Nov. 4, 2005

The Tulsa Golden Hurricane women's basketball program sails into a new era both on and off the court in 2005-06. TU begins its first season under Head Coach Charlene Thomas-Swinson, who took over the reins of the Golden Hurricane when she was introduced as the ninth head coach in school history on May 20, 2005, and, after spending its last nine seasons in the Western Athletic Conference, Tulsa begins its first season as a member of Conference USA.

Over the past four years, the Golden Hurricane has produced 69 victories, including back-to-back 19-win seasons, 42 conference wins, two postseason tournament appearances and received votes for five straight weeks last season in the top-25 polls. The Golden Hurricane women's program begins just its 10th season of existence in 2005-06, and is one of the up-and-coming programs in the nation.

TU is coming off a 19-11 season and its second straight postseason Women's National Invitation Tournament (WNIT) appearance. The Golden Hurricane posted its second consecutive third-place finish during its final season in the WAC with a record of 11-7.

Tulsa has been tough to beat at home over the last two seasons with a 31-12 home record and has turned the Reynolds Center into an opponent's nightmare. The Hurricane posted a 12-1 home record a year ago, which included wins over Southwest Missouri State, Georgia Tech, SMU and NCAA Tournament teams Rice and Louisiana Tech.

Thomas-Swinson inherits a senior-laden team with ample experience, but short on numbers with just 11 players suiting up this season. The Hurricane line-up features 10 returning letterwinners, including four starters, and one newcomer for the 2005-06 campaign. The Tulsa offensive returns 79-percent of its scoring offense and 66-percent of its rebounding corps.

Leading the way for the Golden Hurricane will be returning starters, Tandem Mays, Megan Moody, Kara Pongonis and Jillian Robbins. Also returning are veterans Dana Idlet, Emily Jaskowiak, Chivis Merriweather, RyAnne Ridge, LeAnn Upshaw and TaTanisha Wagoner. Making her college debut in a Golden Hurricane uniform this season is the team's lone newcomer, freshman Jamie Dreiling.

As with most new coaches, Thomas-Swinson will change up Tulsa's style of play with her own philosophy, which are the triangle offense and the hard-nosed match-up zone on defense. Part of this season's success will hinge on how quickly the Golden Hurricane can adapt to its new offensive and defensive schemes.

Backcourt
TU's backcourt will feature six players, each of which will spend time playing in different roles in the offense. The Hurricane returns three players who have received significant playing time during their careers.

Competing for the starting job as the point guard will be the trio of Pongonis, Mays and Upshaw. Together these three players have combined to play in 221 games with 136 starts.

Pongonis returns for her final season as the school's career three-point field goal leader with 153. A 5'5" sharpshooter, Pongonis has connected on 125 treys over the last two seasons and has recorded at least one three-pointer in 60 career games, and has 25 games with three or more treys. She ranks fifth among TU's career leaders for assists (194) and three-point field goal percentage (.352) and is fourth for free throw percentage (.811). Last season, Pongonis averaged 8.7 points, 2.7 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game and scored in double figures in 12 games, including a career-best 24 points at Santa Clara. She has started 61 of 88 career games, and will likely split time this season as a point- and shooting-guard positions.

A 5'8" junior, Mays turned in the best season of her two-year career last season. She averaged 7.7 points, 3.6 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game while starting 20 of 30 contests. Mays registered nine games with six or more assists last season and dished out a career-best 11 assists against SMU at home. She reached double figures in 10 games, including a career-high 21 points in the season opener against Texas-San Antonio. Mays, who has started 37 of 61 games and already ranks seventh among the school's career assists leaders with 167, will play both at the point guard spot or as a shooting guard this season.

Upshaw is a 5'7" senior, who started 12 of 20 games a year ago, but missed the final nine games, and 10 games overall, due to suspension for violation of team policy. Prior to her suspension, Upshaw averaged 2.7 points, 3.6 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game. She grabbed a career-best 10 rebounds against Hawaii and connected on 6-of-8 free throw attempts to help TU down Oklahoma. Upshaw has started 38 of 73 career games and ranks 11th among the school's career assists leaders with 139.

Tulsa's remaining trio of Ridge, Merriweather and Dreiling will all split time at shooting guard, while Merriweather and Dreiling will see playing time at the small forward spot as well.

A 5'11" sophomore, Ridge missed the first seven games of the year with an injury before coming back to play in 22 games with four starts. She averaged just 1.5 points and 1.8 rebounds per game, but proved to a valuable asset with her passing and her ability to get the ball inside to TU's post players. Ridge dished out a career-high seven assists at Fresno State and registered a career-high seven points against Rice at home.

Merriweather is a 5'11" junior, who was forced to miss the final 11 games of the year with an injury. Prior to her injury, she played in 10 contests and managed a 1.0 per game scoring average. When she is healthy, Merriweather is a productive three-point shooter, hitting 48-percent of her attempts for her career, and she earned valuable playing time as a freshman because of her defensive abilities.

