Former Ram doing just fine at Mount St. Mary's

Mount St. Mary's has discovered something VCU fans learned first-hand a couple years ago - the more Jackie Brewer plays, the better she performs.

Brewer, who transferred from VCU to the Mount after making the Colonial Athletic Association All-Rookie team in 2010-11, averaged just 2.6 points and 1.4 rebounds in 49 minutes over her first five games. She was then inserted into the starting lineup and has averaged 10.2 points over her last four contests. The Mount had a 1-4 record with Brewer coming off the bench. They've gone 3-1 with her as a starter.

The hot stretch includes a career-high16-point effort on Dec. 8 in a win over Navy. Her previous high was 14 points against Virginia Tech as a freshman at VCU on Nov. 21, 2010. That game was part of a strong opening stretch of games with the Rams by Brewer, who notched 11 points in her college debut and earned CAA Rookie of the Week honors within her first month.

But Brewer saw her minutes shrivel when Andrea Barbour became eligible after the first semester of the 2010-11 season. Barbour went on to become an All-CAA performer; Brewer did not log more than 14 minutes in any game after Barbour's arrival and posted single-digit minutes in 12 of her last 14 games.

Whether there were other factors that led to Brewer's transfer isn't clear. We do believe that the Rams certainly could have used her last season when they struggled to find consistent production after Barbour and Courtney Hurt. We're also pretty sure that a player who scored 2,412 points in high school would have thrived in new VCU coach Marlene Stollings' shooter-friendly system.

But if her last four games are any indication, it looks as though things are working out just fine for Brewer at Mount St. Mary's.

Ex-VCU guard Brewer now at Mt. St. Mary's

Former VCU guard Jackie Brewer, the first Rams freshman to earn CAA All-Rookie honors in five years, has transferred to Mount. St. Mary's. Brewer will have three years of eligibility at the Mount after sitting out the 2011-12 campaign.

"Jackie is a player we recruited out of high school and we are happy that she has decided to join our basketball family now," Mount St. Mary's coach Bryan Whitten said. "Plain and simple, Jackie can score. She shoots the three and has a good pull-up. Defenses have to pay attention to where she is and that will provide her teammates some opportunities. Even though she cannot play this season, she can practice with us and playing against her daily will help our team improve."

A Winchester native, Brewer displayed star-stuff right out of the box for the Rams last season, scoring 11 points in her college debut and picking up conference co-rookie of the week honors after a 14-point effort against Virginia Tech. But Brewer's minutes/productivity may have been the one casualty of the otherwise spectacular re-emergence of All-CAA teammate Andrea Barbour. Brewer played in 29 minutes in the game before Barbour, a transfer, established her eligibility, and 20 in Barbour's Rams debut on Dec. 23 at Radford. Brewer did not play more than 14 minutes in any game the rest of the season and logged single-digit minutes in 12 of her last 14 games.

Brewer finished the season averaging 4.2 points and was third on the team with 19 3-pointers. She was the first VCU freshman to make the all-rookie team since Quanitra Hollingsworth in 2006.