Caitlyn Mitryk battles against a defender. Abby Sanford/The Minaret
High rankings and larger expectations have not phased UT women’s basketball.
The No. 17 Spartans won two games last week to improve to a school-record 5-0 start. Previously, they had never started better than 2-0.
“These kids left last year with a bad taste in their mouth,” head coach Tom Jessee said. “Now they really embrace the idea of putting their best foot forward.”
Tampa first beat south region rival Valdosta State 73-67 on Nov. 21 at the Martinez Sports Center.
This avenged a 55-27 loss in the 2008 Valdosta State Tip-Off Invitational.
Senior Caitlyn Mitryk led UT with 17 points, hitting three shots from three-point range in 36 minutes.
She also led the way with two blocks and a pair of steals.
Junior forward Taja Green added 13 points by way of three three-pointers and four free throws.
The Blazers’ Michelle Thompson led all scorers with 19 points.
The win was sealed at the foul line, from which UT shot 22-for-25.
Their 11 3-pointers ranked third in school history.
The Spartans stayed home to face Warner, an NAIA school, on Nov. 25. The game was never in doubt.
UT led 51-23 at halftime and won 94-48. The scoring output was the program’s highest in a game since Feb. 12, 2000, when they scored 102.
They hit a school-record 13 three point shots.
Gianna Messina only played one half, but scored 17 points with nine rebounds.
Sophomore Sarah Wickham came off the bench and matched those totals.
Mitryk and Green also scored in double figures as 11 players put up points for UT.
“We put a lot of emphasis on protecting our home court,” Jessee said. “And putting an opponent away when we have the chance. We wanted to develop some of our bench. These games are usually at the very beginning of the season, but this schedule didn’t allow us to do that.”
Jessee sees the early-season matchups as golden opportunities to tune up for the Sunshine State Conference schedule, which begins Dec. 5 at Florida Tech.
“We want to play a tough non-conference schedule,” Jessee said. “We played in [the Merrimack Tournament] away and won that, we played Valdosta State and we still have the Armstrong Atlantic Tournament with some very good teams ahead of us. I don’t want our first conference opponent to be the best team we’ve played to that point. It’s important to play better teams to see where we’re at.”
UT also saw its first individual award of the season. Mitryk was named SSC Player of the Week for her performances against Valdosta State and Wagner.
Brenton Burkett can be reached at bburkett@ut.edu.
