Laurie Pirtle has a pretty simple explanation for her Cincinnati Bearcats winning the Conference USA regular season last year: Hard work.
As the Bearcats get underway this year, little has changed in Pirtle’s approach.
‘‘I put up my hand with the (conference championship) ring and say, ‘This doesn’t come easily, and you’re not going to get one just because you won last year.’ It’s all about work ethic.’’
Pirtle earned C-USA Coach of the Year honors last year as her team won the league title with a 12-4 record before ending the 22-9 season in the NCAA Tournament.
UC has a void to fill in the frontcourt with the departures of forwards Doris Scott and Amber Stocks.
‘‘We lost eight years of experience in the four and five spot. Losing that is hard to replace,’’ Pirtle said. ‘‘We have scorers and rebounders, just young ones.’’
Portia Flournoy, a redshirt sophomore, and sophomore Laura Wilder figure to start in the post. But freshmen Candice Holley and Denise Dunlap and senior Nikki Groeber are also competing for playing time in the paint.
It could be frontcourt-by-committee, but Pirtle is hoping someone puts it all together. ‘‘All five of them have different strengths,’’ she said. The backcourt is a different story. Led by 1998-99 C-USA first-teamer Medinah Slaise, the guards are set to carry the load. Joining Slaise as starters are senior Candice Roberson and junior Katrina Merriweather, with sophomore Tish Perry and freshmen Kristen Sharp providing depth.
‘‘I think the thing that’s helping us now is that the backcourt gets to see the ball first, whether it’s offensively or defensively,’’ Pirtle said. ‘‘That helps adjustment time in the frontcourt.’’
Slaise, who led the Bearcats with 19.7 points per game last season, will vie for Player of the Year honors in C-USA this season. ‘‘She’s going to get a lot of attention,’’ Pirtle said. ‘‘She’s just tough to guard because she’s a great scorer who can score in so many ways.’’
The development of UC’s inside game will be important to keep some of the defensive pressure away from Slaise. But that young frontcourt will get tested early.
UC opens against Wisconsin-Green Bay, an NCAA Tournament team, and also plays Michigan, Pittsburgh and Dayton before facing crosstown rival Xavier.
‘‘We’re going to have to come out and play hard everyday,‘ Slaise said. ‘‘It’s one of the toughest schedules we’ve had.’’
