Published: Monday, February 19, 1996
Page: 1C
SPORTS
``When I watch, I just can't believe some of the dumb things I was doing out there,'' she said. ``I'd just run, get the ball and shoot. There wasn't a whole lot to my game.''
This season there have been refinements to the basketball skills of the sophomore center on Chaminade-Julienne girls' high school basketball team.
She doesn't just park her 6-1 frame around the basket. She'll take the ball outside and shoot a 15-foot jumper. She'll put the ball on the floor and drive the baseline. She makes good passes in the middle of fast breaks.
``Tamika was the best center in the Dayton area and one of the best in the state last year,'' C-J coach Ron Russo Jr. said. ``This year she's developed into one of the best players in the state regardless of position and she's going to keep getting better.''
Williams is the third-leading scorer in the Miami Valley this season. She ranks eighth in rebounding. Last year, when she earned second-team All-Ohio honors, she averaged 21.2 points and 14.1 rebounds per game.
C-J finished the regular season 17-3 and ranked No. 1 in the Dayton Daily News Division I-II ratings. The Eagles knocked off Northmont in the first round of the Division I tournament Thursday, 74-38. They play Patterson in a Sectional final Wednesday at Wilbur Wright Middle School.
``After we lost three games early, a lot of people kind of forgot about us,'' Williams said. ``But we kept getting better as a team. We were waiting for Beavercreek because we knew we could get them.''
C-J won at Beavercreek, 63-46, in the final game of the regular season. That loss snapped a 45-game winning streak for Beavercreek - the defending State Division I champion.
In that game Williams showed how much she advanced from last year, scoring from the inside and outside and taking pressure off the guards by handling the ball.
``I love the big games and playing against the best competition I can find,'' Williams said. ``High school ball is fun because you're playing with your friends and for your school. But the best competition is in the summer.''
It was during the summer that Williams improved her skills.
``We've got a half court in our back yard and I'd be out there all the time,'' she said. ``If I wasn't there, I'd be at practice with my summer team (the Dayton Lady Hoop Stars) or at open gyms here at C-J. I know I have to keep getting better if I want to play in a big-time college program.''
The Hoop Stars team took fourth in the 15-16 age group of the National AAU tournament in Indianapolis last July. Williams was the leading scorer. ``Playing in the nationals against all the best girls in the country really helped me,'' Williams said. ``I knew if I could handle the ball against them and shoot outside I could do it against anyone.''
Williams' ability to play both inside and outside this season has made C-J a stronger team.
``Tamika is an individual who makes her teammates better,'' Russo said. ``She's seeing the floor a lot better this year and really becoming more creative with and without the ball. That makes us a much better team and it will help us the farther we can advance in the tournament.''
Last year C-J finished 22-2, losing in the District finals to Lakota.
PHOTO CREDIT: MARVIN FONG/DAYTON DAILY NEWS
By Dave Long
DAYTON DAILY NEWS