A 6'2" freshman, Dreiling was a four-year letterwinner at Rio Vista (TX) High School, and concluded her career with 2,207 career points and grabbed 856 rebounds, to go along with 497 assists and 403 steals. She produced career averages of 17.8 points, 6.9 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 3.3 steals per game, and shot 43.2 percent from the field and 69-percent from the free-throw line. During her senior campaign, she averaged 26.4 points, 7.9 rebounds, 5.9 assists and 4.0 steals per contest, and shot 47-percent from the field and 75.9 percent from the foul line. Dreiling was named to the Texas Basketball Magazine first team and to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram all-area and all-region teams.

Frontcourt
Tulsa's frontcourt is loaded with experience and versatility, and should be one of the strengths of this year's team. TU returns five players inside the paint, which accounted for 50-percent of TU scoring offense a year ago. In the Hurricane's new offensive sets, three of TU's five returners will play multiple positions this season.

Returning to her familiar role as a power forward for the Golden Hurricane is Robbins, who is a 2005-06 All-America candidate and a two-time all-conference first team selection and all-league defensive team performer.

Robbins (6'1") is TU's top returning scorer (18.3), rebounder (9.9), steals leader (2.5) and blocks shot leader (2.5). She also led the team in field goals (199), field goal attempts (361), field goal percentage (.551), free throws (150) and free throw attempts (213) last season. Robbins produced 550 points during her sophomore campaign, which is the second-best single season point total in school history. She reached double figures in 23 games, including three straight contests with 30 or more points, and registered 16 double-doubles. Robbins begins her junior season needing 45 points to reach the 1,000-point plateau, and is just 90 rebounds shy of becoming the school's career leader. She has played in 59 games with 49 starts.

This season, Robbins will see action at her usual power forward spot, or the Hurricane will take advantage of her excellent vertical leap and quick rebounding ability inside as a center.

Joining Robbins either has a forward or center in the TU line-up is Jaskowiak (6'1"), who has played in 76 games with 11 starts. Last season, she missed the first seven games with an early-season injury, but she returned and played in 23 contests and averaged 5.5 points and 3.4 rebounds per outing. She connected on 52-percent of her field goal attempts and was an 80-percent free throw shooter. Jaskowiak is a proven veteran and averaged 8.0 points and 6.0 rebounds during her last full season in 2003-04.

Moody (6'2") will be TU's "swingman" this season, as she will alternate between the forward and guard spots. Moody, who has started 54 of 88 games, will see action as a small forward or in the guard rotation. Last season, she averaged 11.0 points, 5.1 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.4 blocks per game, and drained 49 three-pointers. She enters her final season ranked fourth among TU's three-point leaders with 109 and is the school's third leading shot blocker with 95. Moody has reached double figures in 34 career games and has one career double-double.

The Hurricane will use a true center in its line-up this season and the two leading candidates for the starting job are Wagoner and Idlet.

Wagoner (6'1") has battled injuries the last two years and will look to put together her first full season since her sophomore campaign. A year ago, she played in six games before an injury forced her into a red-shirt season. Her best season came as a sophomore in 2002-03 when she averaged 3.0 points and 2.0 rebounds per game, while seeing action in 27 contests and earning eight starting assignments. Wagoner has played in 59 career games.

Idlet (6'4") is TU's tallest player and should see significant playing time this season. Last season as a freshman, Idlet played sparingly on a post-heavy team, and averaged 1.5 points in 13 games. Although she averaged just 2.4 minutes per game, she did make the most of her opportunities, connecting on 8-of-13 field goals for 62-percent and nailing all four of her free throw attempts.

The Schedule
The 2005-06 schedule features seven 2005 postseason teams and 14 total home games. Tulsa will meet four 2005 NCAA Tournament teams, including Florida State, cross-town rival Oral Roberts and Conference USA members Rice and Houston. The Hurricane will also battle three 2005 postseason WNIT squads, including Arkansas, Missouri State (formerly known as Southwest Missouri State) and SMU. Among TU's home dates are match-ups with Florida State, Oral Roberts, UMKC and Stephen F. Austin, as well as eight Conference USA home games and two exhibition contests.

What to Expect
Although short on numbers, the Golden Hurricane has a solid corps of players to make a title run during its first season in Conference USA. The Hurricane must quickly adapt to its new offensive and defensive styles and stay away from injuries in order to have a successful season.

Tulsa will once again set its sights on a conference title and returning to postseason play for the third straight year.

One of the biggest questions about Tulsa is the point guard position. TU is without a true point guard, so for the second straight season a number of players will platoon the position. Last season, Mays spent a majority of the year leading the offense, but Upshaw and Pongonis could spell her more this season.

The Conference USA race could boil down to familiar favorites for TU. The Hurricane, along with SMU and Rice, could be among the top five teams in the new league at the conclusion of conference play. However, there is a lot of uncertainty with so many new teams. Tulsa will face six first-team meetings against conference rivals this season and will make its first-ever trip to four different sites.

Finally, the Hurricane will need to find away to avoid the February let downs that have plagued the team over the past three seasons. Tulsa must find consistency throughout the year in order to make a huge splash in C-USA during its inaugural season. TU has been on the cusp of the NCAA Tournament the last two seasons and would like nothing more than to reach one of the ultimate team goals during its first season under Thomas-Swinson.