APSU Sports Information
Clarksville, TN – First-year head coach David Midlick will get an opportunity to see the results of 32 days of practice when Austin Peay State University women’s basketball team faces Kentucky Wesleyan in a 5:15pm, Thursday exhibition contest at the Dunn Center.
In the 32 days since, the team has put in plenty of work on both ends of the court as Midlick has worked to instill new philosophies on both offense and defense. Thursday’s tilt will give Midlick an opportunity to evaluate his team’s progress.
“We’ve worked hard on both sides of the ball – on offense and defense,” said Midlick. “Offensively, I’m looking for us to get a good shot at the basket with our players that need to take shots. We have in mind the kind of shot distribution we want each player to take and we want to see how close we can get to that Thursday.
“Defensively, we’ve fouled way too much throughout these four weeks. We’ve also given up too many offensive rebounds in practice. As a coaching staff, we’ve made an effort to emphasize improvement in those two things.”
Senior guard Tiasha Gray, a Preseason OVC Player of the Year pick in some circles, will necessarily attract the most attention in Thursday’s exhibition. Yet Austin Peay returns four starters and 11 letterwinners from a team that averaged 70.3 points per game – the best scoring average since 2002-03.
However, Midlick has seen Austin Peay battle the injury bug during the preseason. Rarely have all 14 players been available for a practice and the team will not be at full strength for the exhibition with four players expected to miss the contest.
“You want to have all your pieces there,” Midlick said. “The players want to play, they want to be healthy and be out there. The ones that are back on the court are excited to be there. Having everyone healthy also allows them to play in their natural position.”
About Kentucky Wesleyan
The Owensboro, Kentucky based Panthers return four starters from last season’s team that posted a 20-8 overall record and 13-3 mark in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference. Kentucky Wesleyan was picked to finish second in the GMAC this season as second-team All-GMAC selection Jennifer Walker-Crawford returns.
“[Kentucky Wesleyan] is a team that won 20 games last season and has four starters back. We’ve watched some film on them and I’ve been impressed with how they play. We emphasize needing to be ready to play whether we’re in practice or in a game. We’ve got a great test tomorrow. [Kentucky Wesleyan] will let us know from playing that game where we stand and what we need to work on,” stated Midlick.
Catch It Live
Thursday’s exhibition contest will be available on the OVC Digital Network, available free on any digital device.
In addition, live statistics for the contest will be available at www.PeayStats.com
