By Justin Clear-Vekinis, News Correspondent
With the addition of 6-foot-3-inch freshmen forwards Sierra Mendenhall and Jewel Tunstull, and 6-4 sophomore forward Christine Huber, who transferred from Rutgers University last season, the women’s basketball team is in a tall position to advance further in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Tournament than it did last season.
“We’ve added three new kids who are above 6-3 that is going to help on the defensive end with grabbing rebounds and doing things we weren’t too successful at last year,” head coach Daynia La-Force Mann said. “The addition of the new players marks a change in the Huskies’ defensive positions.”
La-Force Mann said last season’s highlights were the 100-94 triple-overtime upset over Old Dominion University Jan. 7, as well as the team’s advancement in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Tournament. The Huskies defeated Georgia State University 46-42 March 11 in the first round of the conference tournament, but lost to ODU in the championship match 68-49 March 12.
“I think that this year we will be in a good position to move up on the conference,” La-Force Mann said.
The fifth-year head coach said she looks to lean on her 10 returning players to help lead the team. This season, the team features five sophomores, three juniors and two seniors.
Junior guard Kashaia Cannon, who ranked fourth in scoring on the team last season, averaging 7.5 points per game, echoed La-Force Mann’s comments about the strength of the team.
“If we work hard then we’re going to do better or just as good as we did last year,” Cannon said. “We’re a young team, but we have people who are stepping up already.”
La-Force Mann also said she is optimistic about the veteran backcourt.
“There’s a lot of experience coming back in that backcourt, which I’m going to look to lean on,” she said.
This season’s squad will be without several key players from last year’s team. The team graduated two senior forwards: Kim Carr, who averaged 12.0 points-per-game, and Kendra Walton, who averaged 10.4 points-per-game.
In addition, junior guard Brittany Wilson, who led the team with 14.1 points-per-game, transferred to La Salle University. Wilson was ranked ninth in the CAA in scoring last year, and was selected for the All-CAA third team.
However, the team can look to returning top scoring junior guards Jamie Conroy and Cannon to add some firepower, having averaged 6.3 and 7.5 points-per-game respectively.
“There is a lot of talent on this team,” La-Force Mann. “We had 10 different starting line-ups last season, and 11 out of our 12 kids [averaged] their career highs last season.”
La-Force Mann said she’s excited about her players and their offensive style, which allows more passing and options for shooting 3-pointers as well as getting up close to the basket.
“The offense that we’re running now, will give us the opportunity to share the ball and really give people a chance to shoot wide open threes and really get to the basket and score,” La-Force Mann said. “It’s an offense that’s really based on sharing the basketball and I think that with that mentality a lot of people will have an opportunity to step up in a scoring role for us.”
The Huskies open their season on the road tomorrow against Syracuse University, which finished 25-11 last season, at 9:30 p.m. The Huskies return home for a game Tuesday at 7 p.m. against a Mid-American Conference team, Kent State, at Solomon Court.
