Jan. 6, 2004

During its first 10 games, Wake Forest's women's basketball team has been a team in search of its identity. The 2003-04 team has just three seniors, and going into the season the Deacons looked like they would be a guard-oriented team. Guards Tonia Brown and Bianca Brown account for two of the three seniors and provide a wealth of experience. But as the year has unfolded sophomore forward Liz Strunk and junior forward Erin Ferrell have surprisingly emerged as reliable impact players for Deacon head coach Charlene Curtis.

Entering the Dec. 21 East Carolina game, Ferrell and Strunk ranked as the second and third leading scorers on the team and, despite being somewhat undersized for their positions, have found a way to make the Deacons tougher on the inside at both ends of the floor.

"It's surprised me because I thought we would have a couple of guards that would be leading the team with Tonia (Brown) and Cotelia (Bond-Young)," Curtis said. "I thought they would be leading us in more of a dominant fashion. But it's been nice because we've been able to throw the ball inside. Liz and Erin are intelligent and have a good feel for the game. They're smart people and make good decisions. I'm just happy they've made the improvements they have made."

The improvements of which Curtis speaks deal with strength and versatility. Both roughly at 6-0, Ferrell and Strunk have quickly learned teams will try to match up underneath with superior size. So both have tried to diversify their games to keep the competition honest. Ferrell was averaging 10.9 points, 3.7 rebounds and 20.4 minutes per game while Strunk managed 10.8 points, 4.9 rebounds and 27.2 minutes per contest. Through 10 games, Strunk has posted double figures six times and Ferrell has fit into the role as the first player and spark off the bench.

"Erin and Liz are our two best inside players right now, which isn't that big when we go with that lineup," Curtis said. "They'll go 4 and 5 - those two positions for us. At times I would like to have Liz at the 3 because she's having to battle defensively in the post. Somebody's going to have to help us to get us some more size in there.

"But Liz and Erin have both gotten better, and that's what you would hope for your players. You hope that in the offseason they work on their game. Liz needed to be in better condition. She needed to be on the floor for longer stretches of time and to be a little bit quicker. She needed to be toned and stronger. Last year at this time, she couldn't score at all with her back to the basket. That's been the biggest improvement. Last year she would stand outside and shoot the three, and this year she developed more of a mid-range jumper. Our first six or seven games she and Erin both were blazing up the floor.

"With Erin I think there are times she passes the ball when she had open looks. We yell at Erin because she passes up shots. I think she's a difficult person to defend. She's not quite a back to the basket post player, yet she's got some solid post moves, and then she can step away or go by you. She just has an uncanny way of getting the ball to the basket."

Unique as they are, it is their chemistry that has helped the Deacons to an early season winning record. Oddly enough, the chemistry that now exists would not have been predicted a season ago. Two players who are now almost inseparable didn't have the best first impressions of each other. Ferrell hails from Gaithersburg, Md., while Strunk came to Wake Forest from Chattanooga, Tenn. Varying backgrounds and similar personalities didn't immediately mesh.

"We laugh at each other because we didn't like each other at first," Ferrell said. "I didn't know about her. But after the season last year, we just clicked. Our parents click, and we're two very similar people but are yet very different. We complement each other very well. It's fun to have a little sister on the team. I know sometimes she gets mad at me."

"We like to be well-rounded people with school and social life," Strunk said. "But we have a good chemistry on the floor, and it comes from being such good friends off the floor.

After getting to know one another, the two learned they shared a love for shopping and have similar fashion sense. They even borrow each other's clothes, something they could never do growing up because they were so much taller than their friends. They share similar interests in music, and over the summer it wasn't uncommon for the two to call each other almost every day. The friendship has translated to improved play for both, and Curtis now having the options to substitute one for the other, or play Ferrell and Strunk together. Those options didn't present themselves a season ago.

Last season Strunk and Ferrell always defended each other and rarely played together, primarily because both provide a smaller post presence. Even now when Strunk and Ferrell play, they face girls that are an average of five inches taller. But over the summer and during individual workouts, the two played together more and found they loved being on the floor at the same time. Because of their size, both Ferrell and Strunk describe themselves as "feisty" players and have been able to teach and share parts of their games to make both more complete players.

"I've actually learned a lot from Erin because she's so good at the up and under moves and with her back to the basket," Strunk said. "I feel like I can learn going against her in practice every day. She'll knock me down, and we're very aggressive against each other, but we learn from each other. We're both very fundamental players, so there is always something you can learn each day."

"Liz can find the openings in every kind of offense, and that's my biggest flaw," Ferrell said. "I watch her attack the gaps and learn where the open shots are. We feed off each other. We both know we're not the strongest players, but we learn to work around that and play smarter."

Curtis said she has talked a lot about looking at minutes played and shooting percentage. She fully realizes Strunk and Ferrell have been posting productive minutes and shooting the ball better than the perimeter players, and she thinks they should be getting more looks, more touches. And as the 2003-04 team develops its identity, Strunk and Ferrell may be inheriting more of a leadership role. It's a role they may not have asked for, but one their competitiveness should support.

"I think Erin and I need to step up more and be more vocal and have a less selfish attitude toward leadership," Strunk said. "I think we're getting pushed into the role whether we want to or not, and we have to accept it and make something of it. It's ours to take and we have to set the tone for the team."