With the start of the Troy women’s basketball season just a few days away, the Trojans are going through their final preparations.

While depth is an area for concern, the returning players should provide Troy with a core to build around.

Alyce Shearing, Brittnie Davis, Donette McNair and Kirsten “Mookie” Smith all return this season after impressive 2008-09 campaigns and all spent time over the off-season focusing on improving their games.

“They’ve worked very, very hard,” Murphy said. “Alyce Shearing played in the World University Games for her native Australia, which is a major deal. That’s a major international competition.”

While Shearing had the honor of playing in an international competition, the other Trojans were working on getting better in more conventional ways.

“Brittnie Davis was here all summer working out,” Murphy said. “Donette McNair was working out back home. Mookie Smith was home for part of the summer session, and back here for the second part.”

The group of Shearing, Davis, McNair and Smith was key for Troy during its February stretch run last season, and Murphy said he expects that to carry over into the 2009-10 season.

“We had an exceptional month of February, where we only lost one game,” Murphy said. “During that stretch, we had several people step up and get career highs. We had a couple get two career highs within that month. These girls all were major, major contributors and we could not have had the success we had last year without them. They’re all back, so that encourages me.”