Rush Is On At Sutter’s Mill Point Production Must Increase For Ewu Senior To Reach Lofty Goals

You can learn plenty about Jennifer Sutter just from scanning the personal “Fast Facts” below her picture in the Eastern Washington women’s basketball press guide.

The Eagles’ 5-foot-7 senior point guard lists her favorite food as “anything that looks, tastes and smells like Cheetos.” Her favorite off-court pastime is “to go country swinging with my boyfriend, Charlie.” Her favorite TV show is “COPS.”

And her greatest athletic thrill was “Winning the NBA championship … oh, wait, that hasn’t happened - yet.”

But Sutter, a candid, feisty and tough-minded graduate of Moses Lake High School, still holds out hope, especially since the NBA has decided to organize a professional women’s league that is scheduled to open play next season.

“I’d like to try it,” she said of the WNBA. “But I don’t know if very many people are looking for a point guard who doesn’t score, so I might have a problem there.”

In reality, she would settle for any kind of title.

“I just want to win something, anything,” explained Sutter, whose first three college seasons have produced the same mediocre results she experienced in high school. “I’ve been through high school where we had losing seasons, and in college we’ve had losing seasons.

“Everybody else is telling me, ‘We went to state in high school, and we did this and we won that,”’ Sutter said, “and here’s Jen, who hasn’t made it anywhere or won anything yet. This is my senior year, we have to win this year. We just have to.”

To contend for the Big Sky Conference title, the Eagles will probably need a career season from Sutter, who is one of only two seniors on coach Heidi VanDerveer’s roster. Third on the school’s all-time assist list, Sutter might even have to start scoring again.

In her first three years at EWU, Sutter has averaged just 3.8 points per game. That has been enough to get the Eagles into the Big Sky playoffs the past two seasons, but neither last year’s 5-9 league record nor the 8-6 mark posted in 1994-95 will satisfy Sutter this season.

“I scored a lot in high school,” she said of her nine-point-plus average as a Moses Lake senior. “Well, not a lot, but compared to three points a game, it seems like a lot.

“It just takes me until my senior season to start shooting, I guess. I don’t know why. Maybe scoring’s just not my thing. I kind of like watching everybody else score.”

VanDerveer, in her third season at EWU, has no problem with that. She would much rather have Sutter’s status as team captain and three-time Big Sky all-academic selection make the young players around her better instead of trying to shoulder more of the scoring load.

“The main thing we’re asking Jennifer to do this year is to step up and provide more leadership,” said VanDerveer, who has gone 12-14 and 7-20 in her first two seasons at Eastern. “Any time you have a point guard with a lot of experience like Jennifer has, it’s a plus for your program.

“Jennifer has played for us going on (four) years now. She’s the one who has been on the road trips and understands that you have to play differently on the road than you do at home, that you have to be ready for adversity out there - and the really obnoxious, hostile environments.”

With five freshmen and three sophomores on the roster, Sutter realizes it might take some time for all of the pieces to fall into place. Having gone through some severe growing pains of her own as a starting rookie point guard in 1993-94, she can empathize with VanDerveer’s untested freshmen like Tracy Ford, Andee Schmick, Lisa Bocook, Julie Moore and Shae Olson.

But she also admits to a certain sense of frustration about their rate of development - especially since she is down to the final 26 regular-season games of her collegiate career.

“I get really upset, but I also feel bad for them because I know what they’re going through,” Sutter explained. “I get upset that they’re not doing things right, but they are, really, considering where they’re at. They’re only freshmen, and you can’t expect the world from them.”

Sutter learned that lesson during her rookie season when the Eagles went 8-18 and 3-11 in Bill Smithpeter’s final year as head coach. As a freshman, she started 13 games at the point and averaged 3.3 points per game. She also made 65 assists, but committed 80 turnovers.

“I was barely 18,” Sutter recalled, “and I was thrown into the program with a bunch of seniors in college. I was kind of a loudmouth and (the seniors) didn’t appreciate that coming from a freshman. It was like, ‘What? You can’t tell me what to do.’

“So I know exactly how our freshmen feel. It’s too bad, because we expect them to be so much better than they should be at this stage. We expect them to play like they’re seniors or something.”

Sutter will probably line up in the Eagles backcourt with 5-9 sophomore letterwinner Shana Ray, who averaged 8.2 points per game last season. Sophomore Tanya Kirk, a 6-1 transfer from North Idaho College, will start at small forward, with 5-11 Elicia Sloan at power forward and 6-2 senior Rachel Ferguson at center.

“But we have 11 people who are healthy right now,” VanDerveer said, “and any of them can step in and play.

“And that’s the truth.”

VanDerveer admits she will put an inordinate amount of young players on the floor this season - especially with sophomore guard Kelly Bartleson, a starter last season, slowed by a stress fracture.

“But they’re all pretty talented, so that’s a good thing,” she added. “Actually, that’s a great thing.”

It remains to be seen, however, whether it’s great enough to bring Sutter the championship she’s never won.

“Just a trophy or something,” she said. “Even a little medal would be nice, and I think we can do it.” , DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo; Graphic: Basketball Preview 1996

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: EASTERN WOMEN’S BASKETBALL ROSTER Name Pos. H W Yr. Hometown Lisa Bocock G 5-4 NA Fr. Reardan Kelly Bartleson G 5-10 NA So. Spokane Andee Schmick G 5-9 NA Fr. Endicott Jennifer Sutter G 5-7 NA Sr. Moses Lake Tracy Ford F 5-10 NA Fr. Spokane Juli Carlson F 6-0 NA Jr. Odessa Shana Ray G 5-9 NA So. Lynnwood Shae Olson C 6-3 NA Fr. Medford, Ore. Julie Moore F 6-0 NA Fr Okanogan Tanya Kirk F 6-1 NA So. Spokane Rachel Ferguson F 6-2 NA Sr. Portland Elicia Sloan F 5-11 NA Jr. Kent

Schedule (All times Pacific) Date Opponent Time Nov. 10 vs. Simon Fraser 4:00 Nov. 24 vs. Colorado State 4:00 Nov. 26 Gonzaga 6:00 Nov. 29 at Cal State Fullerton 7:00 Dec. 1 at San Diego 2:00 Dec. 13 at Idaho 7:00 Dec. 18 vs. Southern Utah 7:00 Dec. 20 vs. Idaho 7:00 Dec. 28 vs. Central Florida (Holiday Classic in Orlando, Fla.) 5:00 Dec. 29 vs. opponent to be determined (Holiday Classic in Orlando, Fla.) TBA Dec. 30 vs. opponent to be determined (Holiday Classic in Orlando, Fla.) TBA Jan. 2 vs. Northern Arizona 7:00 Jan. 4 vs. Cal State Northridge 7:00 Jan. 9 at Cal State Sacramento 7:30 Jan. 11 at Weber State 6:00 Jan. 16 at Montana State 6:30 Jan. 18 at Montana 6:30 Jan. 24 vs. Weber State 7:00 Jan. 25 vs. Portland State 7:00 Feb. 1 at Portland State 7:00 Feb. 6 vs. Idaho State 7:00 Feb. 8 vs. Cal State Sacramento 7:00 Feb. 13 at Cal State Northridge 7:00 Feb. 15 at Northern Arizona 6:00 Feb. 20 vs. Montana State 7:00 Feb. 22 vs. Montana 7:00 Feb. 27 at Idaho State 6:30 Mar.6-8 Big Sky Tournament, site to be determined TBA