Finally finding the right fit

Guard/forward Lindsay Kimmel transferred from Temple to Villanova after her sophomore season last year. Kimmel, who averaged 5.3 points, will sit out this season due to NCAA rules but will bring her 3-point shooting to the Main Line in the fall.

Week after week, Lindsay Kimmel would tell herself that she would make it work, that she could make it work.

But then she would call her parents, her siblings, her boyfriend – and they would tell her otherwise.
“I talked back-and-forth with my mom and dad and my sister and brother, Jared, [who plays football at Syracuse,] and they would tell me that these are the major years of my life, my college years, and that I should do something for myself,” Kimmel said.

“Ryan [Brooks, her boyfriend of three years and a senior guard on the men’s basketball team] noticed a difference in me, too,” Kimmel said. “He told me, ‘That’s not you. You’re not the same person you were as a freshman. You can’t stay here.’”

So, after two years at Temple on the women’s basketball team, Kimmel asked to transfer.
She wanted to go to a school and a program where she would be happy, where there were no worries, no regrets, she said – she wanted a sigh of relief.

“I know I’m where I’m supposed to be at Villanova,” Kimmel said. “I’m in the right spot. Temple just wasn’t the right fit. Part of me was staying because I never want to be defeated.”

Kimmel said she started thinking about transferring about halfway through last season. Then, toward the end of the Spring 2009 semester, she said her coaches more or less knew she would be leaving.

“They could sense it, I think,” Kimmel said. “It wasn’t a lack of playing hard or anything but how I was carrying myself. I wasn’t talking. I was sitting by myself. My parents told me they could see it in me.”

Entering the season, Kimmel said she was looking forward to playing and watching everything unfold with new coach Tonya Cardoza. It was former Temple coach [and current South Carolina coach] Dawn Staley who recruited her out of Harpursville High School in Binghamton, N.Y., where she led her league in scoring with 30.5 points per game. Kimmel became the first player, male or female, in Broome County, N.Y., to score more than 2,000 career points while leading Harpursville to a Section 4, Class C semifinal appearance her senior year. For her efforts, she was named the 2007 Press and Sun Bulletin Player of the Year.

“I went into the coaching change optimistic,” Kimmel said. “But I was recruited by coach Staley, and it was a complete 360. Nothing was in my control. To be honest, if I was being recruited by Temple all over again now, I probably would not come here. It’s just not the system of basketball I came here for originally. That’s nobody’s fault.”

“I think splitting playing time with Kristen [McCarthy] and Qwedia [Wallace] was hard for her,” Temple coach Tonya Cardoza said. “When she came to me at the end of the season and said she wanted to transfer, I wasn’t shocked. I knew it was coming.

“I told all the players at the end of the year that anybody could leave and go somewhere else if they weren’t happy,” Cardoza added. “I understood they came in with the understanding that Dawn Staley would be their coach.”

Kimmel averaged 5.1 points and 1.2 rebounds in 34 games her freshman season. Last year, she contributed 5.3 points and 1.9 rebounds per game in 31 games, 17 of them starts. She scored a career-high 22 points in a 95-48 win against Rhode Island last January and led the Owls in scoring with 10 points in their Atlantic Ten Tournament loss to Charlotte. But perhaps her biggest game in Cherry and White came in Temple’s win against No. 13 Xavier last season. In that game, Kimmel shot three-for-three from the 3-point line.

“That’s something I hope to bring to Villanova,” Kimmel said. “I hope to bring my shooting, especially from the 3-point line. I’m going to be as aggressive as I can be on the offensive and defensive side of the ball. That’s something I learned from coach Staley. Of course, Villanova is already a great shooting team. It’s not like there’s just one girl who can put it up.”

Kimmel picked the Wildcats over universities like Syracuse and Hartford that were closer to her hometown because coach Harry Perretta recruited her out of high school. Perretta said he recruited Kimmel not only for her obvious 3-point shooting skills but also for her determination, tenacity and the love she has for basketball.

“As hard as I thought it was going to be, especially learning my third system in three years, I’ve picked it up pretty quickly,” Kimmel said. “It suits how I play and my style. It was important to me to stay in a good conference, and I already knew a few of the girls here. So, it was second nature coming here. I didn’t have to go to a team with a coach and players who I would have to research more extensively.”

