Anteaters shoot for fast start

Growing up in Saldotna, Alaska, land of snow, salmon and grizzly bears, UC Irvine women’s basketball coach Molly Tuter learned to appreciate the concept of hibernation.

However, entering her second full season guiding the Anteaters, she hopes to avoid the extended period of dormancy UCI teams have displayed at the opening of the last two seasons.

UCI opened the 2004-05 campaign with seven straight losses, prompting the resignation of then-coach Mark Adams. After Tuter took over as interim coach, the team extended its winless opening to nine games, before winning eight of its final 19, including a first-round triumph in the Big West Conference Tournament.

Last season, Tuter’s first after shedding the interim label, the Anteaters lost their first seven constests and were 2-13 through the first two weeks of January. They then won seven of their next 10, including a five-game conference winning streak, to propel them into a third-place tie in the final conference standings.

This season, Tuter’s willingness to go to the ends of the earth — or at least Europe — to make her team more competitive, has brought a trio of experienced international recruits, whom, she believes, will help returning starters Angie Ned, Kelly Cochran and Stephanie Duda get the Anteaters rolling from the start.

“We’re further ahead this year, than last year,” Tuter said. “I have a year of coaching experience under my belt and our returning players have played for me for one year as a head coach. Players know my terminology and where I’m coming from. They know my intensity level and what to expect. I think that eases everything and allows people to just relax a little bit and really learn how to work their tails off.”

Ned, a first-team All-Big West performer who was also the conference’s Defensive Player of the Year last season as 5-foot-9 guard, continued to work said tail off during the offseason.

“I just didn’t want to have that feeling of knowing I could have worked harder this summer,” said Ned, who led the team in scoring (13.0 per game), three-pointers (39), steals (41) and free-throw percentage (77.1) last season and was third in rebounding (4.4 per contest). “I wanted to make sure that I couldn’t regret anything I did over the summer.”

Ned, a third-year starter who was on the six-player preseason all-conference team, said chemistry was the primary reason behind the slow starts the last two seasons.

“This year, our goal is to get wins early on,” Ned, the team’s only senior, said. “This being my last year, I really have an adrenaline rush and I really want to give it my all and lead this team on and off the floor. I think we’re all excited and we’re expecting big things.”

One reason for optimism is the aforementioned foreign additions, led by 5-10 freshman guard Rebecca Maessen from the Netherlands.

A member of the Dutch national team since 2002, the 22-year-old Maessen has a polished offensive game that can translate to point guard or shooting guard. And Tuter also believes her athleticism will fit in well with the aggressive defensive schemes she plans to unleash.

Naomi Halman, a 6-4 freshman from the Netherlands, and Klinta Lisnere, a 6-3 freshman from Latvia, should fill the virtual void the Anteaters have had in the post the last few years.

“Naomi skill-wise, is probably a little further along than Klinta, but Klinta is a workhorse,” Tuter said. “Their biggest strength is their athleticism. Both can really run the floor and we haven’t had that.”

Halam is 21 and Lisnere is 19, so maturity is also another plus the two bring, Tuter said.

“They’re really going to help us,” Ned said of the post duo.

Lisnere had 15 points in an 88-68 exhibition win over Team Concept on Nov. 2, while Halam had seven points and a team-high seven rebounds in a 77-59 exhibition loss to Love & Basketball on Wednesday.

Cochran, a 6-0 sophomore forward, will be counted upon heavily in the frontcourt. She averaged 10.8 points and a team-leading 6.6 rebounds on her way to making the Big West All-Freshman team last season. She has the potential to be one of the top 10 players in the conference.

Cochran, whom Tuter said has extended her shooting range beyond the three-point arc this season, had 11 points and 14 rebounds against Team Concept.

Duda, a 5-10 junior, averaged 7.0 points and 6.1 rebounds last season, starting all 28 games in which she played.

“She’s just ferocious,” Tuter said of the former Orange County scoring leader out of Los Alamitos High.

Christina Zdenek, a 5-9 junior who redshirted last season after transferring from Utah State, will be a big addition in the backcourt, Tuter said. She averaged 7.8 points and 3.3 rebounds as a sophomore for the Aggies and her offensive talents should help diminish the opponent’s ability to focus perimeter defensive pressure on Ned.

Kirian Ishizaki, a sophomore point guard, started 25 games last season, when she averaged 6.6 points per game. She missed the exhibition season with a broken nose.

Juniors Annie Mai and Miranda Forry should also contribute off the bench.

Forry averaged 5.4 points last season, when she started eight games, while Mai averaged 5.3 points and made four starts.

Mai averaged 10.5 points in the two exhibition games.

Haley Tull, a 6-0 junior, should also provide depth, as will freshmen twins Ka’Jahna and Keyonna Johnson, 5-4 guards out of Diamond Ranch High.

Tuter said that depth will show most on defense, allowing the Anteaters to press more.

“We have more athletic bodies to do what I want to do on defense,” Tuter said. “We’re going to play a lot of defense and we’re going to run a lot. I want to keep other people from scoring and I want us to work other people into the ground. I don’t want other people to be able to keep up with us.”

UCI, which lost in the first round of last year’s conference tournament, was picked to finish fifth in the eight-team Big West in the preseason coaches poll. The media picked UCI to finish seventh.

UCI lost to Eastern Washington, 80-60, in Monday’s opener.

THE ANTEATERS

1 Kirian Ishizaki So.

3 Annie Mai Jr.

5 Rebecca Maessen Fr.

10 Klinta Lisnere Fr.

11 Miranda Forry Jr.

15 Naomi Halman Fr.

20 Haley Tull Jr.

21 Angie Ned Sr.

23 Ka’Jahna Johnson Fr.

24 Stephanie Duda Jr.

25 Keyonna Johnson Fr.

32 Kelly Cochran So.

34 Shakira Autry So.

42 Christina Zdenek Jr.

Coach: Molly Tuter

(second season)