

The squad has four returnees, each averaging more than seven points per game. Point guard Reta Sula drained 48 three-pointers in the 1998-99 season, the second all-time-best in school history. With her help, the 49ers will be able to hang with the best in the scoring column, Boychuk-Bolla said.

The 49ers open the season on the road at the University of San Diego Nov 17.