Women's Basketball Attracts Fresh Faces
By Ezekiel Pfeifer
Sports Associate

This year’s Pomona-Pitzer women’s basketball team is young, but highly spirited and anxious to start playing in this upcoming 2003-2004 winter sports season. Last year, the Sagehen women went 6-18 overall and had a 4-10 record in the SCIAC; as a result, those hoping for a more successful season are counting on this team’s youthful enthusiasm.

Only slightly more than half of last year’s squad is returning this year, with six of the eleven players on last year’s roster on the current team. The only two returning seniors on the team are guard Autumn Niibu, who averaged 5.9 points per game and had a .329 three-point shooting percentage last year, and Lindsay Hill, who put up 8.4 points per game and had 13 blocks on the season last year.

Other returning upperclassmen include juniors Betty Chernack and Shelagh Jane-Cooley. Chernack is a 5’8” guard who started in all but one of last season’s 24 games, and put up impressive numbers in the process: she led the team in steals with 49 (2.0 per game) and led the team in assists with 60 (2.5 per game).

Forward Jane-Cooley also made important contributions to last year’s team with more than 1 steal per game and 4.4 rebounds per game, in addition to her 5.7 points per game.

Sophomores Caroline Crocker and Alexandra Schaible also return for the Sagehens. At 6’3”, two inches taller than any of her teammates, Crocker is literally the centerpiece of the team. Last year, she had the second highest field-goal percentage on the team at .423 and pulled down 5.3 rebounds per game. Fellow center and sophomore Schaible complements Crocker well. A 6’1” forward who can also play forward, Schaible played in most of last year’s games and made vital contributions when she played.

The freshmen will make a huge contribution this season. With six fresh faces, there are now as many freshmen as there are sophomores and upperclassmen on the team.

Kathy Connell is the head coach of the P-P women. Connell says she wants her teams “to play hard and smart — and smart implies playing together.” She is confident that then “the winning will take care of itself.” This philosophy of play keeps the focus of the team on playing well, rather than the scoreboard or conference standings.

Connell joined Pomona-Pitzer in 1996. Previously, she had coached women’s basketball at Occidental College for four years, Colgate College for twelve years, and Smith College for four years. She currently serves on the NCAA Division III West Region Ranking Committee.

The Sagehens’ first game is on Saturday, November 22, against California Baptist University, a non-conference game. The Hens will continue to play non-conference opponents until mid-January, when they face off against regional rival Occidental at home on January 13.