The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Tribune Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

IN her fifth year at the helm of the Jacksonville University Dolphins' women's basketball programme, Yolett McPhee-McCuin has set the bar high once again for the 2017-18 campaign.

"Like every year the end goal is to win a championship," she said after the Dolphins' first practice of the season.

Described as one of the toughest schedules in programme history, depth can be the deciding factor on how far the team goes.

"This is the most depth we've had from top to bottom - which I'm extremely excited about. If we were playing tomorrow, I couldn't tell you who was starting," McPhee-McCuin said.

"We have a lot of new pieces, we only have one freshman so we're very mature. We brought in some junior college players. Our senior leadership has been phenomenal, this is year five for us as a programme and you can tell because there is a way we do things and for the most part the girls have bought into that so I'm excited about where we are going.They work hard and this is a group where the culture is starting to show."

Last season, the Dolphins came up just short in making consecutive trips to the NCAA Tournament but earned a berth in the Women's National Invitation Tournament (WNIT).

They received an at-large bid and ultimately lost in the first round to the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets.

She led the Dolphins to 23 wins, which tied the school mark for most wins in a season, and they also had the best RPI in the conference.In the 2015-16 campaign, McPhee-McCuin led the Dolphins to a 22-11 record, the A-Sun tournament title and their first NCAA Tournament championship berth in school history.

In addition to the new players added to the roster, there have been changes to the coaching staff as well with the hiring of Assistant Coaches LaQuanda Dawkins and Stephanie Edwards.

"Coach Dawkins brings a tremendous amount of experience being in the business for about 20 plus years and that's one thing I looked for in that position when it opened up - someone that can give us some different insight," McPhee-McCuin said, "We wanted familiarity with coach Edwards. Because she played for me, she knows what we want and she was also a graduate assistant on our championship team so she understands what it takes. I think the balance of having that experience and that youthfulness along with what coach [Darnell] Haney and I bring is the right recipe for this year."

In the offseason, McPhee-McCuin resumed her role as the Bahamas Senior Women's National Team where they finished 1-4 at the Centrobasket Tournament.

"It challenged me, allowed me to assess some things, taught me how to be creative and put stuff in with limited time," she said, "Just going through the adversity makes you quit or have more resilience, for me it gave me more resilience to challenge myself and hopefully get the Bahamas to where we want to go and that's the Olympics."

McPhee-McCuin currently has one Bahamian on her roster at JU, LaShonda Neely of Freeport, Grand Bahama.

Neely also played at Centrobasket and said it set the tone for an improved season this year.

"This one helped me to get back to my toughness, my fighting and being strong offensively and defensively, she said.

Last season as a sophomore Neely appeared in 27 games with three start. She earned a spot in the starting lineup during the ASUN Tournament and WNIT action vs. Georgia Tech. She posted a career-high 10 points with seven rebounds vs. NJIT and finished the season with 52 points, 66 rebounds, 11 steals and nine blocks

Jacksonville's season begins Friday, November 10, at No. 17 North Carolina State - the first of seven opponents that advanced to the postseason last year.