Tech freshmen making a difference on basketball courts

By MARK BABINECK / Associated Press Writer

LUBBOCK - They may be inexperienced, but Melinda Schmucker and Rayford Young have gotten the point.

Each point guard has parlayed a high school state championship into a breakout debut at Texas Tech, helping lead the women's and men's teams into the Top 25.

"I think she has that kind of look on her face that you want your point guard to have," Lady Raiders coach Marsha Sharp said of Schmucker. "I'm pleased with the kind of demeanor she's had. I hope the rest of the team catches on."

Schmucker assumed the starting job right away and leads No. 11 Tech in assists in the Lady Raiders' 6-2 start. Months after carrying little Nazareth to its 13th Class 1A girls' championship, losing doesn't come easy to the youngest of six in an athletic family.

"I'm just glad to be here," said Schmucker, who like Young was widely recruited. "I just hope I can do all the things coach Sharp expects of me."

Young is the first man off the bench for coach James Dickey's 7-1 Raiders, who have ascended to No. 20 despite a Dec. 14 loss to Texas Christian in which Young couldn't do much right.

"I felt like I let myself down, I let my coaches down and, most importantly, I let my team down," said Young after he sizzled in the next game, a blowout of Texas-San Antonio three nights later. "I can't get it back in one game, but I first want to take small steps and get better every time."

Like Schmucker, Young led his Texas Panhandle high school to a state championship last March, scoring 33 points to lift Pampa past Dallas Madison in the final game.

The most striking similarity between the 19-year-olds is their hatred of failure &emdash; whether it's Young burying his head in his hands when he makes a silly foul or Schmucker sobbing after the Lady Raiders loss to defending national champion Tennessee.

Fortunately for both of them, their coaches hate losing, too.

"He knows he can't play like a freshman, so we are not going to allow him to," Dickey said.