By TODD TRAUB
Leader sports editor
There was a time when Asiah Scribner might not have believed it herself, but the UALR freshman still has something to play for.
It didn’t seem that way to Scribner in March, when she and her Lonoke teammates bowed out of the state semifinals against Prairie Grove, 35-32.
The loss ended a run of three straight appearances, with three losses, in the 4A state final game and squelched Scribner’s hopes of finally winning a championship trophy with her Lady Jackrabbits teammates.
“It was an unbelievable feeling that I wouldn’t really wish on anybody,” Scribner said.
Fast forward and Scribner is, bit by bit, finding her way with a veteran UALR team coming off its first NCAA Tournament appearance and first victory. UALR upset Georgia Tech in the first round last year before falling to Oklahoma.
Clearly the future is bright for UALR and Scribner, who saw the Trojans’ tournament trip as a validation of her choice, is happy to be a part of it.
“I was like, yeah, definitely, no changing my mind, no going back,” Scribner said. “Knowing that I still had a lot of those girls to play with, they were a pretty young team then, and knowing that a lot of those girls
were coming back this year and I’d get an opportunity to do it with them.”
The only significant departure from last year’s Trojans was standout guard and Cabot product Kim Sitzmann, a four-year starter, while preseason Sun Belt Conference player of the year Chastity Reed is back to put up numbers like the 34 points she scored in Wednesday’s victory over Louisiana-Monroe.
Up close, Scribner said, college basketball is even more impressive than it is when viewed on TV or from the stands.
“When you watch it and you look at it, you think it’s not as fast a pace as what it is,” Scribner said. “And the girls don’t look as strong as what they are but they really are. Once you get out here and you actually have to go against them, it gets very tough.”
UALR coach Joe Foley has gotten the program to that enviable level where the veterans and newcomers overlap, giving the freshmen the luxury of learning on the practice floor instead of the hard way by getting thrown into games.
Of course that means Scribner’s playing time is limited, but she expected as much when she signed with the Trojans in the fall of 2009.
In Saturday’s victory over Troy at the Jack Stephens Center, Scribner replaced freshman Hannah Fohne with 2:30 left. Though the announcer mispronounced her first name as “Isaiah,” Scribner made her presence felt when she attempted two shots and made a short jumper from the right side to close out the scoring in the 83-48 victory.
That ran Scribner’s season total to five points and her minutes-per-game average to 4.8.
“You’ve got to go out and do the best you can and show him that you can handle what he’s giving you right now so you can earn more for the next game,” Scribner said of the playing time.
Under Lonoke coach Nathan Morris, who uses elements of the motion offense Foley has long favored, Scribner played inside and got to give Foley a glimpse of how she might fit in with the Trojans.
But the Trojans are allowed much more freedom in Foley’s offense than most high school players.
“A lot of the stuff that coach Foley teaches, coach Morris taught too,” Scribner said. “So I kind of knew a little bit about it but it’s, like, really a big change coming from high school with set offenses and knowing exactly what you’re going to do to having to come here and run motion and not be told what to do every single possession.”
Foley has further extended Scribner’s learning curve by playing her more on the outside and asking her to work on her longer-range shooting.
“He told me that from the beginning,” Scribner, 6-2, said. “He knows I have a strong left hand but I need to work on finishing more to my right and shooting the ball more.”
The seniors and other returning players have helped to ease the transition Scribner and her fellow underclassmen have had to make. Beginning in the summer, when there is little supervision from the coaches, the veterans set a tone with their example and guidance.
“When I first got here I didn’t know how it was going to be,” said Scribner, who is leaning toward a major in early childhood development. “I’ve never been in a college environment with college girls, knowing how they would act. And I was a little nervous in the beginning. But when all the freshmen got here, they took us under their wing.”
Scribner said she tries to pay her teammates back by working as hard as she can to simulate the opposition in practice. If she can do her part to make the current starters better, Scribner expects the whole program to benefit and more postseason trips to follow.
Hopefully, Scribner will also have increased her role a little by season’s end.
“I hope to have a nice jump shot down and be getting some more playing time for myself and being able to help out the other post players,” Scribner said.
As Scribner spoke outside the locker room following the Troy victory, her new teammates were spreading the word she was being interviewed. Soon the other Trojans were peeking out the door or lining up to take photos of Scribner’s media opportunity.
Clearly, Scribner is fitting into her new environment, so much so that she rarely makes it back to Lonoke, though it is less than a 45-minute trip away from Little Rock.
“Everything,” Scribner said when asked what she liked most about college life. “It’s close to home, nice group of girls. Young, nice coaching staff. I’ve heard nothing but good things about coach Foley.
“It all worked in my favor coming here.”