With her mind made up, Kimmel talked to Sherryta Freeman in the Department of Athletics. Freeman, the associate athletic director of compliance and student services, drew up a permission to contact letter for Kimmel and then a transfer release form for Villanova once Kimmel narrowed down her choices. The transfer release form provides the new institution with information such as the student-athlete’s academic standing and years of eligibility remaining. Kimmel, who has two years of eligibility left, had to have taken two consecutive semesters at Temple and had to have a cumulative grade point average of 3.00 for acceptance at the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Villanova. The university also reviewed her high school and college transcripts, standardized test scores, extracurricular activities and an essay for admittance. Gordon Finch, Villanova’s associate athletic director for compliance, said there are no athletic requirements other than what a coach wants or needs in a player.

“It’s a very simple process as far as the [athletic] paperwork, but it can be a very agonizing life decision for the student-athlete,” Freeman said. “The paperwork can go through as fast as one week once the decision is made, assuming there are no hiccups and the coach does not decide not to release the student.”

Before Perretta could sign off on the transfer, he said he sat down to have a long talk with Kimmel to make sure Villanova was where she really wanted to be.

“You can really only transfer once,” Perretta said. “She couldn’t really do it again, so I wanted to make sure she clearly understood our philosophy. I also wanted to make sure everyone at Temple knew that we didn’t try to talk her into transferring, that we didn’t tamper or interfere at all. The Big 5, it’s like a family.”

If Cardoza had a problem with the transfer, then Kimmel would have had to sit out for a year regardless. Generally speaking, Freeman said, revenue sports like football, basketball, hockey and baseball require the individual to sit out a year when transferring, no matter what. But there are exceptions. For example, if a student-athlete transfers from a Football Bowl Subdivision school to a Football Championship Subdivision university, he or she can play immediately. Student-athletes who transfer and play a non-revenue sport can apply for a one-time transfer exception that allows them to compete right away in most instances.

As a transfer within a Division I revenue sport, Kimmel will sit out this season. She can practice with the Wildcats but is not allowed to travel with them unless she pays for transportation herself. When the team goes away for lengthy road trips, Kimmel stays behind and gets in extra workouts that she described as “harder than practice” with the trainer.

One game she did attend, though, was the Dec. 20 one against her old team, the Temple Owls, at the Liacouras Center. The Wildcats handed the Owls their second loss of the season with a 44-32 win.

“If I had transferred after my freshman year, I think I would have been a little more sentimental about it,” Kimmel said. “Don’t get me wrong, I still have a lot of really good friends at Temple like [sophomore forward] Kristen McCarthy and [junior guard] Reese Fields, and I Skype with Lady Comfort [who graduated after the 2007-2008 season]. I visit the campus once or twice a week, so I still see them. There’s no bad blood or anything.

“In fact, every time we used to play Villanova before, they always used to joke with me that I was on the wrong team,” Kimmel added.

Now down on the Main Line, Kimmel said she is “thoroughly enjoying herself” at Villanova.

“It’s more spread out here,” she said. “It feels like it’s constantly summer session here because there are only about 5,000 students. The class size is smaller. Before, I had classes where there were 500-plus students. Now, I have classes with 30 other students. It’s very calm here, and there’s not a lot going on, which is good from a studying standpoint.”

Kimmel is still a biology major like she was at Temple but said she might be leaning toward entering the nursing program at Villanova. In addition to focusing on her studies this year, Kimmel has also spent her time getting to know her new conference – the Big East Conference.

“The first thing I noticed watching the conference games was the speed of the game,” Kimmel said. “In the Atlantic Ten, we were the fastest, most athletic team, but the Big East just looks so strong, especially Connecticut. I played with Caroline Doty on an AAU team, and all you can do is take your hat off to them. They deserve everything. They kill everyone by 30 points. We’ll have our work cut out for us.”

Temple finished 42-23 in Kimmel’s two years on North Broad Street and made the NCAA Tournament both times. The Wildcats ended last season 19-14. They also made the Tournament.

“It was a personal decision [to transfer],” Kimmel said. “It had to do with my own happiness. The people here have been so welcoming, and the staff has done so much for me. They opened their arms to me.”

Jennifer Reardon can be reached at jennifer.reardon@temple.edu.

