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Waitress · Joined: 01 Mar 2007 Posts: 12021 Location: Chambana

I underestimated myself:

DAVIDSON WOMEN MAKE GIANT LEAP SINCE 0-25 SEASON
Charlotte Observer February 25, 1986B
Author/Byline: GLENN ROLLINS, Staff Writer Section: SPORTSPage: 1B

In the two seasons before this one, Davidson`s women`s basketball team won more games by forfeit (two) than it did by playing (one).

But that changed this winter when record-setting 5-10 freshman Lavetta Dawkins of Charlotte`s Independence High led the Wildcats to a 10-8 record that represents a turnaround similar to that of Davidson`s men`s team. And both teams` success harkens to the Holland era.

The men are enjoying their first winning season since 1974, the last season for current Virginia coach Terry Holland.

The women have completed their first winning season almost since Mrs. Terry Holland, Ann, had a 10-7 record as a volunteer coach in the school`s first season of women`s basketball. That also was 1974. In 1975, the women had another winning mark (8-3) under several volunteer coaches, including current soccer coach Charlie Slagle.

But since then, as with the men`s program, there had not been much reason to be wild for the cats. Not until Patty Daley came on the scene two years ago.

Daley, a field hockey coach by trade, arrived from Hollins (Va.) College to take a dual job that carried a field hockey/basketball description. And while she was enduring records of 0-25 the first year and 3-18 the second (counting two wins by forfeit), she was doing something about it.

``We`re nonscholarship,`` said Daley, ``so I think it was just a matter of me getting out and looking a little more than they had in the past.``

She liked what she saw, especially at Independence. As a junior, Dawkins had played on a Southwestern 4A Conference- and district-championship team that advanced to the state quarterfinals. Her senior year was marred by injuries, but last summer she made the Junior Olympics all-state team and helped win a tournament in Atlanta.

In Dawkins`s first year at Davidson, she set school records by averaging 21.2 points and 11.1 rebounds and 3.1 blocked shots per game. She was recruited by scholarship programs at Furman, Wake Forest and Eastern Kentucky, but she had other ideas.

``There`s nothing to do in basketball after school,`` she said, ``so I wanted a place where my education wouldn`t be dependent on basketball. I also wanted to have lots of fun with basketball, and that`s what we`ve had.``

Daley also got a transfer from Brandeis in 5-9 Jen Artman, who averaged 18.6 points and 6.9 rebounds this season. The other newcomer was Sara Whitesides, a freshman from Stockton, Calif., who became the team`s playmaker. Rounding out the first five were two returning starters: 5-10 junior Heather McKee (12.8 points, 7.3 rebounds); and senior guard Amy Hartman (7.4 points).

Pam Harmann (6.8, 5.9) also started nine games, Beth Elder was a top frontcourt reserve, and Debbie Adams and Wendy Fulks added spark.

Davidson is technically Division I, but its schedule has been downgraded somewhat to include more Division II and III teams, which also helped the winning record. A task force will recommend this year the direction the
program will take.

Whatever, things have improved dramatically from two seasons ago, when the winless Wildcats were beaten by an average score of 94-37.

This winter, they won by an average of 69-62. And they finished with three straight victories, including the championship of the Meredith Tournament in Raleigh, where they beat St. Mary`s 65-42 and Warren Wilson 76-67.

Dawkins, fittingly, was the most valuable player.

citation: ROLLINS, GLENN. "DAVIDSON WOMEN MAKE GIANT LEAP SINCE 0-25 SEASON," Charlotte Observer, The (NC), February 25, 1986: 1B, accessed January 27, 2018, http://infoweb.newsbank.com/resources/doc/nb/news/0EB6C00E2378DAB6?p=AWNB.
_________________
That didnâ€™t happen.
And if it did, it wasnâ€™t that bad.
And if it was, thatâ€™s not a big deal.
And if it is, thatâ€™s not my fault.
And if it was, I didnâ€™t mean it.
And if I didâ€¦
You deserved it.

~Tip well.

catnhat · Joined: 14 May 2007 Posts: 6397 Location: Asheboro, NC

Ed Whitesides '83 pitched for DC and is now a doctor in Wilmington. He was from Stockton, CA, so I assume Sara is his sister.

Edit: I think Barb Whitesides ('82?), Ed's wife, is an occasional poster here.

Waitress · Joined: 01 Mar 2007 Posts: 12021 Location: Chambana

citycat · Joined: 01 Dec 2005 Posts: 8708 Location: charlotte, nc

Great work, Waitress! That answers the question. We had no scholarships in women's sports through '85-'86.

I didn't remember that article about our team, but I remember a longer article about Lavetta Dawkins that might have been earlier or later and inferred from that article she was on scholarship. She was good enough to merit one.

The decision on the direction of the program was to kill it and add volleyball. Soccer might have been added then, too. We started the field hockey team in the mid-70s.