Robertson says Flying Queens could be 'scary good'

One of the things being a head basketball coach is constantly teaching Alesha Robertson is patience. She admits the lesson is a work in progress.
 
"We're still not where we want to be, but we're getting there," Robertson said about the progress of the Wayland Baptist Flying Queens since her hiring last spring and in advance of their season-opener on Saturday night. "I'm impatient sometimes."
 
On the verge of her debut as the leader of the Flying Queens, Robertson is encouraged about how her first team as a college head coach is coming together.
 
"We're getting better, for sure," she said.
 
While most of the Flying Queens' faces are the same from last year's team that finished 15-16 overall and tied for fourth in the Sooner Athletic Conference at 7-9, Wayland's style of play will be new.
 
"We've picked the tempo up," said Robertson, the former Plainview High School and Texas Tech University standout who makes no secret about her fondness of up-tempo basketball. "I feel like you can win a lot with that style, and we have the athletes to do it. But you have to be in shape."
 
Robertson said the Flying Queens still are working their way into the kind of shape a fast-pace style demands.
 
"Running hard and blocking out... . If we can do those two things, we're going to be in good shape. It's nothing fancy, but those are two big things that have been missing."
 
The true key to everything working out like the new coach hopes might be adjusting some attitudes within a proud program that's had rare back-to-back losing seasons and has been to the NAIA National Tournament just once in the past nine years.
 
"We're still getting them to buy into it," Robertson said of the transformation to a more aggressive style. "We're just scratching the surface right now. Some of them are seeing what we want to do, and when we get that core group going, it will bring in the others."
 
That core group features several familiar faces from a nucleus of eight returning letterwinners. Among them are returning starters Angeleigh Davis, CeCe Williams and Jordan Scott-Benson, all seniors, along with part-time starters Christie Mooney and Aubrey Pedigo, two more seniors. They're joined by junior Ashton Pedigo and sophomores Laura Castillo and Stephanie Afunugo.
 
"They really have a lot of talent and have what it takes to win, but I feel like sometimes they may underestimate themselves," Robertson said. "We're working on their mentality."
 
The coach feels the Flying Queens have the talent to contend for the SAC title and return to the NAIA National Tournament.
 
"We have the athletes to do that, for sure, but we have to make them believe they can be that good, and also feel like they deserve it," she said, adding that that kind of attitude is developed through working hard every day in practice. "They can do it, they just have to believe it. If you walk out on the floor and have one doubt, you might as well not even show up.
 
"As a player, I loved it when people thought they were better than me. It motivated me that much more."
 
An unforeseen issue the Flying Queens have been forced to deal with thus far is a depleted roster, mostly due to nagging injuries. Williams is recovering from knee surgery while Ashton Pedigo and Scott-Benson both have foot issues that have sidelined them. Castillo is making her way back from knee surgery, and newcomer Sydney Hearn, like Castillo a Plainview product who transferred from South Plains College, is dealing with a concussion. Also, the team's leading rebounder from last season, LaTericka Anderson, isn't scheduled to play until the second semester.
 
Still, Robertson feels good about four of her starters as the Queens prepare to host Huston-Tillotson in their opener at 7 p.m. Saturday in Hutcherson Center.
 
Davis returns after earning second-team All-SAC last season when she averaged a team-high 14.5 points per game to go with 4.5 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 1.3 steals.
 
"AD's that (NCAA) D-I caliber player that we want," Robertson said. "She has a lot of talent, is explosive and very basketball savvy. We want the ball in her hands, for sure."
 
Robertson also likes what she sees out of Mooney, saying she fits the run-the-floor style she wants to employ.
 
"There aren't many players at any level who could beat her down the court. She is athletic and very fast," Robertson said of the senior who was third on the team in scoring last year at 8.4 ppg. "I don't think she's used her strengths as much as she could have, so if we can get her going she will be a definite key to what we do."
 
Afunugo is another impressive athlete, Robertson said, and is still developing her skills as well.
 
"Her quickness and speed off the dribble will help us a bunch," the coach said. "She's very coachable, so we can help her improve pretty quickly."
 
One of the new Flying Queens, even though she's been with the program, is junior forward Iesha Greer, who missed last season with an injury. Robertson said Greer could be one of the best post players in the conference.
 
"She has some sweet moves down there. She has good feet and runs the floor well, which is unusual for a post player. She would have helped them a bunch last year."
 
Robertson has yet to turn the keys over to a point guard. She said Castillo, the Queens' No. 2 scorer last year (8.6 ppg) and an honorable mention all-conference pick who shot 40 percent from 3-point range, "is the smartest player on the team" but is being held back by knee issues.
 
Meanwhile, freshman Ashlee De La Cruz, who played for Robertson at Lubbock Christian High School, has all of the intangibles. "She's hungry and focused on winning and has the kind of desire we want from everybody. She will pick up the tempo for us," Robertson said. "She's a freshman but is going to have to come in and fill some big shoes."
 
Completing the Queens' roster are junior Lakota Goe of Canadian, a transfer from Iowa Western, and redshirt freshman twins Shawna Monreal and Shayla Monreal of Canyon, who missed last year with knee injuries.
 
The Flying Queens are picked fourth – tied with conference newcomer Texas Wesleyan – in an expanded 11-team SAC behind Oklahoma City University, Oklahoma Baptist and John Brown. Robertson expects the Queens to wind up higher than that.
 
"We want to win the conference, which I feel is attainable," Robertson said.
 
It won't, however, be easy.
 
"It's hard coming into a new (program) and settling in. It's a learning process, for all of us," she said.
 
"We want to be peaking right when the conference starts, and if we continue to get better every day we will be. They have everything it takes to be great. Tory (former coach Tory Bryant) did a good job of recruiting these kids. It's in there, we just have to bring the best out of them. Right now I feel like we're getting about 70 percent out of some of them, the rest about 50 percent.
 
"But I get chill bumps thinking about how good they could be," Robertson added. "I always tell them they could be scary good."