Women’s basketball team 
is on a roll

February 5, 2009

When the 2008-09 basketball season began, the Cincinnati State Women’s Surge wasn’t on anyone’s radar.

Little wonder in that.

Cincinnati State, after all, had only two returning players. The team had a new coach, Theresa Check, who was facing the prospect of not only a new school but double duty as its athletic director. And to top it off, there was an obvious wealth of talent at competing schools across the country.

Put it this way: When the pre-season poll was released for women’s teams in Division II of the National Junior College Athletic Association, Cincinnati State wasn’t mentioned among the top 25. Heck, the Lady Surge didn’t even show up on the list of 16 other schools that also garnered votes from coaches.

How, then, to explain Cincinnati State’s No. 4 national ranking in its division at the halfway point of the season?

Hard work, mainly.

That, at any rate, is Check’s analysis. And hers is an authoritative voice. At Central State University she compiled a stunning 387-109 (78 percent) winning record as coach of the women’s basketball team between 1985 and 2001 before giving up sideline duties to become the school’s athletic director. Check also knows the game from a player’s perspective, having competed at Cedarville High School, Adelphi University in New York and later at Central State.

Check credits Surge assistant coach Ronald Harris with recruiting a strong core of athletes to Cincinnati State to join returning starters Heather Hassloch and Chanetta Simmons. Check herself brought a few recruits to the mix, but it was nonetheless a largely unknown entity that assembled in September to begin conditioning.

“We took advantage of the hills and the natural geography of the area,’’ Check said, describing a training regimen that was long on running and endurance. That geography included the front steps at Cincinnati State, which at 6 a.m. – when the daily September conditioning sessions began – must have looked particularly steep.

“We saw quickness, and through the conditioning, we began to see that our kids had a lot of heart,’’ Check said.

By the time October practices had given way to the regular season, the young women had adjusted to each other and begun to learn Check’s style of play, which with this team features a full-court, trapping, pressure-oriented defense. The offense revolves around the 6’ center/forward Hassloch, but also relies on outside shooting by Cierah Hicks, Tiersa Fernandes and other guards and opportunistic shot-making and strong rebounding by a cadre of tough-minded forwards.

Nine of the 11 players on the Lady Surge are from Greater Cincinnati. In addition to Hassloch, a product of the Heritage Academy in Independence, Ky., Simmons, a second-year student out of Lockland High School, and Hicks, a product of Taft High School, the local component of the roster includes Ebony Solomon, a first-year guard from Hughes High School; Tamara Sneed, a 5’10’ guard/forward from Newport High School; Jazmine Thomas, a forward from Winton Woods; Christal McBride, a freshman from Woodward, and Kara Zwick, a 6’ center/forward freshman from Harrison High School.

The geographical spice on the team comes via Na’Tasha Farr, a 6’ freshman from Racine, Wis.; Alexis Dunn, a guard from Randleman, N.C.; and Fernandes, a 5’6” sophomore from Indianapolis.

Check soon discovered that these young women could play with anyone.

“When we began to play and then beat Division I schools, I knew we had something,’’ Check said. Her explanation: “We play really hard all the time.’’

By the end of January the Lady Surge had compiled a 17-3 overall record, 6-0 in its conference, and was entering the last half of the season with legitimate hopes of making it out of the regionals and into the national championship in Peoria, Illinois.

For Check, the first trip around the junior college circuit has mostly been fun.

“I’m completely, so happy to be here, coaching,’’ she said. And she credits Interim President John Henderson (a fixture at men’s and women’s games, he knows the players by name) and the staff at Cincinnati State with making it a special experience.

Said Check, “Everything that goes into making a game a first-class experience, Cincinnati State has.’’