Lindsay Kimmel leaving the Owls

A source close to the women’s basketball team has told The Temple News that sophomore guard Lindsay Kimmel may be transferring to Villanova.

The source claimed “internal issues” were a key reason for Kimmel’s decision to leave Temple.

“Temple released her, and we received the release,” Villanova coach Harry Parretta said.

A Temple Athletics official confirmed the news but didn’t confirm that Kimmel is going to Villanova.

Another source close to the situation added that Kimmel’s transfer to Villanova is not set in stone, as Binghamton and Hartford also inquired about her. However, she is said to be considering up to five schools in the surrounding area. The source suggested Drexel might be a fit because of the Dragons’ use of the 3-point shot.

Calls made to coach Tonya Cardoza went straight to voicemail.

The 6-foot guard was a 3-point specialist. She averaged 5.3 points per game this season. Kimmel played in all 31 contests and started 17 of them, averaging 17.0 minutes per game. She shot 33.6 percent from beyond the arc this year, the first under Cardoza.

Her playing time decreased as the season went on, as she lost her starting spot and began coming off the bench.

Kimmel was recruited out of Binghamton, N.Y., by former coach Dawn Staley, who left last year to coach at South Carolina.

Todd Orodenker can be reached at todd.orodenker@temple.edu. Assistant Sports Editor Anthony Stipa and Jennifer Reardon contributed to this report.

Double Downer

STORRS, Conn. – Senior forwards Shenita Landry and Shanea Cotton watched from the bench as everything they put into this season and their careers – the 6 a.m. practices, the extra study sessions, the bumpy bus rides – came crashing down Sunday afternoon.

No. 8-seeded Florida defeated the women’s basketball team, 70-57, at Gampel Pavilion, once again sending the No. 9-seeded Owls home after only one round in the NCAA Tournament.

Landry’s final moment as an Owl came with 1:01 left in the game. With her team down 68-55, she fouled Florida’s senior guard Sha Brooks. A mixture of frustration and disappointment etched across her face as Landry walked off the court, head lowered, shoulders slumped, fouling out after a team-high 13 points and four rebounds.

But as she prepared to take her seat on the bench, coach Tonya Cardoza motioned toward the co-captain and Atlantic Ten Conference’s Most Improved Player, embracing her and whispering a few words in her ear.

“Coach just said she wished she could coach me for three more years, and I wish I could learn three more years of stuff from her like I did this past year,” Landry said, her voice quivering as she held back tears at the press conference podium. “This year was a big year for me. I’ve done a lot of things I’d never done before, and I learned a lot of things I never did before.”

In Landry’s first three seasons on campus, she averaged 4.6 points per season and 4.8 rebounds.

But this year, the soft-spoken senior stepped out of the shadows of former Temple forwards Candice Dupree, Kamesha Hairston and Lady Comfort, leading all Owls players with 12.1 points per game and 8.9 rebounds per game, including 11 double-doubles. The A-10 coaches voted her Second Team All-A-10 and All-Defensive Team, as well.

“Coach Cardoza taught me to be confident in what you do, and good things will happen. In past years, I didn’t have that,” Landry said. “I’ve been here the past three years, and we won each year, but I’ll just take away from her those little things.”

And perhaps, in the right situation, after she’s done fielding any professional basketball offers from here or overseas, the accounting major will pass on her own little nuggets of knowledge as a coach someday.
Former Owls coach Dawn Staley predicted as much before she left for South Carolina this season, emphasizing Landry’s ability to “understand the game” and “pick and choose her spots.”

And so, it was Landry who primarily spoke to the team after the loss.

“Everybody was down, but we just all had to come together,” she said. “A lot of people still have more basketball to play. They’ve just got to learn from the game.”

Fellow frontcourt mate Cotton certainly did. The senior forward’s relationship with Cardoza could only be described as a work in progress early on in the season, but the coach pulled her out of the game with 49 seconds remaining in the game and 12 points beside her name on the scoreboard so the crowd, her coaches and her teammates could acknowledge her contributions.

“We went through our ups and downs and our complications because I’m hardheaded. I don’t take too well to authority,” Cotton said. “But we got through it, and I really loved her as my coach this year.”

