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February 2, 1979 The Panther Page 8 Women Win Despite Lack of Support Members of Clark College’s 1978-79 Basketball Pantherettes are: 1. to r., Ass. Coach Anthony Witherspoon, Donna Evans, Phyllis News^n, Kimberly McLurkin, Meldoy Ballard, Elaine Banks, Sharmaine Porter, Tara Jones, GwendolynTiibson, Head Coach Leteria Clemons. Seated 1. to r., Regina Hampton, Myriette Duncan, Theola Lindsey, Cheryl Allen, Paula Garner, Caroline Ledbetter. (Photo by Tyraun Patterson) By Charles Anderson Sports Editor Imagine playing a basket ball game before 50 fans on your own home court. Imagine having eight newcomers, six of them freshmen, on a squad of 14. And imagine competing for the first year on a complete Intercollegiate schedule. Clark’s women’s basketball team has had to play under these conditions this season. ‘ ‘It really bothers me that we don’t get support from the students,” said Head Coach Leteria Clemons. “It was the students who spoke out and said that they wanted a women’s team. Now that we have a women’s team, we have no student support.” The lack of student support hasn’t really affected the team’s play. They’ve still managed to post a respectable 2-3 record in the conference. However, at the beginning of the season, it looked as though Clark would blow the op position off the court with Myriette Duncan and Melody Ballard in the lineup. Ballard, a 5-9, 150 pound forward-center is a strong rebounder and can shoot from the perimeter. Duncan, a 5-1 guard who played for Clark two years ago, is a steady ball handler and shooter. But like any other young team, the Pantherettes were plagued by inexperience. Ms. Clemons said that anytime you have a young team, you’re going to en counter a few problems, especially in women’s basket ball. “We were playing as in dividuals at the beginning of the season,” Ms. Clemons said. “I think we’ve finally made it to a point where we are truly playing as a team.” Clark’s starting lineup is as unpredictable as their performance in any given game. At the beginning of the season, Theola Lindsey and Duncan were the starting guards, Sharmaine Porter and Kimberly McLurkin the forwards, and Ballard the center. At this point of the season, the starting five is determined by who is producing at a particular time and by who the opposition is. Even a City- League recruit, Regina Hampton, has worked her way into the lineup. “We don’t have a superstar,” Ms. Clemons smiled. “We have five superstars - the one’s that are on the floor. I couldn’t honestly tell you who is going to start in the next game.” Con’t from page 7 Marion simply said afterwards, “We did what we had to do.” It’s been Marion’s play, especially, that has kept Clark alive in their climb to the top of the division with a 5-3 conference record. With Williams out of the lineup midway through the season, Marion was the one who had to take up the scoring slack. In two back-to-back wins over Knoxville and Fisk Colleges, Marion scored 28 and 23 points respectively. Meanwhile, Williams was recovering from a slipped disc in his back that forced him to miss seven games. Williams returned to the lineup Jan. 15 in a 119-72 rout of Fort McClellan, scoring 13 points in two six minute stret ches. In each of his last two outings against Savannah State and Fort Valley, Williams has scored 22 points. “The absence of Tweet (Williams) put more stress on the offense,” Marion said. “Also, the emotional stability of the team was affected by his absence. Tweet is level-headed, experienced and just has the reputation of taking people to the hoop,” the guard added. But Clark has been getting steady play out of everyone — in particular, guard Carlton Boston, center Larry Nolley, who averages 13 points and a dozen rebounds per game, forward Henry Taylor, 6’9” center Kenneth Dean, and reserve sixth man, George House. Ricky Williams 154 Robert Marion 240 Larry Nolley 198 Henry Taylor 149 George House 120 Carlton Boston 111 Theodore Lay 37 Connie Tolbert 49 Kenneth Dean 82 James Glenn 33 David Glenn 17 Paul Robinson 42 Jeffery Jones 34 Others 9 Guard Robert Marion (30) soars past a Savannah State defender for an easy layup . (Photo by Tyraun Patterson) Average Season-Hi 16.6 22 16.0 28 13.0 26 10.6 17 10.0 17 9.2 20 7.4 13 7.0 19 6.3 10 5.5 13 4.2 8 3.8 12 3.7 8 3.0 4 Center Elaine Banks (52) rebounds against Shorter College while teammates Feg’na Hampton (44) and Melody Ballard (20) look on. (Photo by Tyraun Patterson) Football Team Members Honored Clark College Head Football Coach Jesse McClardy was awarded outstanding Coach of the Year in the Division II of Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference by the 100% Wrong Club Jan. 27. Also honored from Clark at the 44th annual presentation held at the Peachtree Plaza Hotel were All-SIAC Conference tackle, Johnny Pellman; end, Charles Cheeks; safety, Johnny Wilder; and punter, Charles McPherson. Varsity Individual Scoring Thru 15 Games Name Points