Women at Tulane tonight
Posted: Thu Jan 22, 2009 10:51 amWould be a nice win tonight. Wow, 6 tied for 1st in the conference
Gilliam gives SMU women's team some horsepower
12:27 AM CST on Thursday, January 22, 2009
By BOBBI ROQUEMORE / The Dallas Morning News
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UNIVERSITY PARK – As junior forward Brittany Gilliam goes, so goes the SMU women's basketball team.
The 5-11 Gilliam leads the team in four key statistical categories: points (14.6), rebounds (7.6), assists (4.3) and steals (2.5).
Her fingerprints have been all over the Mustangs during their recent stretch of six victories in seven games, in which Gilliam has posted four double-doubles.
Colleges
SMU coach Rhonda Rompola said that in the last three weeks Gilliam has emerged as the confident and consistent player she always envisioned. When Gilliam asserts herself right from the tip-off or shows poise during rough patches, the rest of the Mustangs have followed.
"We knew she was capable, because she's one of the smarter players that I've coached, without question," said Rompola, in her 18th season as SMU's coach.
"We depend on her a lot. That's why her decisions with the basketball, at the beginning of the game especially, are important."
Gilliam understands how her play often dictates the team's demeanor.
"That's just what I do. I'm the Energizer bunny for them," Gilliam said. "If I don't do that, then we're not the same team."
Gilliam's development has been critical for a team in search of an identity in the post-Janielle Dodds era – and for Gilliam herself to finally live up to her potential.
She came to SMU in 2005 as a heralded recruit from Tyler John Tyler but tore her right ACL the summer before her freshman year and had to redshirt. The recovery was more taxing than Gilliam ever imagined, and effects of the injury lingered.
"Coming off that ACL surgery was one of the hardest things for me, because I kept getting beat left and right," Gilliam said. "I just wasn't in sync all the way. It affected me mentally. I was just so slow."
Gilliam sought the counsel of her friend, former Texas A&M and current Sacramento Monarchs guard A'Quonesia Franklin, a fellow John Tyler alum who endured two ACL injuries.
Gilliam worked her way back into SMU's rotation in a reserve role.
As a sophomore, Gilliam earned more minutes and, consequently, more responsibility. She was fourth on the team in scoring last season at 8.7 points per game.
Although she was reluctant at first to be an emotional leader – "How could I tell someone not to make a mistake," she said, "when I would make a mistake?" – Gilliam realized the Mustangs would be incomplete without one.
So she gradually grew comfortable dishing out orders on and off the court, and her teammates responded positively.
"I'm the one that's more apt to laugh in practice and keep it going," junior forward Delisha Wills said, "and she's the one saying, 'Let's go, it's time to get serious.'
"She keeps us together."