Next year, Cardoza and the Owls return three starters – junior guards LaKeisha Eaddy and Kristie Watkins-Day and freshman forward Kristen McCarthy. Sophomore guards Lindsay Kimmel and Shaqwedia Wallace, as well as junior forward Jasmine Stone, all key contributors off the bench, will be back as well.

All will have one year of new coaching and a new offensive system under their belts.

“Like Shenita said, Coach has instilled a lot of confidence in all of us. Everybody on the team is going to take that confidence and grow as players,” Eaddy said. “Unlike Shenita, I do have another year with her, and I’m in a new position, so I’m going to take whatever she tells me and try to be a leader.”

While Cardoza’s first NCAA Tournament game at the coaching helm didn’t end quite the way she wanted it to, a 21-10 record, second-place finish in the A-10 Conference and an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament are nothing to complain about. Most experienced coaches would take that.

“I never thought that I’d have the type of season that I had,” Cardoza said. “You know, it’s difficult when you take over a program, especially at Temple, when you have Dawn Staley, a legend, and all these kids came to play for her. For them to open up and let down their walls, and let me in and give me a chance, I definitely credit them for that.”

Jennifer Reardon can be reached at jennifer.reardon@temple.edu.

Owls end Xavier’s perfect conference record with upset

The women’s basketball team hasn’t lost a home conference game in over three years. Xavier hasn’t lost an Atlantic Ten Conference game this season.

Something had to give.

The Owls didn’t budge as they defended their home court by upsetting Xavier 74-65 Wednesday night at the Liacouras Center.

“It was big because it keeps us alive,” first-year coach Tonya Cardoza said of her team’s upset of the No. 13 Musketeers. “We knew our backs were up against the wall. I think we put ourselves in a good position for post-season play.”

While the Owls are looking forward to playing in March, it was a bittersweet win for the Owls as two of their seniors played their last games on their home court.

It was Senior Night for forwards Shenita Landry and Shanea Cotton. Landry leads the team in scoring and rebounding while also ranking 30th in the nation in rebounding. Cotton leads the team in blocks this season.

“I don’t know if I could tell my teammates thank you enough,” Cotton, who is in her second season for the Owls, said.

Temple (19-8, 10-3 A-10) came out firing in the first half as they hit six three-pointers, shooting 50 percent behind the arc. The Musketeers made only three from behind the line and the Owls went to the locker room with a 14 point lead and upset on their minds.

Xavier (24-5, 12-1 A-10) showed why they were undefeated in the conference by not going away easily. The Musketeers opened the second half with a 13-4 run, cutting the Owls lead to five.

With the game still up in the air, sophomore guard Lindsay Kimmel took over. The reserve player hit a three-pointer to put the Owls up by 12 with under ten minutes to go. Xavier cut the lead in half with 7:30 to play but it was Kimmel who again had the answer. She responded with another three-pointer to put Temple up by nine, and for good.

“They were focusing on the big guys so that left an opening for me,” said Kimmel who hit all three of her three-point attempts finishing with 9 points.

The win marks the Owls 21st straight home A-10 victory. Temple hasn’t lost a home conference game since falling to George Washington three years and a day ago. The crowd of 746 erupted in celebration as the clock struck zero and stormed the court.

“The court and home advantage is really important,” said Landry who finished with 14 points.

Landry wasn’t on the court for the final horn as she fouled out with less than four minutes remaining but she’ll gladly cheer on her teammates if it means a win.

“It really bothered me but everyone else held it together,” she said.

Landry is talking about the bench including Kimmel and junior forward Jasmine Stone who added 7 points. Sophomore guard Qwedia Wallace played 28 minutes off the bench and scored 18 points with 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals.

“I thought our bench did a great job,” Cardoza said. “It’s good for them to be in this type of game.”

The Owls will be in another one of these battles Sunday afternoon when they wrap up regular season play against rival George Washington. Charlotte, who is ranked second in the conference, defeated the Colonials tonight 59-57.

That win now moves Temple into sole possession of third place in the A-10.

“It’s a definitely a game we have to win,” Cardoza said of Sunday’s contest. “I think we know that. It’s a must-win game if we want to go to post-season play.”

Pete Dorchak can be reached at pete.dorchak@temple.edu.

Midseason makeovers underway

While the rest of Temple’s 34,000-plus student body got a month off for winter break, the women’s basketball team was busy playing seven games.

