Fresno State Athletics
Leading the Young
12/12/1999 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 12, 1999
By Lisa Deaver, Fresno State Media Relations
A challenge has been set for the Fresno State women?s basketball team. Their roster is only eight players deep, five of whom are freshman. There are only three upperclassmen, one of whom is Amanda Baker. At times this season four freshman are on the floor at the start of the game.
"Coach said at the beginning of the season, our freshmen won?t have time to be freshmen. At the end of this season they will already be juniors based on how much time they will have played. My role on the team this season is to be a leader. The freshman look to us, the upperclassmen, to explain how the team and college game works." Baker said.
She?s had two years to prepare for this task and she understands what the freshmen are going through. In Baker?s freshman year at Fresno State, she played in all 28 games and was named to the 1998 All-WAC Newcomer Team. In her sophomore year she felt like a freshman all over again.
"It was hard at first transitioning from Coach Wunder my freshman year to a brand new coach and system my second year," Baker said. "Now in our second year with Coach King, we have five freshmen. At the beginning of this season we were pushed to become a team fast."
Baker, from Porterville, Calif., had a successful four years at Monache High School. She earned three East Yosemite League MVP awards, four All-League selections, and as a senior made the Fresno Bee All-Star team.
"It?s great being able to play so close to Porterville. It means a lot of my friends and family can come to the games," Baker said. Her parents, Gerry and Tom Baker, rarely miss a game played in California.
"They have definitely been my biggest supporters, my whole family has been," Baker said. Baker is especially looking forward to the Loyola Marymount game where she will face one of her Monache High School teammates, sophomore Bryn Britton.
"There?s quite a few of us who have gone on and it?ll be great to play against someone you?re used to playing with. We both expect a lot of people from Porterville to come out to the game," Baker said.
The Bulldogs started off this season by making a strong showing in their first tournament and exhibition games which surprised many, even themselves. The Lady Bulldogs have talent, and with a young team they should see success in the years to come. For now, Amanda Baker is ready to lead the Bulldogs into every game with confidence.
"We have already surprised ourselves both good and bad. In our first games we proved what we can do, then when we met up with Boise State at the Fresno State Classic, we forgot to show up. In that game we saw how bad our season can be, we don?t want that," Baker said. Amanda Baker still has one more full season of Bulldog basketball left. After Fresno State she hopes of teaching and coaching high school basketball.
"Basketball has been such a big part of my life, I really don?t think of a future without it," Baker said. Perhaps in a few years she will be coaching a high school basketball team. As for now, Coach Britt King will make the calls and Baker will eagerly accept any challenge put before her.
