The newest team in Columbia, labeled as "The New Cat In Town," comes from good genes in the Cougar family with conference championship teams in men’s basketball, men’s soccer, softball and women’s volleyball, the NAIA national runner-up.

Hickman graduate Tilly Payne, above, shoots over Mindy Micthem in the first Columbia College scrimmage, which pleased choach Mike Davis, below. Mark Schiefelbein photo

Most first-year teams are expected to struggle, but head coach Mike Davis knows that the Cougar faithful expect more from its teams, regardless of how young they are.

Davis has signed 11 players, but only four have previous collegiate experience. Yesterday they met for the first time during an orientation weekend on campus.

Davis looked like the proud father as he watched the team scrimmage in Southwell Gymnasium.

"How many coaches can go out, start a new program, go through each one of the programs we have here and see the success that we have," said Davis, who was hired last August and spent the 2000-01 season building his team. "It didn’t take these recruits long to see that this was going to be a good situation. There’s too much success here at Columbia College for women’s basketball not to follow along in those same lines."

Leading the way for the Cougars are a pair of stellar junior college guards in Missy Wilt and B.J. Homer.

Wilt averaged 16 points last year for Penn Valley Community College (29-4), which was the top-ranked junior college squad for five weeks during the season and finished as the No. 7 seed in the national tournament.

Homer averaged 15 points per game for Northern Oklahoma Junior College (24-8). A tremendous long-range threat, the 5-foot-7 player set a school record with 101 three-pointers.

"We’re very excited about the commitments these junior college guards made to us," said Davis, who coached the women’s basketball team at Central Methodist College for 12 seasons, which included a trip to the NAIA Final Four in 1999. "Missy Wilt and B.J. Homer are very talented players we’re pleased to get. Both of them are very good junior college players, so we expect the same from them here."

For Homer there were many selling points for her to sign with the Cougars.

"I really liked the school and the town," the Moore, Okla. native said. "The basketball program will be a good opportunity because it is in its first year. It will be a great chance for me to come in and play right away.

"It also seemed that Columbia really supported their athletics a lot and it seems like a fun place to go to school."

In the front court, a familiar face will be fighting for rebounds this fall. Hickman graduate Tilly Payne, who averaged 14 points and seven boards a game last season for the Kewpies, knows that being the only Columbia native on the squad has its price.

"I have a lot of people I know who will come out and support me," Payne said. "I guess that puts on a little bit of pressure on me to do my part on the team and try to do my best. I know that whether I start or don’t start, I’ll have a lot of people in the community supporting me."

Davis also stayed in the area to land recruits such LaTasha Butler of Marshall, and CMC transfer Katie Dorson of Salisbury. Mindy Mitchem of Springfield, Katie Dougherty of Cape Girardeau and Lacey Collins of Nixa provide Missouri ties.

With the success of Sweet 16 finisher Missouri and Final Four qualifier Southwest Missouri State, the state of Missouri has become a recent hotbed for women’s basketball, much to the delight of Davis.

"Anytime you get to see good basketball, it only promotes it," he said. "With the women’s game, and the success that SMS and MU had last year, women’s basketball has never been stronger in the state of Missouri than it is now. We need to do our part to add to that."