|
|
 |
2009-2010 Oglethorpe University Women's Basketball Season Preview
2009-2010 Schedule
After an incredible four year run that saw the Stormy Petrels compile a remarkable 96-26 overall record, earn four trips to the NCAA Tournament including both a Final Four appearance (2008) and a Sweet Sixteen appearance (2009) and finishing each season with a national ranking (No. 9 in 2009), Oglethorpe University women’s basketball head coach Ron Sattele will be looking to make noise in the 2009-2010 season with an entirely new cast of characters. Oglethorpe said good-bye to two All-Americans, Katie Kulavic and Anna Findley, in the graduating class of 2009, and lost the services of SCAC stalwarts Tina Grace, Biz Richmann and Hannah Brooks as well. Gone with these former players are over 95% of Oglethorpe’s scoring and rebounding from last season. So how will coach Sattele fill the void of the vacated Petrel starters? With one of the most talented and deepest recruiting hauls in Oglethorpe women’s hoops history.
Coach Sattele plans to infuse the returning talent from the 2008-2009 squad with a bevy of freshman recruits and transfers to create a winning alchemy in 2009-2010. Among the key returning players are Chelsea MacDonald, a junior guard from Rome, Georgia who possesses a deadly outside shot and Kelley Reeves, a sophomore guard from Cumming, Georgia with great ball control skills. Other key returnees to the roster from last season are senior Taymah Jones, a guard from Decatur, Georgia who missed the past two seasons with injury, junior Ari Brown, a forward rebounding specialist from Snellville, Georgia and in-state sophomore guards Jaime Maxey (Atlanta) and Rena Crossland (Hickory Flat) who each possess a superb shooting touch.
The 2009-2010 roster is also chock full of freshman recruits including guard Morghan Brandon of Chicago, Illinois, guard Riley Cerone of Roswell, Georgia, guard Stephanie Owens of Buford, Georgia, guard Sarah Jones of Ellijay, Georgia, forward Kaci Palmore of Stone Mountain, Georgia, forward Sarah Giles of Marietta, Georgia, guard Mareva Bone of Marietta, Georgia and guard Megan Miles of Cordova, Tennessee. Joining the freshman recruits are transfers who include junior guard Morgan Loughrey of Cumming, Georgia, junior forward Kristin Zipkin of Canton, Georgia and sophomore guard Katie Weeks of Woodstock, Georgia.
Once again, the schedule for the 2009-2010 season is loaded as always with intriguing matchups in both the non-conference slate and the SCAC fixtures. Highlighting the non-conference schedule are dates against in-state rivals Emory (Nov. 17), Agnes Scott (Dec. 2), LaGrange (Dec. 17) and Piedmont (Dec. 28). Also dotting the non-conference schedule are dates against national powerhouse programs like Manchester (Nov. 28), Thomas More (Nov. 29) and Hope College (Dec. 29). As always, the SCAC slate is loaded with high quality games including two against DePauw (Jan. 10 and Feb. 14) and Centre (Jan. 8 and Feb. 12) and a rematch of last season’s SCAC Championship game with Trinity (Jan. 15).
“It should be a fun year to follow Stormy Petrel women’s basketball,” said head coach Sattele, adding, “We have a lot of young talent to infuse into our system of ‘structured chaos’ and I look forward to trying to win another conference championship with this new set of faces.”
|
