Brown, seniors key in women’s basketball turnaround

In two short seasons, the Vassar College women's basketball team made remarkable strides, transforming the Brewers from perennial Liberty League cellar-dwellers to 2010-11 conference champions. Now one of the exemplary programs in the Athletics Department, the team foresees continued growth in the future and will not settle into complacency.

After a 2008-09 season that saw the Brewers finish 4-21­—their lowest win total in 22 years and the sixth straight season in which they finished seventh or eighth in the Liberty League—Vassar hired new Head Coach Candice Brown.

Brown, who had previously helped the Manhattanville College women's basketball team double their win total from nine to 18 in two seasons, had a core set of objectives in mind when she arrived in Poughkeepsie.

"My goals were to stay in games, be competitive, win more Liberty League games, teach [the team] how to win and to change the culture," Brown recalled. She added that she did not expect to witness such a rapid rate of improvement. "The program was definitely headed in the right direction, but there was a lot more to accomplish," she said. "I thought we definitely would be able to accomplish those successes, but I didn't expect to win the Liberty League Championship in two years."

Captain Brittany Parks '12 and Kristyn Tempora '12 were freshmen during the difficult 2008-09 campaign, and both said that their decision to come to Vassar was influenced by the opportunity to help build a winning team. "I was recruited with the hope of turning the program around over four years," Tempora said.

Parks commented that the 2009-10 season, which saw the Brewers finish 9-15, was difficult but that Brown had an immediate impact. "She came in with the mindset that if we're going to work this hard, we're going to have a better year," Parks said.

Although Brown refused to say she was satisfied with the results from her first year as head coach, she remembered believing that the Brewers' fifth-place conference finish in 2009-10 would have earned them a bit more respect. However, when the pre-season coaches' poll came out prior to the beginning of the 2010-11 season, the results had Vassar slated to finish seventh in the Liberty League. "I definitely think we all used that as motivation," Brown said. "To finish fifth the previous year and then be voted seventh was a slap in the face."

Parks agreed, recounting that Brown hung the poll results on each player's locker. She said this, along with the inexperienced roster (Parks and Captain Carolyn Crampton '11 were the lone junior and senior, respectively, on the Brewers), did little to shake the team's confidence. "Though we were young and picked to finish seventh, in our minds we knew we were a good basketball team and could do better in the Liberty League," she stated.

In hindsight, that was an understatement. The Brewers went on to have their best season in program history, finishing with 16 wins (the most since the 2000-01 season) and capturing their first-ever Liberty League Championship.

Parks and her teammates were quick to credit Brown for the historic year. "We worked hard from the get-go," Parks said. "[Brown] has very specific goals each year."

Anielle Fredman '13 praised her coach's ability to facilitate team chemistry. "I'm always amazed at the unity this team has," she said. "We all get along so well." Fredman confidently asserted, "Something [Brown] is doing is pulling us all together."

Parks claimed, "Basketball is [Brown's] life," but added that her coach understands the importance of essential off-court elements. She went on to say that although the players are all individually motivated, Brown has a way of unifying their spirit. "She takes the passion we all have and brings it out in games," Parks noted.

Brown in turn credited the players for the team's accomplishments last year. In particular, she referenced Crampton and Parks, who together provided the experienced guidance necessary for such a young squad. "The team piggybacked on that [leadership]," she said.

Parks commented on the responsibilities she assumed as one of the few older members of the team. "There are always ‘freshman things'—in-game mistakes are going to happen," she said. "The few upperclassmen have to be there in times of need."

One freshman who seemed to make very few mistakes last year, however, was new Captain Cydni Matsuoka '14, last year's D3Hoops.com National Rookie of the Year. Tempora commented on Matsuoka's composure, saying, "She has a way of commanding respect. I look up to her, even though she's two years younger than me."

Parks said the younger players as a whole met the pressures of last season in stride: "There were a lot of tight situations—sometimes they handled it better than [the older players]."

It is up to the returning players to send the six incoming freshmen the team-wide message for this season: The Brewers are back for more. "The standards are much higher," Parks affirmed. Brown stressed the need to finish in the top four of the Liberty League, in order to qualify for the conference playoffs, but Parks took it one step further, saying they want to host a tournament game this time around, which would require finishing first or second.

The expectations for the Brewers have certainly changed since last year—the pre-season coaches' poll ranked Vassar second in the Liberty League—but the players emphasized their need to remain grounded. Parks wants the team to maintain its underdog mentality. "We don't need the best of the best—just the hardest working," she explained. Guard Ali Higgins '13, another member of last year's championship squad, wholeheartedly agreed. "[Last season] we unquestionably had one heart," she said. "Hopefully it's the same this year."