Nov. 20, 2003

ABILENE, Texas -

The Cowgirls have established themselves as one of the dominant forces in Division III and the Cowgirls hope to build on five straight runs to the Sweet 16 this season.

Junior guard Diana Martinez and senior forward Lauren Harris will have their first chances to be the go-to players in their HSU career's as they have deferred to former teammate Kendra Anderson, who was the Division III National Player last season and was a three-time All-American for the Cowgirls.

Harris is the Cowgirls' long-range assassin nailing 55 3-pointers last season, including a school record-tying eight in a playoff game against Randolph-Macon. She is also adept at putting the ball on the floor and can create her own shot off the dribble. Harris will be in line to have an All-American type season as she becomes more of a focal point of the offense. Harris needs just 13 more 3-pointers to become the school's all-time leader passing her coach Shanna Briggs.

Martinez is a great player with the ball in her hands and she averaged 9.2 points per game and her 116 assists in 2003 were the second-most in Hardin-Simmons history. She also hit 38 3-pointers and had 74 steals while playing mostly at the point. This year she will play at both the one and the two guard positions.

Senior point guard Veronica Jones is back for her senior year at point guard. She is in a three-player rotation for significant minutes along with Martinez and McMurry transfer Melissa Forth. Jones has been a defensive stopper off the bench in the past. She has outstanding quickness that allows her to penetrate defenses and get to the hole. Jones is also a career 84 percent free throw shooter and will try to get to the line even more this season.

Forth is a junior guard that is one of the best on the ball defenders in the conference. She averaged 12 points per game for the Indians last season and gives the Cowgirls some athleticism in the backcourt.

The question for the Cowgirls will be replacing two players on the frontcourt that started over 85 games a piece in their career in Anderson and fellow departed senior Laura Ricci. They Cowgirls' will be playing the post by committee this season and there is plenty of talent to go around.

Hannah Jones, Erika Keese and Keila Remmele return. Jones and Keese both were back-ups to Ricci last season and both had positive minutes at different times. Remmele has been Anderson's understudy for two years and has plenty of ability on the offensive end. She has more range than Anderson on the perimeter and can also put the ball on the floor. Remmele also picked up some moves from the All-American, guarding her everyday in practice.

Jones averaged 4.6 points and 1.2 rebounds last season. Keese averaged 2.7 points and 1.1 rebounds per game. Remmele missed the first six games last season, but
finished the season averaging 2.6 points and 2.9 rebounds, expect those numbers to go way up this season.

Kandi Williams, a transfer from Western Oklahoma College, and freshmen Magna Green and Melissa Henley have all shown flashes in the early season workouts of contributing a lot this season.

Other players looking for playing time will be Lyssa Dennard a freshman from Decatur at small forward, Sarah Hauk and Lindsay Thompson at guard and sophomore Leigh Ann Neal will also see playing time at either the point or the two.