Women's Basketball

Lee Isn't Worried About 2,000
February 3, 2006

By Jacob Messer
Sportswriter, Charleston Daily Mail

Photo: Bob Wojcieszak, Charleston Daily Mail

To Lisa Lee, a modest but confident basketball star, 2,000 points is, well, 2,000 points.

Nothing more. Nothing less.

Lee needs only 15 points to reach that milestone, which she likely will do Saturday afternoon when the University of Charleston (19-1, 11-0 West Virginia Conference) visits West Liberty State College (15-4, 7-3).

Lee, who has led her team to rankings of No. 1 regionally and No. 6 nationally, isn't thinking about the mark.

"My ultimate goal is to be the best I can," said Lee, a 6-foot senior forward that already is UC's all-time leading scoring with 1,985 points. "And 2,000 points is not the best I can do. I'm not worried about scoring 2,000 points. I don't feel like I have to score 2,000 points because I know I can score more than that."

Lee said her final total whatever that might be when she finishes arguably the greatest all-around career in school history will mean much more to her, although she admits "1,000 points was fun and 2,000 points will be nice."

At least five other women have scored 2,000 points in WVC history, according to incomplete school and league archives. They are Melissa Hammond, who had 2,150 at West Liberty State from 1989-93; Donna Gordon, who had 2,060 points at West Virginia State from 1985-88; Sandy Chisar, who had 2,054 points at Alderson-Broaddus from 1979-83; Jina Skinner, who had 2,050 points at Concord from 1989-92; and Kristen Gattuso, who had 2,041 points at Fairmont State from 2001-05.

"There could be more," said Will Prewitt, the league's associate commissioner and its media relations chief. "That is based on the information we have."

Although she could and probably will pass all of those women before she finishes her senior season, Lee is much more than a scorer.

Just look at the numbers:

She has made 774 of 1,416 shots from the floor for a .547 field goal percentage and ranks first in school history.
She has collected 303 steals and ranks third in school history, 69 behind second-place Stephanie Hall and 326 behind first-place Hayley Blue.
She has grabbed 861 rebounds and ranks sixth in school history, 32 behind fifth-place Tina Boone and 270 behind fourth-place Linda Deibel.
She has recorded 97 blocked shots and ranks sixth in school history, four behind fifth-place Regina Jeffries and 36 behind third-place co-holders Shawnia Cunningham and Denise Wentz.

There are many keys to her success, all of which are pretty basic. She is athletic. She runs fast. She jumps high. She is competitive. She works hard. She understands the game. She anticipates well. She listens to her coaches and accepts their advice, then uses it to hone her skills. She displays leadership, both by words and actions. She controls her emotions. She plays under control.

"All of those things make her a complete player," UC Coach Sherry Winn said of Lee, whose 217 assists also are impressive but not in the Top 10 in school history.

"She has set a standard. She has put a challenge up there for some future Golden Eagle to reach out and touch."

Compliments like those mean a lot to Lee, especially when they come from Winn, who also is one of the Golden Eagles' greats.

"I have broken some of her records," Lee said.

Which doesn't make Winn anything but happy.

"What is neat for me," the UC coach said, "is to watch my records evaporate by one of my own players. My record is gone, but it's still a part of me because I get to be involved in it. It's an awesome achievement for Lisa and it's fun for me, too."

Winn jokingly has threatened to reduce Lee's minutes in order to preserve some of her marks.

But she wouldn't do that. More importantly, she couldn't do that, right?

"Not at all," Lee said with a laugh. "She needs me out there. She has made it fun and competitive. She has pushed me and given me an incentive."

That started the moment Winn began recruiting Lee, a former Capital High School star who led the Cougars to back-to-back Class AAA state championships in her junior and senior seasons.

"She told me I could be one of the greatest players ever here," Lee said of Winn, an ultra-successful coach who has compiled a 102-40 overall record at her alma mater.

That sounded good to Lee, who bypassed offers from smaller Division I colleges.

She had seen other girls go to bigger schools outside West Virginia only to return to smaller schools in state because they were homesick or unhappy or both. She didn't want to be one of them.

"I'm a competitor," said Lee, who also likes the fact that the school is located in her hometown, making it convenient for her and her family. "I like to be on the floor. I didn't see myself playing at that level at that time. I knew I could have an immediate impact here."

Few can speak more authoritatively on Lee and her continual improvement than teammate Laura Kinsler, who has watched her evolve the past 10 years.

Kinsler first played against Lee in the seventh grade when their AAU teams met and their on-court rivalry continued throughout their high school years.

"She has come a long way," said Kinsler, who played at Parkersburg High School. "She had a bad temper back then. We would always try to make her mad. That was our goal. But now she is under control and plays a lot better.

"She was nowhere near this level in high school. If she had played like this in high school, she would have been recruited by the big schools."