Salem State women's basketball team visits Puerto Rico

Bill Kipouras

January 01, 2008 11:24 pm

— Danielle Jenkins has led the Salem State's women's basketball team in rebounding in seven of eight games and usually leads the scoring as well. The 6-foot-1 sophomore's development has been so fast this season that veteran coach Tim Shea said Jenkins will likely become a Division 3 All-America candidate if she continues to improve at the same pace on defense.
"To rebound, that's her job. Danielle is getting better all the time. It's a reward for all the time she puts in," Shea said. "She's actually ahead of her game offensively. Potentially she'll even get better on offense. She can shoot the ball."
Jenkins has a pull-up jumper that's tough to stop, and goes to the basket very well, as No. 8-ranked Southern Maine found out when it came to Salem and must have felt like it the was victim of mugging in broad daylight, 71-58.
After a 7-1 first semester record Shea, the 12 members of the team and veteran athletic trainer Bill Bullock are wearing perpetual smiles these days. They're currently in San Juan, Puerto Rico, for some sun and fun, a tour of the famed Rain Forest, and they'll visit the Old San Juan section.
The seven-day trip will include basketball games versus two island branches of the University of Puerto Rico, in Mayaguez and Bayamon, both of whom are Division 2.
Shea's program goes plane hopping about every three years. They've been to the U.S.Virgin Islands, St. Thomas and St. John, Las Vegas, San Diego, Colorado Springs, Dublin, Ireland, and Orlando twice.
It's all done with fundraising and serves a purpose.
"It's most definitely a recruiting device. It's to set us apart," Shea said.
This, in fact, is Salem's second trip to Puerto Rico, having last visited in the mid-1980s.
Times have changed, thanks to the Internet. Shea knew Mayaguez would be formidable, and that Bayamon would be tougher.
"That's from what I can gather from online," he said. "We pay close to attention to all opponents online, which wasn't available the last time we went to Puerto Rico. No matter where you play these days, it's competitive. We have our work cut out this season. For the first time in a long time we weren't picked No. 1 in preseason in the MASCAC poll, Fitchburg was, and we've got to work extra hard to get back where we were."
Defensively, Shea is very proud that the Vikings are ranked No. 1 in field goal percentage defense among 425 ranked schools in Division 3, giving up 28.2.
Jenkins (15.3 ppg, 7.8 rebounds) and Lindsey Watkins generally dominate the boards, Jakoya Wilkins and Manise Louinard are the real deal on defense, getting into people's faces, and Endicott transfer Lauren Wholley has been a pleasant surprise off the bench in a defensive role.
"It's still early," Shea cautioned, "but we have only one loss, at Tufts, and we were in that game on their floor. The Southern Maine win was called an upset in the D3 Hoop news, but I didn't think it was upset. They were No. 8 (nationally), but how do you rank teams that early?
"To me, that was simply a case of Jenkins coming up huge and making our inside-outside game go. USM was collapsing on her and when they did she'd kick the ball out. We wound up with nine threes," Shea said.
The Vikings are No. 4 in scoring defense, 4.6; 15th in scoring margin, 22.6; 18th in blocked shots, 5.3; and 19th in steals per game, 14.4.
"To lead in field goal defense is the most meaningful of these numbers," he pointed out.
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You might say Amber Smith's 1,000 point basketball achievement at Ipswich was well "painted." The talented junior collected only one 3-point shot fen route to the milestone. She's been a monster down low and it's still early in her junior season.
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Ryan Leary had hockey locals scratching their heads when the Bowdoin College freshman from Marblehead led the Polar Bears to the SSC Christmas Tournament title and earned the MVP award.
Leary, a forward, did graduate from St. John's Prep, but did not play much varsity hockey there. Instead, he played his last two years at the Prep in junior hockey with the Valley Warriors.
"Ryan had a 100-point season with the Warriors, which is a big number in that league," Bowdoin coach Terry Meagher pointed out. "We spoke to both Andy Heinze and Bobby Carpenter, who coached him on the Warriors, and they had some great things to say about him. Ryan had six goals against Skidmore. He's the real deal. He has a lot of moves. He's an attack player."
On hand for Meagher's 400th victory at Salem was BU's Jack Parker, who coached both Meagher and SSC coach Billy O'Neill in college. Rockett Arena was flush with BU alums.
The same night, Tom Roundy marked his 25th year as the sports information director at Salem State.
It was Roundy who presented the MVP trophy to Leary, who later recalled Roundy as one of the umpires in Marblehead Little League when Leary was a 12-year-old catcher for the Cardinals.
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Len and Rona Femino of Beverly are headed for the Orange Bowl in Miami where they'll watch daughter Allyse dance at halftime of the Virginia Tech-Kansas game. Allyse first danced when she was a 3-year-old ("I think she was born to dance," her mother said) and then joined North Shore Dance Academy ("Tammy Bolduc was my favorite instructor").
She put her dance career on hold while at Bishop Fenwick, where she competed in softball, soccer and track, but resumed it at Clark University this fall, where the 18-year-old freshman made the Hip-Hop Team. Clark has 30 dancers, but Allyse is one of only 13 who will be dancing at the Orange Bowl.
Bill Kipouras is a member of the sports staff at The Salem News. He can be reached at 978-338-2615 or by e-mail: bkipouras@ecnnews.com.

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