Deacons Counting on Washington to Carry Heavier Load This Year
11/15/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Nov. 15, 2006
By Sam Walker, Gold Rush
Wake Forest Head Women's Basketball Coach Mike Petersen said that, for Melissa Washington, this season is one of those good news, bad news deals. "The good news," Peteresen said, "is we want more from you. The bad news is we need more from you. Different players respond to that in different ways, but so far she has responded to that very well."
A season ago Washington played in all 28 games, but had just one start. She averaged 9.8 minutes per game, and led the team with 16 blocks. She finished last season averaging 3.3 points per game, and 2.5 rebounds per game. She came off the bench to give quality minutes, but was not counted upon to carry the team in any way. She didn't have to. The Deacons returned four starters last season. She did, however, have her moments.
Against Richmond last Dec. 28 she pulled down a season-best nine rebounds in 16 minutes of action, and tied her career-high with three blocks.
This year the load will be heavier. As one of just two juniors on a team with no seniors, Washington will likely be a starter, likely be one of the primary options inside the paint, and counted upon to provide a defensive presence in the paint game in and game out. In fact, Wake Forest is so young only one Division I team is younger - Winthrop. The way things are shaping up this should be Washington's best season yet. Washington should be full speed and fully recovered after missing the 2004-2005 season after tearing the Anterior Cruciate Ligament in her knee. She sat out that season with a medical redshirt, and watched as Petersen took over as head coach at Wake Forest. Washington had the tear repaired in Oct. of 2004.
"She tore her ACL two years ago, and actually injured it during the summer playing basketball in Maryland," Wake Forest Athletic Trainer Scott Spernoga said. "She came on campus and an MRI revealed a torn ACL. It was an average clean ACL tear. She did great with her rehab and was able to practice with the team in Feb., which was good for her for the next year. She worked hard to strengthen it. We did a lot of pull work with her, a lot of lower body work. She has a very strong upper body, so we did balance work... It's been our experience with ACL injuries that we get them ready to come back in about 4 to 6 months, but they are usually not themselves, or like they were before the injury, until about a year later. This is the year I think you'll see Melissa perform like she did two years ago."
"It was kind of crazy, because I was working hard, and had gotten into the rotation toward the end of the previous season so...," Washington said. "It was my sophomore season, the year Coach P got here, so I didn't get to play for him. Sitting on the bench the whole year I got to see what the team needed to work on and what the team did well. I saw things you don't really see when you're on the floor (playing). I knew that when I came back I knew what I had to do to get the job done."
Washington said it was tough getting back into shape, and that hindered her some last season. It took longer than she would have liked to feel like she was back to 100 percent. "Last year I didn't go in much," Washington said. "I basically went in to give the starters a breather. I was there just to get rebounds, and I wasn't really a scoring option."
Knowing that she would have to be not only a rebounding presence, but also a scoring threat, Washington attended the Pete Newell Tall Woman's Camp at Alliant International University in San Diego, CA. It was a three day camp with two three-hour sessions each day. There was a focus on moves in the post as well as wing and perimeter play. Washington worked very hard, and was voted the most improved player by the camp's coaching staff. That put her among some pretty elite company.
"I got to play against some of the best post players in the country like Chloe Kerr of USC, Melissa D'Amico of Notre Dame, and Sarah McKay of Indiana. I think I did pretty well. I made progress especially in the wing. Anybody who has seen me play knows I'm not the best ball handler, but that improved. It was drills and a lot of technique. It was very focused, lots of details."
Petersen was very proud of the progress Washington has made not only during the Pete Newell camp, but also what she has done since. He's seen her make strides in practice, play more fluidly, and more importantly play instinctively.
"I think that camp is good, and it does a couple of things," Petersen said. "One, its 24 hours a day of just big kids. That's all you're doing. I never met anybody who came out of there without really increased confidence. They do a good job of teaching the fundamentals. The things she worked on out there are almost identical to the things we work on here in the post. But out there it's a steady focused dose. Generally, kids come out of that experience with a renewed sense of - hey I just played against all those big kids and I'm pretty good.
"(Since then) Melissa has just gotten a lot more comfortable, a lot more relaxed over the last two years," Petersen said. "Last year she over-thought everything so badly she didn't play instinctively at all or with any intuitiveness. This year, so far, she has played much more relaxed and doesn't over-think things. She reacts to what is going on around her as opposed to forcing what she's got.
"She's big and strong and you start with that. Her offensive skill set has really improved. Her post skills have improved and Coach (Natasha) Adair has done a really good job with that with her. Then the Pete Newell experience helped with that a lot.
"She has become a more capable scorer and defensively she is big and strong and takes up space in there and should give us a good post presence. She can block shots."
Washington admits that in the past she had confidence issues. With her progress she sees no reason she should not dominate in the post, even against some of the best players in the country playing in the ACC. That will be key as she leads a young team through the rough ACC.
"From the camp I learned face-up moves and things I wasn't comfortable with," Washington said. "Now I try those in practice and will in games. I learned different moves. What's kind of funny is when I first arrived here I was the youngest freshman, and now two years later I'm the oldest player on the team. Nobody I came in with is here anymore. Now I feel like I'm taking on the leadership role and I like it."
"This team has plenty of opportunities for people to step up and hopefully Melissa will be one of those people who will step up," Petersen said. "My first year here she had the knee surgery and sat the whole year.
"Last year, to be perfectly frank, the way we played offensively and defensively really didn't fit her very well, and this year the way we are going to play, because we're so much bigger across the front, should fit her better. I expect she will have a significantly better opportunity to help this team. She has done a lot of hard work to deserve that. She had a great spring and a great summer, and has played very well so far in our practices this fall."
Wake opens the regular season on Nov. 10 against Indiana at the Women's Sports Foundation Classic in Lexington, Ky.
