Lady Bison charge into championship with a 13-game win streak
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Lady Bison coach Juan Perez sat inside his office at the Joe McDonald Health and Fitness Center Thursday afternoon flipping through the pages of UConn coach Geno Auriemma’s biography searching for a couple of hints to help prepare his team for their American Indian Higher Education Consortium National Basketball Championship title defense.
Auriemma is one of the few women coaches who has had more success than Perez, and while the Salish Kootenai College Lady Bison’s current streak of 13 wins is nowhere near the Lady Huskies’ 72-win streak, the Lady Bison have dominated the other AIHEC teams and are poised to win their third AIHEC title in the past four years.
After watching his team drain 14 3-pointers and score 107 points in the regular-season finale against Northwest Indian College, Perez said his team is peaking at the right time and if they play up to their potential they should be the last one standing out of the nine other teams that have entered the tournament.
The AIHEC tournament will start Thursday at the College of Santa Fe. After two days of pool play to decide seeding, a single-elimination tournament will start Saturday and end Sunday.
Lady Bison center Carla McLean has been with Perez for all two of his titles and she’ll be back in the middle for him again this year. But this year the 6-foot senior business major has one of her best supporting cast. Perez said that this year they haven’t had to ride McLean’s shoulders as much as in the past, but he still likes to get her the ball down low to open up the Lady Bison’s outside game.
“Carla has done a great job in recognizing that her teammates can help her. If a shot’s not there, she’s not forcing it and passing it out to an open shooter,” Perez said.
Even with less of a scoring role on this year’s team, McLean is still averaging around 13 points and 13 boards a game and is the Lady Bison’s leader on the court.
“She’ll push the girls. She’s one of those vocal leaders, where she’ll get on the girls’ case ... I tell them ‘Carla’s been there she’s done it, she knows.’ It’s one of those things, if she’s getting on your case it’s because she’s been there, she’s been in the battles,” Perez said.
While McLean is a vocal leader, Dani Augare leads by example. The co-captain of last year’s AIHEC title game rejoined the team after watching them lose to Little Bighorn College Jan. 10. Perez said that after watching the Lady Bison play poorly in a game they should have won, Augare came to his office and told him she wanted to play for him again. Since Augare decided to become part of the program, the Lady Bison haven’t lost.
“She (Augare) goes out and works hard. She doesn’t say much, she just goes out and works hard,” Perez said. “She’ll go in and fight for rebounds, she’ll handle the ball. She’s just one of those all-around players.”
Last year, McLean and Augare were the Lady Bison’s one-two punch on offense, but that’s not always the case this season.
“We have different girls on any given night that can lead the team in scoring ... This year, you never know who’s going to take the lead in the game,” Perez said.
Misty Ostlie, SKC’s point guard, is one of the players that can lead the team in scoring. Perez said the newcomer from Cusik, Wash., is a tough competitor who has a good outside shot, but can also drive to the basket. When she is on her game she’s unstoppable and has gone off a couple times this season for 25 points. Ostlie also averages nearly 10 assists a game.
Former Lady Bulldog Shaylene Piedalue is another new scoring threat for the Lady Bison, but it’s her defense that has impressed Perez. He said that he challenged the scrappy 5-foot-5 guard to become more involved in the defense, and she’s stepped up to the challenge. Perez said that during SKC’s 13-game win streak, he wasn’t afraid to put Piedalue on the opponent’s best player.
Genevieve Cochran rounds out the Lady Bison’s starting lineup. Perez said that the 5-foot-9 forward has taken on more of a scoring role, but rebounding and defense are still her greatest strengths.
“She’s (Cochran) a tough player. She doesn’t take anything from anyone on the court. She’ll go in there and fight for a rebound and get on the floor and just scrap for the ball,” Perez said.
With a deep bench, Perez said this is one of the most complete teams he’s taken to the national championships.
“I know I can send in any of my 11 girls. I feel confident that I can send them in the game and they’ll produce,” Perez said, adding that all his players could start on any of the other nine teams at the four-day tournament.
Lisa Mathias, a 5-foot-6 guard from Elmo, Marianne Addison, a 5-foot-5 guard from St. Ignatius, Tiffany Sinclair, a 5-foot-6 guard from Browning and Charla Brown, a 5-foot-3 guard from Polson, all come off the bench and give Perez valuable minutes.
This is not only one of the deepest teams that Perez has brought to the championship; it’s also one of the smartest. Seven of the 11 players are honor roll students.
