‘Becoming a force’
Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2008 @ 1:38 am
Wolf Pack center using size, seeing more playing time in the post
Nevada women’s basketball center Sabrina Keys bounced to the baseline Saturday and nailed a 20-foot jumper, exploiting the Vandals’ zone defense and displaying her improved left leg.
Keys has had a myriad of injuries throughout her basketball career, including a hyperextension in her leg.
“Mentally (I’m 100 percent healthy), but physically I’m not,” the sixth-year senior said. “The pain just comes with basketball. It’s part of the game. I have to play through it.”
Keys and the Wolf Pack won their 18th game of the season Saturday 68-48 against Idaho, exceeding coach Kim Gervasoni’s highest win total set last season with 17. It’s also the first time Nevada has won 18 games since joining the Western Athletic Conference in 2000.
Keys’ increased playing time, after rehabilitating the first half of the season from a meniscus injury in her left leg, has provided Nevada with a low post presence.
“She’s becoming a force for us,” Gervasoni said of Keys. “It was our strategy (to hold off on starting her). Our goal was to have her 100 percent by conference play. She wasn’t ready at the beginning of the season.”
Keys got her first start Feb. 9 at Hawaii after not starting the first 22 games of the season. She capitalized by tying her career-high 15 points at Hawaii.
Keys added 11 points Saturday, shooting 5 of 6 from the field. The 23-year-old sociology major scored the first four points of the game, enabling the Pack in its 20-6 start.
Keys’ most important job was stifling the strong play of Idaho’s Katie Madison. Madison shot 1-of-4 from the field in the first half, but when Nevada rested Keys in the second half Madison bullied Nevada by getting to the line for eight free throws and scoring 12 points.
Nevada has had trouble this season with match-ups down low. Keys’ replacement is Marianne Lombardi who is two inches shorter than the 6-foot-3 Keys.
Nevada’s height disadvantaged is highlighted in its negative 4.8 rebounding margin.
The Pack can no longer wait for Keys’ injuries to heal because, with only four games left in the season, the Pack needs Keys’ size and experience right now, Gervasoni said.
Injuries aren’t new to Keys, though. She has been plagued by injuries since transferring from Purdue.
She red shirted her first year at Nevada after hyperextending an anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee
“The injuries started to pile up after the ACL,” Gervasoni said. “(And because) she’s older.”
She transferred to Nevada in 2005. In two years at Purdue she went to an Elite Eight in 2003 and a Sweet Sixteen in 2004. She is the only member of the Pack with NCAA tournament experience.
Three of Nevada’s final four games are on the road at Utah State, New Mexico State and Louisiana Tech. The Pack returns home for its final game of the season, March 8, against first place Fresno State. The Bulldogs are a game and a half ahead of Nevada. The Pack lost 81-49 at Fresno State Jan. 31.
Nevada’s 80-69 loss to Boise State Thursday knocked the Pack to third place in the WAC standings. The win gives the Broncos the tie breaking edge if the Pack catches them in the standings.
Nevada heads to Utah State on Thursday.
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© 2008 The Nevada Sagebrush
February 22nd, 2008 at 8:05 pm
Way to persevere through all your injuries. Good luck in the final stretch. Great to have two good basketball teams on campus.