Women's Basketball 2009-10 Season Preview
COMING UP: at Northwest Nazarene (exhibition), Nov. 6, 7 p.m.
QUICK 2009-10 SYNOPSIS: It will be hard for the Lady Yotes to repeat what they did a year ago – smashing school records, winning 29 games, and advancing to the NAIA Division II National Tournament. However, with a bevy of returning talent and a solid recruiting class, The C of I looks to maintain their perch as one of the premier teams in the Cascade Conference.
CCC PRESEASON POLL: For the first time in program history, the Lady Yotes were picked to win the 2009-10 CCC championship, as the league’s preseason poll was released on Oct. 19. The past two seasons, The C of I was picked second by the coaches in the loop (after four-consecutive years of being picked either fifth or sixth in the league), but the new crew received 93 voter points and four first-place votes to claim the top slot in the ten-team league. Southern Oregon received four first-place votes and finished two points behind the Coyotes, while Concordia, who shared last season’s title with the Yotes, received the remaining two first-place votes and 81 total points. Warner Pacific finished fourth in the polling, followed by Eastern Oregon.
NAIA TOP-25 PRESEASON POLL: A year after elevating to No. 8 in the NAIA Top-25 Coaches Poll, the Lady Yotes will begin the new season among the nation’s elite, earning a No. 12 ranking in the initial national poll, released Oct. 26 by the NAIA. It is the 12th-straight time that the Lady Yotes have been ranked in the Top-25, dating back to last December. It marks the first time that The C of I has begun the season in the Top-25 since 2001 and is the highest preseason ranking for the Lady Yotes since they were No. 6 to start the 2000-01 season – when they advanced to the NAIA Division II national title game. Two other teams from the CCC are in the poll – No. 18 Southern Oregon and No. 21 Concordia, while two non-conference opponents, No. 23 Carroll and receiving votes Westminster, are in the NAIA Division I poll.
LAST SEASON / PLAYERS LOST: The 2008-09 season was a magical run for the Lady Yotes – beginning with an upset of NCAA Division I Weber State, which started a streak of 21-consecutive victories. The squad hung 102 points on Cal Baptist and 98 points at Southern Oregon – both Top-25 teams, while recording nine victories by 20-or-more points. The Coyotes would lose just two league counters – a four-point decision to SOU and an 11-point loss to Concordia, both teams who would join the Lady Yotes at the NAIA Tournament, after The C of I fell to CU, 75-66, in the CCC title game. In Sioux City, Iowa, the Purple and Gold received a No. 4 seed, but were matched up against defending national runners-up Hastings (Neb.) – losing a hard-fought 76-64 contest, as Hastings rolled on to the national championship game. The Lady Yotes will miss senior Christon Vander Esch, who was named CCC Player of the Year, CCC Defensive Player of the Year and earned second-team NAIA All-America honors after averaging 17 points and nine rebounds a game, while setting a school record with 109 steals. She set multiple school records during the year, including 39 points scored vs. Southern Oregon and 15 steals in a game vs. Willamette. Two other contributors will be missed from the squad – including two-year starter ShaNae Horner, who graduated after averaging seven points a game and recorded 56 steals as a senior, and Alexandria Allen, who averaged five points and three assists per game, but decided not to return for her senior year.
POSITION BY POSITION – GUARDS: It is now the fourth year that the Lady Yotes will implement their full-court, high-pressure defensive attack – which is led by the point-guard position. Head coach Reagan Rossi (145-101, 9th year) is blessed to have three talented players at the position, including a pair of seniors that helped christen in the new system. Twin sisters Kayla Isham (Arco, Idaho / Butte County HS) and Katee Brewer (Arco, Idaho / Butte County HS) have been thorns in the side of CCC ball-handlers over the past three seasons – combining for over 200 steals during the 93 games the tandem has played. Isham, who has started at the point the last two years, looks to improve on a junior year that saw her average just three points a game, while Brewer looks to provide big minutes off the bench – having averaged over a steal per game during her career. True freshman Katelin Shannon (Caldwell, Idaho / Vallivue HS) will be the other member of the three-headed monster, coming off an outstanding prep career where she led Vallivue High to four-straight state tournament appearances and earned 5A All-Southern Idaho Conference honors as a senior.
