The Sacramento State women’s basketball team is off to a bit of a shaky start, but with new head coach Jamie Craighead and a new style of play, the team is aiming to win by implementing some changes this season.

The team is 3-7 overall with a win over the University of Washington, a Pacific-10 Conference school, and a five-point overtime loss to UNLV.

Craighead said she will try to help her team adapt to the changes.

“Our preseason non-conference schedule is used to implement the system that we are playing, to get game experience and to get our kids used to what we are doing,” Craighead said. “I am a new coach, and we are doing things a lot different than we did before.”

Craighead, a former assistant coach, was promoted to head coach in May.

“When you are an assistant coach there are specific things you are responsible for, but now as a head coach, I am in charge and responsible for everything,” Craighead said. “I have my hand in everything.”

Craighead said she is trying to get the team to play a faster-paced, full-court game.

“We want to get a shot up the first six seconds of the shot clock, we want to take the first open available shot and we want to be putting up 85 shots a game opposed to last year only averaging 55 shots per game,” Craighead said.

Craighead said last year, the team played a strictly half-court defensive game. This year, however, the women are practicing a full-court pressure defense with different trapping schemes. She said the women are setting a more up-tempo fast-pace style of playing in hopes of more successful conference play this season.

“I love the style of play they are using, they are more aggressive and more fast pace this year,” said CSU Fullerton head coach Marcia Foster. “Craighead is doing a great job, I like the style of play she is implementing.

The women have had to adapt to the new style of play rather quickly, as the new system was introduced at the beginning of the season.

Junior guard Jasmine Cannady said after each game, the team discusses what went right and wrong after each performance.

“Every game we learn something different; it is either we should have pressed harder on offense or we should have pressed harder on defense or we should have grabbed more offensive rebounds,” Cannady said.

Players said Sac State’s loss against UC Davis was one of those learning experiences. The team started a bit slow, but toward the end of the game, the women gained a bit of confidence and were executing the fast-pace style of play they are working on this season.

“If we would have played the whole game how we played the second half I feel, better yet I know, we would have came out with a win,” said senior forward Charday Hunt. “I learned that basically we need to fight a full game not just play the second half; we have to play the full 40 minutes.”

Portland State head coach Jim Sollars said he believes the new faster-pace style of play suits the Hornets well.

“They have had a rough few years and went through several coaches over the years,” Sollars said. “But I have known Craighead for a while and I know she is a good coach. She has been doing a good job with the women and I am sure they are going progress and do well.”

Cannady said the Hornets are trying to give the fans and followers of women’s basketball an exciting team to watch.

“Expect for Sac State women’s basketball to surprise you guys this season,” Cannady said.