And while the team went 5-2, including 4-2 on a six-game road trip, its lineup suffered some bad breaks along the way.

Junior guard Kristie Watkins-Day hasn’t seen game action since the Dec. 10 contest against Toledo, and backup point guard BJ Williams was on crutches before Wednesday’s game versus Rhode Island.
That brings the lineup rotation down to only nine players.

But luckily for the Owls, the team’s role players have picked up their games at the right time.

“A lot of teams are focusing in on Shenita [Landry] and Shanea [Cotton] now and looking to double team them because they know that’s a big part of our offense,” coach Tonya Cardoza said, “but I thought all those guys, Kristen [McCarthy], Lindsay [Kimmel] and Keisha [Eaddy] have been doing a really good job of making themselves available and knocking down open shots. Once you’re knocking down open shots, it’s going to be hard to guard us.”

Senior forwards Landry and Cotton continue to pace the offense, with Landry averaging 13 points per game to go along with Cotton’s 12.7. Earlier in the season, the two accounted for just about 40 percent of the offense. During the past seven games, however, it’s been sophomore guards Shaqwedia Wallace, Kimmel and freshman forward McCarthy who’ve picked up the slack.

In her first game back following a thumb injury, Wallace dropped 26 points in a 65-56 loss to Villanova Dec. 20. She’s also taken over the backup point guard duties while Williams is out.

Kimmel got out of her early season funk by hitting six 3-pointers versus Tulane in a 75-71 overtime win on Dec. 28. She followed up that performance with a career-high 22 points against Rhode Island on Wednesday.

“It’s about time [I did that],” Kimmel said. “I think it’s just being more consistent and following through into the game. Like Coach said, being more focused on the actual shot itself. The first few games my head wasn’t where it needed to be, but it’s A-10 now, and I’m getting focused.”

McCarthy has added 9.3 points per game and 5.5 rebounds since entering the starting lineup on Jan. 2 against Penn. She had her first career double-double on Wednesday.

“One of the biggest things we need to do, and we told Shenita and Shanea this, is that they need to try and get double-doubles,” Cardoza said. “And Kristen’s seen when Shanea isn’t able to get some rebounds or do something, and she’s gotten herself in there.”

All five starters scored in double figures in Wednesday’s Atlantic Ten home opener. Four players currently average double digits. The Owls will need that kind of scoring balance going forward in the A-10 with their lack of depth on the bench.

“We don’t want anybody to get that [title] over us,” Kimmel said. “We feel that it belongs to us, and we need to get it back. We’re still hungry because we’ve had so many close games.”

Those close games haven’t just come because of the role players’ abilities to step up on the offensive side of the ball. They’ve also picked up their defensive presence in their teammates’ absences, as opponents have averaged only 66.7 points per game during the seven-game stretch over break. That number is slightly skewed because of Temple’s 87-52 loss to No. 5 Duke on Jan. 5.

“A lot of teams have been scoring on us, and it’s more so that we’ve just allowed people to come right at us,” Cardoza said. “We needed to get back to what we were doing early on in the season, being aggressive and getting up in people’s faces and denying passes.”

If the role players can continue their progression, the women could be playing straight through another break: spring break.

“This time [of year] really sets you up for the [NCAA] Tournament,” Landry said. “And that’s our goal.”

Jennifer Reardon can be reached at jennifer.reardon@temple.edu.

Student-athletes enjoy semi-break

After final exams, most students packed their bags and headed home, but for some student-athletes, winter break brought heavier workouts and more time on the courts.

For men’s and women’s basketball players, winter break is a time when they can take a break from academics, but time on the court is extended.

Players spent approximately six hours a day practicing, which included training, film watching, working on the court, lifting and participating in other forms of treatment to improve their games.

“To be able to do something that I love and not have to worry about school work is wonderful,” said freshman BTMM major Kristen McCarthy, who is a forward for the women’s basketball team. “Practices get intense depending upon when our next game is, and we have to be here the entire break except two days – Christmas Eve and Christmas day.”

Other winter sports like fencing, gymnastics and track and field, allowed athletes a chance to take some time off, schedule permitting, but their breaks were also cut short to return to practice.

While teams’ records indicate the harder an athlete works, the better his or her results, winter break practices cut into time spent with family and friends and leave little time for student athletes to go home and celebrate the holidays.

