Coyer twins set the tone for Villanova women

At practice, Villanova women's basketball coach Harry Perretta sometimes hears one of his players giving a teammate a hard time, so he turns around, ready to tell her to knock it off.

Then he'll see it's the twins.

No way he's getting in the middle of that, Perretta said, not when sophomore guards Caroline and Katherine Coyer occasionally start in on each other.

"It's comical," Perretta said. "It's funny when they yell at each other in games. They'll run back [on defense], and Katherine is telling Caroline to pick somebody up, and Caroline doesn't; Katherine will just flip on her."

These two actually are as close as you'd expect twins to be - although they decided not to live with each other - and are two huge reasons Villanova has pulled off another 20-win season.

They are part of a strong backcourt that includes senior guard Devon Kane, a top defender who also leads 'Nova in scoring and assists. The trio of guards has the Wildcats easily leading the nation in fewest turnovers (8.7 a game).

This, by the way, isn't a which twin is which kind of tale.

"They're different personalities beyond belief, and they're different players," Perretta said.

The twins from Oak Hill, Va., like that their coach recognizes that. It's a big reason they chose Villanova, they said.

Caroline was the blue-chipper, Katherine the one with mostly mid-major looks. Caroline can be flashy, Katherine is always steady. Once they committed to playing college ball together, Perretta quickly decided both could help him. He was right.

Last year, Caroline played as a reserve, while Katherine sat out, planning to redshirt. Then Caroline got hurt midway through the conference season, and Perretta talked to Katherine about how even playing a partial season might help Villanova get to the NCAA tournament, which is how it played out. The bonus for both: They want to graduate together.

Now, it's Katherine who is starting, while Caroline comes quickly off the bench, at her own request, liking the role.

"Caroline possesses so much natural ability," Perretta said. "She can get a shot any time she wants. She's the kind of guard, if she wants to get a shot, we just clear out.

"Katherine is much steadier on defense, Katherine guards the other team's best guard all the time," the coach said. "Katherine will be in position all the time. Caroline will go for a steal and give up a three.

"The Marquette game, Caroline won the game by herself. The last eight minutes of the game, we did not run one play. We just cleared out, let her take it one-on-one, which it isn't my thing. But I'm smart enough to know when I have a player who can do it."

Conversely, Caroline can have scoring droughts.

"She can also be horrendous. Not bad. Horrendous!" Perretta said. "St. John's, it was like anti-Marquette. She missed, what, seven shots in a row? Couldn't hit the rim. Katherine is just the exact opposite, Miss Steady."

The Coyers, whose older brother, Chris, just finished playing football at Temple, agree with every part of their coach's assessment. (Maybe not the horrendous part, but they've gotten used to Perretta-speak).

"She has all the intangibles," Caroline said of Katherine, pointing out she had 20 points in that St. John's game.

"Eighteen," Katherine said.

"Same thing," Caroline said. "She's going to get the rebound, she's going to get defensive stops. She's going to just be a solid person. Whereas I might take breaks on 'D'. You know, I'm more of an offensive-minded player.''

Their play kind of mirrors their personalities off the court.

"Katherine's a little more reserved, I'm a little more outgoing," Caroline said.

Is there anything about the other that drives the twins a little nuts?

Katherine: "Yeah, when she gets in foul trouble."

Caroline: "I might take a shirt out of her closet, and she gets mad."

Katherine: "Or five shirts, and bring them back not on hangars."

They decided not to live together just to make sure they made other friends, and it worked, they said. They still live down the hall from each other, and room together on the road.

Perretta did mix them up once this season. He started screaming at Katherine for not switching on a screen late in a game. He yelled at her more in the locker room afterward, and then had her come up on the bus to go over the play. When Perretta was through, Katherine finally said: "With all due respect, I don't want to be a jerk; it was Caroline."

"She just took it until she knew I was calm," Perretta said with a laugh.