Dawn Staley has always been a competitor, and the South Carolina women's basketball coach refuses to give up.
During a recent practice scrimmage, a frustrated Staley stops the action with a word, then shouts to make her point to the Lady Gamecocks.
''We've got to show discipline,'' she yells.
Two years into Staley's rebuilding job at South Carolina, she is being forced to practice what she preaches from the bench as she stays the course with a program struggling to compete in the Southeastern Conference.
''There's something on the other side of what we're going through,'' Staley said.
The Gamecocks, 24-33 under Staley, looked to be several steps further down that championship path. Before last season, Staley landed perhaps the highest-rated prospect South Carolina had gotten in any sport in 6-foot-5 Kelsey Bone, last year's SEC newcomer of the year.
Staley also brought in Valerie Nainima, a smooth-shooting three-point specialist who finished fifth in the SEC in scoring last season.
Bone's growing post presence and Nainima's outside threat looked to be the perfect combo to lead the Gamecocks back to the NCAA tournament.
Then, suddenly, the landscaped changed.
Bone stunned her coaches and teammates in March when she opted to transfer closer to her home at Texas A&M.
Nainima was lost in August to knee surgery and is not expected back until sometime during SEC play early next year.
That leaves Staley with a stripped down version of a team that finished under .500 in the SEC for the fourth straight season.
''Of course, we would love to have some different people in the lineup, love to have that,'' Staley said of Bone and Nainima. ''So we're just going to embrace the ones that we have.''
Staley hopes to use speed and defensive tenacity to make up for the mismatches the Gamecocks will see this season. Their tallest players are 6-foot-1. All other SEC teams have at last three players listed at 6-2 or better.
''It's no secret that we're a smaller team in the SEC, but we're also one of the more athletic teams,'' said Jewel May, a senior.
Who will make up for Bone's 14 points and 9 rebounds a game?
''Committee,'' Staley says with a shrug.
Staley has few regrets about Bone's short stay at South Carolina. She never sugarcoated the difficult practices or the mantle that would be placed on Bone's shoulders to take the Gamecocks to the top. Still, Bone thought it best to depart for a program that won the Big 12 Conference.
''I followed the Aggies throughout the season and NCAA tournament,'' Bone said.
While the move came as a shock, the team did not splinter or give up on its goals to improve. The Gamecocks stood shoulder-to-shoulder behind their coach when she discussed Bone's transfer to the media last spring, then went about getting ready for the season.
''We just kind of took it for what it was,'' May said. Bone ''came and she gave us what she had and she left. We wish her all the best and that's pretty much all we think about.''
Staley acknowledged the hit South Carolina took in the eyes of recruits after Bone's decision.
''But we did a good job of damage control,'' she said.
South Carolina attracted highly regarded forward Kayla Brewer, one of ESPN's top 60 prospects who took part in the under-16 and under-17 USA Team trials the past two seasons. She picked the Gamecocks over schools such as Stanford and SEC rivals Georgia and Auburn.
Nine of South Carolina's 13 players are juniors or seniors, schooled for the past two years in Staley's fast-paced style.
''I think we're going to take steps forward this year, I do,'' insisted Staley.
She came to South Carolina in 2008, giving up a successful Temple program - her Owls reached six NCAA tournaments in eight years - in her hometown of Philadelphia to compete in the SEC.
The three-time Olympic gold medalist promised excitement and victories. After her 10-18 debut season in 2009, Staley had a first-person take on the that year's NCAA tournament in The New York Times where she vowed the Gamecocks would no longer sit on the sideline observing March Madness.
Instead, Bone's departure and Nainima's injury could again delay that pledge with the season ready to start Friday against No. 5 Xavier.
''I'm in my junior year at South Carolina,'' Staley said of year three. ''People pick up things by their junior year.''
Don't forget that Staley first reached the Final Four at Virginia as a sophomore. She says she'll spend as much time as necessary turning the Gamecocks into winners - and it might not be as long as some imagine.
''I think,'' she says, ''we're in a good place.''
