The USCB Sand Shark women have 13 games remaining in their 2024-25 campaign, beginning with a Donnybrook versus North Georgia this afternoon at 1:30.
While the men will compete for Peach Belt Conference supremacy, the women are fighting for respect. The three-win Sand Sharks look like a team on the precipice of something special: the kind of run Pheidippides himself planned but knew not the celebration.
Sharon Versyp won 300 games at Purdue before deciding a curtain call at USCB was appropriate. Winning is not the reason a great coach teaches the game; as former Vanderbilt and G-League star Matthew Fisher-Davis articulated on this week’s LowcoSports Lowdown, “winning is a consequence” of doing the right things consistently.
Versyp’s recruiting strategy is becoming evident as a Big 3 of stardom has emerged this season under the shadow of injury.
Brielle Bartelt is the Senior leader Versyp chooses to sit for tipoff, opting to start sophomore Taniyah “Mighty Mouse” Bowman at the point when she’s healthy. In this game, Lydia Gattozzi drops a three in the first Sand Sharks possession. As Georgia College runs their first offensive play, Versyp observes her opponent’s preferred matchup, leans over to the senior, Bartelt, and asks her what she sees. Moments later, Bartelt checks into the game with the adjustments her coach seeks. With Bartelt on the floor, a full-court defensive press is logical as Gattozzi creeps into the 2-guard to the surprise of the opponent.
Missing in this start is the Jackal, Sheridan Bostic, a fifth-year senior who expects to return this Saturday at the Cove. The Jackal earned her stripes by making her first six 3-pointers and finishing 7-of-9 from beyond the arc in her first full game in a USCB uniform — a win Jan. 4 against Clayton State.
Bostic’s outside shooting prowess is the secret sauce to the Sand Shark offense, stretching the opposing defense and creating susceptibility to the attacks of slasher Gattozzi and perimeter shooters Maddie Self and Brielle Bartelt.
The Sharks Big 3, with Bart setting the table for her elite wings, is bolstered by the play of Janiyah Heyward, a sophomore who plays like vintage Dennis Rodman on her best nights and a Rasheed Wallace on a contract year when frustrated. Starting 0-for-12 from the field in her previous matchup, Heyward’s mentality is her incumbrance. The sophomore’s physicality is unmatched at a modest 5-7, but her shot selection sometimes rivals that of a pick-up game. When focused on possession and off-ball screen and roll, Heyward is an energizer.
Twin towers roam the center position for the Sharks, as freshman Brianna Pelote flanks Shaniya Rose, an outstanding British import and rim protector from Nottingham. Should Pelote perfect the pick and roll, the future of the Sharks offense may become the dynamic force coach Sharon Versyp surely envisioned on signing day.
Gattozzi has been the Sand Sharks’ most consistent player. “Catwoman” dropped a career-high 22 points this month with her co-stars out with injuries versus Georgia Southwestern. Gattozzi’s reflexive passing and floor IQ are unmatched as she physically dominates her opponents inside when they switch a guard onto her imposing frame. Gattozzi’s recent play at the 2-guard, as she is often being depended upon in press breakers to run the point, demonstrates a deep toolbox of skills that her teammates’ injuries have forced her to dig into.
If you show up for the red-hot and high-flying men’s team, that’s great. Saturdays are apparently for the boys. As this writer watches on a screen, please, show up for the women. This team is special. Show up and see what happens.
As Gattozzi said after the loss to Georgia College on Wednesday, “No one can shoot the ball like Sheri.”
If the Jackal feasts today, anything is possible.
Kevin Libby is a contributor to LowCo Sports. Kevin is a former WHHI-TV News Anchor and current Sports Broadcaster.