“It’s hard not to see your relatives and eat those special home cooked meals,” said Lindsay Kimmel, a guard and sophomore university studies major. “There just isn’t that mental break time I would like to have with my family and friends.”

Being a student athlete may take a toll on the mind and body, but taking time off is not an option.

“We train year round: fall, spring and summer,” Kimmel said. “But basketball gets my mind off of the stresses of being a student, and the hard work I put into it is definitely worth it.”

Women’s and men’s basketball routines are strict, and the days seem to blend together.

Temple basketball players are limited to six consecutive practice days, which vary in intensity depending on when games are scheduled.

“Even though it’s rough sometimes to see teammates miss their homes and get caught in the basketball routine, it becomes a part of our lives and not much a problem anymore when we stick together,” said Ryan Brooks, a junior advertising major and guard for the men’s basketball team.

Though most students went home for the holidays, 1300 residence hall and the Edge were filled with the chatter of student-athletes fulfilling their duties and demonstrating a commitment to their teams.

“Temple University is known for its rich history in basketball, and we all take pride in representing Temple,” Brooks said. “We work day in and day out to keep the success alive.”

Monica Sellecchia can be reached at monica@temple.edu.

Owls school Rhode Island in Atlantic Ten home opener

It’s been exactly five weeks since the women’s basketball team played a game at the Liacouras Center.
And while the Owls (10-5, 2-0 A-10) went 4-2 on their recent six-game road trip, today’s home cooking was certainly nice, as they beat Rhode Island (7-9, 0-1 A-10) 95-48 in their Atlantic Ten home opener and School Day.
“It was very nice coming home, but I actually forgot that we had to go around and shake hands after the game because it’s been so long since we’ve been here,” coach Tonya Cardoza said.
Temple is now 7-0 all time on School Day.
“It’s nice to have a crowd,” sophomore guard Lindsay Kimmel said. “When we go other places and they have huge crowds, we wish we could get more people in. So when the environment is packed, it gets everybody on the team excited.”
And it showed, as the Owls started out on a roll, opening the game on an 8-0 run that lasted the first four minutes of the game. Once the Rams responded with a basket, Temple followed up with another run, this time 11-0. They closed out the half by scoring 17 of the last 19 points for a 51-18 lead.
“At halftime I just told them that it’s a new ballgame,” Cardoza said. “And we’ve been talking about playing 40 good minutes of basketball for a while now.”
The offense was fueled by seven first half 3-pointers, four by Kimmel, and 20 points in the paint, as the Owls outrebounded the Rams 26-15 in the first half and 50-29 overall.
Kimmel, freshman forward Kristen McCarthy and senior forward Shenita Landry all finished the game with new career highs, scoring 22, 19 and 19 points respectively. All five starters scored in double figures.
Temple ended the game with 11 3-pointers, one shy of the school record. Kimmel tied her personal best in the category with six.
“Lindsay has opportunities, but today I think she was a little more focused,” Cardoza said. “Sometimes she has shots and is just looking to see if it goes in, but today she shot them knowing that they were going in. Once Lindsay started making shots, they kept finding her and making sure she made even more.”
But besides the offensive barrage, the Owls’ defense held Rhode Island’s leading scorer, sophomore guard Megan Shoniker, who entered the game averaging 11.8 points per game, scoreless until 9:17 left in the game. She finished with five points.
The Rams as a whole shot under 25 percent from the field in the first half, finishing at 26.2 percent and committing 14 turnovers. Temple, on the other hand, shot lights out, connecting on almost 60 percent of its shots.
“A lot of teams have been scoring on us. It’s more just that we’ve allowed people to come right at us instead of having a defensive presence,” Cardoza said. “The last two games we were able to stop their leading scorers from scoring. We don’t want their best players to get their averages.”
The Owls built their lead to as large as 47 points and had an opportunity to go for 100 for the first time since 1994 versus Rutgers.
“When I used to be an assistant coach, whenever you had an opportunity to score 100 points we would always be like, ‘Yeah, let’s get 100,’ Cardoza said. “But as a head coach that’s something you don’t ever want to do. You don’t want to try to embarrass your opponent. I was happy that we didn’t get it. But it was still an unbelievable win for us.”
Jennifer Reardon can be reached at jennifer.reardon@temple.edu.