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College basketball

UF's Mosby plagued by 'what ifs'

GAINESVILLE -- She tries as hard as she can to keep her head clear, but sometimes the thoughts creep into Bernice Mosby's mind.

"What if?"

Coming out of Brooksville's Hernando High last season, Mosby was one of the highly-recruited women's players in the area. She signed with Florida after a long inner struggle, during which she gave oral commitments to several schools, including Connecticut and LSU.

As Florida muddles through one of its worst seasons since 1988, Mosby is playing like a veteran as she battles those demons in her head. Mosby leads the team in scoring (13.1 ppg) and is second in rebounding (8.3). "It (the losing streak) is really hard," Mosby said. "I just think about it sometimes, what if I would have gone to this school or that school? It just sometimes pops into my head, I just think about what if I would have gone to this place or that place. But I'm happy where I am right now. It's not all about winning; it's about what kind of people you're surrounded with."

When Mosby signed with Florida in November 2001, Carol Ross was coach and the Gators had made nine NCAA and two WNIT appearances in 12 years.

She had no way of knowing Ross would leave, and the team would be 8-14 and winless in the conference nine games into the SEC season. Could she have envisioned this?

"Not at all," she said, looking down at the floor before a recent practice. "Looking at all the schools that were recruiting me, I thought Florida was a good team. I didn't think we were No. 1, but I thought we were in the Top 25, and we were building to be like a No. 1 or No. 2 team."

Mosby turned 19 Friday, one day after another Gator loss, 62-51 to Auburn. She was the second-leading scorer for Florida in that game with 11. On Sunday, she and the Gators will try again to earn a conference victory against Alabama. And she will continue to battle those thoughts that creep in from time to time.

"I really believe this is all for a purpose," Mosby said. "Teams may look at us now and say they are sorry. But I think in the future ... we'll all look back and say I can't believe we were like that. We'll grow as a team."

SHARP'S BIG DAY: Texas Tech coach Marsha Sharp vies for career win No. 500 at Baylor today.

Texas Tech (20-2, 9-1 Big 12) is in the middle of its 21st season with at least 20 wins, including 14 consecutive years, all under Sharp who is 499-155. The Raiders are one of three teams (Kansas State and Texas) tied for first in the Big 12.

Part of their success lies in their loyal fan base. They lead the Big 12 with 11,985 fans per home game.

"For about the last decade, it's sort of been the thing to do in Lubbock to be a basketball fan in the winter," Sharp said. "We have a lot of really loyal fans. I don't know what it is.

"We are a close-knit community as far as 250,000 people all built around Texas Tech. ... But when I look around stands and see fans who have been with us a decade or more, you can talk about their loyalty. Whether we're winning or losing, last year was a great example, they still came in big numbers and it's one of the most important parts of our program."

THE END: Jamie Visness, a guard at Concordia-Moorhead, missed Wednesday after making 69 straight free throws, dating to Jan. 28, 2002, and covering 30 games, the longest in NCAA history in any division. Richmond's Ginny Doyle set the mark of 66 in 1991-92. Fans let out a collective groan when the second of a two-shot foul bounced off the back of the rim in the first half of a 74-66 loss to St. Catherine. "It had too much oomph on it," she said.

-- Antonya English covers women's basketball. She can be reached at (813) 226-3389 or english@sptimes.com.

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