Stephanie Lynch, who has accepted a scholarship offer to play volleyball at Purdue next year, is slowly making the physical transition from volleyball to basketball. New Albany head coach Todd Satterly talked about her transition recently in the New Albany Tribune.

"After volleyball it's taking her a little while to adjust. But I have no doubt that she'll be putting up bigger numbers as the season goes on. She's getting (more adjusted) every game. It's got to be difficult when you're concentrating on your volleyball skills for all that time then you step onto the basketball court. It's a tough transition, but just having her out of the floor right now is beneficial. It brings a sort of calm to the other girls just for her to be out there."

New Albany is off to its best start (4-0) since the 1998-99 state championship season, with Lynch starting out slow offensively, averaging 6.3 points per game.

Coach let's Jodi Howell loose

The following appeared on the women's forum last week, brought here to be archived.

Going into Wednesday, Alexandria was 1-4. Although Jodi fractured her right ring finger in the pre-season, and again in warmups before the Shenandoah game, that wasn't the main reason her touches and scoring has slipped this year.

In a move he now sees as a "bad mistake", Coach Jon Howell went into the season with handcuffs on Jodi. The object was to get the rest of the team more involved since Jodi has been getting so much attention.

Coach Howell's philosophy changed last Saturday following the Tipton loss. He was faced with a team with one of the premier perimeter players in the nation that was 1-4. And to make matters worse, that premier perimeter player only had one shot in the fourth quarter going into the final minute. Coach Howell moved her to the point to bring the ball up the floor under the Tipton press. What happened was she would advance the ball up the floor quickly, shooting passes downcourt to teammates. More often than not, the ball would be shot or turned over before Jodi could join the set at the offensive end of the court.

Following a team meeting on Monday, Jodi was worked back into the offense. The result was a 83-37 win over Lapel, a similar team, in Jon Howell's opinion, to Tipton (Alex lost to Tipton by 4). Jodi finished with 46 points on 10-of-17 shooting from the perimeter, 7 of 9 from inside the arc, and 2 of 2 from the line.

While it might have appeared as if the finger was holding her back, it was actually a coaching decision. As Coach Howell puts it, "Often times, coaches think too much."

Ta'Shia Phillips off to a good start

Ta"Shia Phillips is averaging 21.6 points and 16.7 rebounds per game to date.

Below is a link to a photo gallery from a Brebeuf game. Phillips in featured in several pictures. Look for jersey No. 55.

READ MORE: Photos by Jeffrey Ferguson

All-Michigan team chosen by the Detroit News

Junior guard Jareica Hughes of Southfield-Lathrup has been named to the Detroit News 2004 Dream Team, featuring the newspaper's best five players statewide. She led Southfield-Lathrup to the Class A semifinal game, averaging 15 points, six assists and six steals per game. The paper lists her schools of interest as Purdue, Tennessee, North Carolina, and Michigan State.

Other players of interest include 6'8 Allyssa DeHaan, a junior center mentioned here as a player to watch in the future. While we have yet to hear of any direct interest from the Purdue staff, she is being mentioned in connection with UConn, Tennessee, Texas, Notre Dame and Michigan State.

Jareica Hughes' teammate Timika Williams was named Class A honorable mention.

READ MORE: Detroit News

Danielle Campbell scouting report

A short scouting report from the coach of Regina, a team Whitney Young defeated on December 2nd.

"Whitney Young is a very talented team. Danielle Campbell has expanded her game, with both base and mid-lane post moves in the arsenal. She can also hit the foul line jumper."

New Blue Star rankings

Blue Star has released their "Top 80" list, featuring the top 80 players in the nation regardless of class. Some players of interest on the list...

9. Amber Harris 6-5 Jr. Indianapolis North Central IN - Harris is Blue Star's top rated player in the class of 2006.
16. Ta'Shia Phillips 6-5 So. Indianapolis Brefeuf IN - Phillips is Blue Star's top rated player in the class of 2007.
28. Danielle Campbell 6-3 Chicago Whitney Young IL - Purdue's top rated signee in the class of 2005.
54. Amanda Thompson 6-1 Jr. Chicago Whitney Young IL - Danielle Campbell's teammate, ranked as the fourth best player in the class of 2006.
63. Stephanie Helgeson 6-4 New Orleans Dominician LA
73. Jodi Howell 5-11 Alexandria Monroe IN

READ MORE: Blue Star Basketball