Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Burrell conditioning for a big year

Siena hosted their women's basketball media day today.

Head coach Gina Castelli called senior guard Shondaya Burrell, the "face of the program."

I thought it was a little strange that she wasn't named a co-captain then with fellow senior Heather Stec.

Still, I digress.

Burrell was very optimistic about the upcoming season, seeing as the Saints are coming off of a 11-18 year and they lost 50 percent of their scoring when Laura Menty (19.1 points per game) and Melissa Manzer (13.3) graduated.

Burrell said she is in great shape coming into the year, after running hills in Lincoln Park with her father and boxing in her uncle's gym during the summer.

Burrell had knee surgery in Sept. 2007 and had to miss three and a half weeks of conditioning, but she feels like the increased running and boxing will help her.

“It worked a lot of different muscles that I didn’t know I had,” said Burrell of the boxing. “Boxing is totally different than basketball.”

Burrell said her games has changed drastically since she was a freshman, thanks to Castelli.

“When I was in high school, I was drive, drive, drive,” said Burrell, who played locally at Colonie High School. “When I came here, Coach Castelli sat me down and talked to me about being an all-around good player…I think from high school to now, my jump shot has gotten better, I drive with a lot more urgency, my rebounding is a lot stronger — so I think everything has become so much better because Coach Castelli has really led me in the right direction.”

Castelli said she is confident that Burrell can give the team a leadership type player, but she needs to do it on more of a consistent basis.

“I think she wants that type of notoriety in a sense,” Castelli said. “She’s shown, last year, that she was able to put us on her shoulders.”

Burrell said the team also did a lot of training in the pool, which was difficult for her because she's not the greatest swimmer.

“She’s fast on the court, that’s all that matters,” said Stec, who added that she tried to help Shondaya with her swimming technique.

Stec is back, after missing the first 10 games of last year because of a broken metatarsal bone in her foot.

Stec said that she wears orthotics in her shoes, even when she's not on the court.

The Saints open Friday, Nov. 14, against Syracuse and Castelli's former assistant coach Quentin Hillsman, who led the Orange to a 22-9 record last season and a spot in the NCAA Tournament.

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