Freshmen Give Gu Fresh Outlook Perno, Clark Join Forces In Rebuilding Project

People meeting Sydney Perno and Chelsea Clark for the first time often mistake them for twins. It’s an image the two Gonzaga University freshmen basketball players make no effort to dispel.

“We’re roommates and we’re together everywhere we go,” said Perno, who was an All-Greater Spokane League center at University High last season.

“We share clothes and sometimes we even show up at places wearing the same things,” added Clark, who was recruited out of the tradition-rich program at Mead. “We’re alike in a lot of ways.”

Both girls stand 6-foot-1, wear their blonde hair long and admit to being semi-slobs around the dormitory room they share. They have even played on the same AAU teams since the ninth grade.

But perhaps the most important thing Perno and Clark have in common - at least to coach Kellee Barney’s way of thinking - is an uncommon desire to lift Gonzaga’s struggling program back to a level of respectability.

The Bulldogs are a disappointing 13-40 since Barney took over the program two years ago and are coming off a disastrous 4-23 season that left them in the West Coast Conference cellar with a 2-10 league record.

That’s not the kind of statement Barney had hoped to make when she accepted her first head coaching assignment after nine years as an assistant at Washington State. And she hopes to turn things around with the help of Perno, Clark and three other freshmen - Kristin Deal, Jessica Waltz and Heather Osberg - who could all play key roles as rookies.

“We feel very comfortable and confident with the players coming in,” Barney said. “They are from established programs, from winning programs. They’ve got the attitude you need to win.

“I think they are all capable of contributing early. It will be a matter of how quickly they can mature and how quickly they make the adjustment.”

Perno and Clark admit the intensity and physical nature of the college game caught them by surprise. But neither seems intimidated by the change - or the rebuilding task that lies ahead.

In fact, they say the optimistic view that Barney and her staff have of the program’s future is one of the things that lured them to GU.

“The coaching staff was real supportive, and it seems like there are a lot of good things to come here,” said Perno, who averaged 11 points and seven rebounds a game while shooting 56 percent from the field at U-Hi last winter.

“The coaching staff and us all think that our team has a lot of potential,” added Clark, who averaged eight points, 10 rebounds and three blocks for a Mead team that finished 27-2 last season. “Everyone is really working hard and I think our team is going to do well.

“It seems like everyone around here has forgotten about last year.”

“Everyone is looking at this year as a new start,” Perno said, “because there’s five new freshmen. We’ve talked about last year and everything, but none of us want to head that way again.”

It becomes obvious, then, that Perno and Clark also share the same vision of GU’s future which leaves playing style as one of the few differences between the two.

Perno, who is 15 pounds heavier, likes things physical and has made her preference known to her teammates since the first day of practice.

“Syd beats everybody else up in practice,” Clark said. “She’s dropped quite a few people. She has active elbows - very active elbows. You don’t want to get in the way of her elbows.”

Perno makes no excuses for her style.

“I like to get down and dirty,” said the 165-pounder. “My basketball coach in AAU used to play against me and he played me real tough, so I had to learn to play physical. That’s how I’ve always been.

“I don’t try to knock people down, they just kind of fall.”

Perno expects to get most of her playing time down low, where she can use her strength and size to mix it up with opponents of the same ilk.

Clark sees her role as more of a swing player, alternating between power forward and the No. 3 spot.

“I’m working on my guard skills a lot more this year,” she said.

Both expect to see substantial playing time, even though neither was recruited by any Division I schools other than Gonzaga.

“There were some big-name players who came out of Spokane last year,” Clark said, “but both of us, we never got a lot of credit for anything.

“But now we have a chance to really make a name for ourselves and help a program out.” , DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo; Graphic: Basketball preview 1996

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: GONZAGA WOMEN’S BASKETBALL ROSTER Name Pos. H W Yr. Hometown Melissa McCullough G 5-8 140 Sr. Post Falls Lydia Ledgerwood G 5-8 135 Jr. Klamath Falls, Ore. Heather Osberg F 6-2 130 Fr. West Vancouver, B.C. Rebekah Sherfey G 5-7 130 So. Duvall Chelsea Herman G 5-5 140 Sr. Kirkland Tennille Jeffries F 5-11 140 Fr. Snohomish Jessica Waltz G 5-8 145 Fr Costa Mesa, Calif. Staci Andrews G 5-6 145 Jr. Arroyo Grande, Calif. Chelsea Clark F 6-1 150 Fr. Spokane Sandy Gere G 5-6 138 Jr. Ione Kristin Deal F 5-11 160 Fr. Kent Annette Steward C 6-1 165 Sr. Katy, Texas Sydney Perno C 6-1 165 Fr. Spokane

Schedule (All times Pacific) Date Opponent Time Nov. 2 Alumni Team (Exhibition) Loss, 80-65 Nov. 8 Brahe, Sweden (Exhibition) Win, 64-60 Nov. 22 at Idaho State Tournament (vs. Idaho State) 6:30 Nov. 23 at Idaho State Tournament 4:00 or 6:30 Nov. 26 at Eastern Washington 6:00 Nov. 30 vs. Washington State (at Spokane Arena) 6:00 Dec. 2 at Montana 6:30 Dec. 6 at Washington State Dial Classic (vs. Weber State) 8:00 Dec. 7 at Washington State Dial Classic 6:00 or 8:00 Dec. 10 at Washington 7:00 Dec. 14 Oregon 5:15 Dec. 28 at Utah 2:00 Jan. 2 Idaho 7:00 Jan. 4 Boise State 5:15 Jan. 10 at Santa Clara 7:30 Jan. 11 at St. Mary’s 7:300 Jan. 16 San Diego 7:00 Jan. 18 San Francisco 7:00 Jan. 24 at Loyola Marymount 7:00 Jan. 25 at Pepperdine 7:00 Jan. 30 Pepperdine 7:00 Feb. 1 Loyola Marymount 7:00 Feb. 5 Portland 5:15 Feb. 8 at Portland 5:15 Feb. 13 at San Francisco 7:00 Feb. 15 at San Diego 7:00 Feb. 20 Saint Mary’s 7:00 Feb. 22 Santa Clara 7:00 Feb. 27 West Coast Conference Tournament (Los Angeles) TBA Feb. 28 WCC Semifinals TBA March 2 WCC Championship TBA