LARAMIE — The University of Wyoming women’s basketball team is spending this week studying for finals.
At the same time, the UW coaches have been studying the best way to overcome the loss of junior guard Kristen Scheffler, who will miss the rest of the season because of her continuing back problems.
And the simple answer to this test is that everybody is going to have to step up — from the seniors to the sophomores.
“We need our sophomore group to step up and help out our senior class,” UW coach Joe Legerski said. “And you look to your senior class that it’s their time that they should be able to accomplish more things on the basketball court.”
First up last Saturday was sophomore forward Chaundra Sewell, who scored a career-best 23 points and had eight rebounds in her first career start. Fellow sophomores Bec Campigli and Ashley Sickles also played well off the bench in the 68-55 win over Idaho.
Legerski said Wednesday that Sewell and Campigli likely would rotate as the team’s fifth starter, depending on the strengths of the opposition. Senior starters Aubrey Vandiver, Hillary Carlson, Jade Kennedy and Randi Richardson also could play different roles each game, again depending on the opposition.
“Aubrey’s the player that allows us to make changes on the floor,” Legerski said. “If we want to play Chaundra, Aubrey can play the two-guard and Chaundra slides to the three. If we want to play Rebecca Campigli, Rebecca can go in at the two and Aubrey can slide to the three. Aubrey’s the key that we can adjust her position on the floor.
“That’s why we make sure we try to have as many players as we can who can play multiple positions on the floor, so we can make changes instead of being locked into one position.”
Legerski said the biggest challenge for his team with all the changes likely comes on the defensive end, with more assignments getting switched.
Vandiver agreed: “We all have to shore up defensively. Me, personally, I feel like I have to do a better job defensively. I think all around we have to work on our defense to make up for that, because Kristen was so athletic.”
One player who likely won’t be asked to change her role is Sickles. The 6-foot-1 sophomore, who missed last season with a knee injury, is still learning her way at the post.
“We’re going to leave Ashley at the five, but what we may have to do is move Hillary to the four,” Legerski said.
If UW fans didn’t believe Legerski when he said before the season that this year’s nonconference schedule was the toughest since he’s been in Laramie, early RPI returns more than back up his claim.
According to , the Cowgirls (5-2) are ranked No. 54, third-best in the Mountain West Conference behind only BYU (46) and New Mexico (50).
