Lady Lancers Still Young, But Experienced
Anthony Gadson
Sports Writer
WINONA LAKE - Last season, the Grace College women's basketball season was young. This year, the Lady Lancers are only slightly older.
"Last year, we had nine freshmen," head coach Scott Blum said. "We had a few not return with local-products Jamie Westness and Andrea Whealy, as well as Kendall Withered, who wanted to be closer to home, but we did pick up a couple new ones."
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Along with the loss of the graduated Tara Drew, Grace lost four girls, but does bring in freshmen Rianne Aguilar, Samantha Fields, Danielle Boykin, as well as 2009 Whitko High School graduate Emily Bidwell.
"Emily Bidwell's been doing a great job," Blum said.
Along with the incoming freshmen, the Lady Lancers also welcome a few transfers this year, including sophomore Danielle Boykins (Indiana Tech), junior Autumn Heflin (Sinclair Community College) and Britny Adams (Lincoln).
"We have experience," Blum said. "I feel that a lot of the girls got a year of experience last year and were able to play a lot of minutes. We are no longer going to play the 'freshman card' like last year."
Blum may not be playing the "freshman card," because he returns four starters in junior Morgan DiAntonio, sophomore Kayla Skaggs, junior Kiera Gray and the team's only senior, Demetria Eley.
"She will be my first four-year player that I recruited," Blum said of Eley. "I had Lauren Zeltwanger a couple of years ago, but she graduated in three years."
His first four-year player to graduate will also be his biggest post presence this year after leading the Lady Lancers with 5.6 rebounds a game and 27 blocks as a junior.
"She has high expectations for herself and the team," Blum said of Eley. "She wants to make a mark in the conference and wants to make her name (at Grace). She wants to be able to look back at her time at Grace, knowing she had a big part in changing things."
Eley will receive some help in the post from sophomore Hayley Cashier, who averaged 6.8 points and 5.1 boards a game.
The junior class is headlined by returning leading scorer Gray.
As a sophomore, Gray led the Lady Lancers with 14.8 points a game, while also posting 65 assists and 50 steals. However, Blum sees her game changing just a bit this year.
"The experience comes from her," Blum said. "She was our most consistent scorer last year, scoring between 14 and 15 points a game, while the rest of the team would have a girl score 18 one night, then three or four the next. So, she's going to have a leadership role. She leads the team with energy and playing hard. She may not need to score as much as last year, because she'll be drawing double teams, and we have enough people she can pass to now."
One of those girls Gray may be able to create for is Skaggs, who averaged 9.8 points a game as a freshman.
"She had a great year," Blum said of Skaggs. "She can shoot from anywhere on the court. She's deadly from mid-range. (Sophomore) Hannah Lengel, our point guard, will also need to be ready to shoot the ball. Last year, she limited her shots, deferring to the upperclassmen, but now she's shooting more."
Another shooter on the team is 6-foot-2 sophomore Kate Ball.
"She's one that can shoot the ball from three-point range," Blum said of Ball. "Autumn Heflin also has a great ability to shoot, but she can also attack the basket."
If everything goes well for the Lancers, barring injuries, Blum's expectations are a top four finish in the Mid-Central Conference, as well as a top 10 finish in NAIA Div. II.
To crack the top four in the MCC, Grace will have to get through four teams ranked in the NAIA Div. II preseason Top 25, including Bethel College (8), Indiana Wesleyan (14), St. Francis (16) and Taylor (23). Huntington University is also receiving votes for the top 25, meaning Grace will need to be on top of the game once the conference season begins Nov. 24 at home against Bethel.
Before going into the Bethel contest, Grace will play seven games, beginning tonight at Holy Cross at 7 p.m., as well as the IU-Southeast Invitational on Nov. 13 and 14.
"We obviously want to win all of our out-of-conference games, but we need to learn from those, win or lose," Blum said.
Another lofty goal for Blum is qualifying for the NAIA Div. II tournament, but if that doesn't happen the Lancers will get an automatic invitation to the NCCAA National Tournament, which will be held at the Orthopaedic Capital Center at Grace in March.
"Our goal is to get into the NAIA tournament, but if we do play in the NCCAA, if we don't win it, we'll feel like we came up short," he said.
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