POSITION BY POSITION – WINGS: The Lady Yotes return quality players at the wing, including Nicole Gall (Boise, Idaho / Santa Clara U.), who was tabbed CCC Preseason Player of the Year by the league coaches. The junior, who earned honorable mention NAIA All-America honors, along with All-CCC and All-CCC Defensive Team kudos after averaging 15 points and five rebounds – will definitely be one of the biggest match-up problems opponents will have to contend with. Gall connected on 95 three-point attempts as a sophomore on the offensive end, while recording 95 steals in the high-pressure defensive scheme of the Yotes. Look for big things out of Meghan Hughes (Eagle, Idaho / Bishop Kelly HS), who returns for her sophomore season after a solid rookie campaign. As a freshman, Hughes averaged seven points and three rebounds off the bench, while making 77-percent of her free throw attempts – and will have an expanded role with the club this season. Two newcomers look to be in the regular rotation – transfer Marquina Gilliam-Hicks (Salt Lake City, Utah / Salt Lake CC) and freshman Brette Rubie (Missoula, Mont. / Sentinel HS). Gilliam-Hicks comes to The C of I from Salt Lake CC, where she was an honorable mention All-Region 18 selection last year, averaging nine points and four rebounds per game, while Rubie averaged ten points a game and earned AA All-State honors, helping her team to the state tournament. Other options at the position include freshmen Christine Babij (Ontario, Ore. / Ontario HS) and Mariah McCullough (Lee Vining, Calif. / Lee Vining HS), along with sophomore Mckel Baker (Burley, Idaho / Burley HS).
POSITION BY POSITION – POSTS: The Yotes will have multiple options on the block this season – as five experienced players give Coach Rossi different combinations on the floor. Nicole Bruce (Boise, Idaho / Bishop Kelly HS) started all 34 games last season, averaging seven points and six rebounds a game – and gives the team a true inside presence. The junior 51 blocked shots a year ago and was named to this season’s Preseason All-CCC Team. She will be joined by senior Whitney Owen (Caldwell,Idaho / Vallivue HS), who will miss the first month of the year while she serves as the starting libero on the Coyote volleyball team. Owen had a breakthrough junior year, averaging 12 points and seven rebounds a game – while connecting on 43-percent of her three-point attempts. Also returning are juniors Brianna Hansen (Kuna, Idaho / Kuna HS) and Tyra Rickman (Burns, Ore. / Burns HS), who both give the Yotes some athleticism at the position, along with senior Katie Strunk (Shoshone, Idaho / Walla Walla CC), who is a tenacious rebounder. Also in the mix is 6-1 transfer Rachel Rasmussen (Cleveland, Utah / Coll. of Eastern Utah), who averaged four points and four rebounds a game at the College of Eastern Utah. Two others – transfer Kathryn Beus (Boise, Idaho / Mount Hood CC), who averaged five points and five rebounds in junior college, and returning sophomore Rocky Kenley (Eagle, Idaho / Eagle HS) will also battle for playing time.
NON-CONFERENCE SCHEDULE: The Lady Yotes will again play a difficult preseason schedule, with seven of the nine games away from Caldwell. The C of I will have a pair of high-caliber exhibition games – opening at NCAA Division II national tournament qualifier, Northwest Nazarene, while also visiting NCAA Division I Utah Valley. The opening road trip to Salt Lake City proves to be a tough one – meeting Frontier Conference stalwarts Carroll College, Westminster, and Montana Western. The remaining four non-conference tilts will be against Division III clubs from the Northwest Conference – a neutral site game vs. Willamette, a road match-up at Whitworth, and home games against Whitman and Puget Sound, both among the top teams in their league.
CASCADE CONFERENCE SCHEDULE: Each year, the CCC continues to improve from top-to-bottom, as evident of three teams advancing to the NAIA Tournament last season. Look for Southern Oregon to be one of the premier clubs in the league – returning two-time All-CCC selection in Jacki Speer. Concordia will also be in the mix, returning All-CCC forward Danielle Clauson, along with 6-4 post Ann Snodderly. Warner Pacific has two All-CCC players on their squad in Kelsey Mattsen and Cascade transfer Kristina Schumacher, while Eastern Oregon returns a bevy of talent from a playoff team. A sleeper team in the mix is Oregon Tech – who will have a new coach with a ton of returning players, along with Corban, who returns All-CCC win Katie Steigleman. It is expected that Evergreen State, Northwest, and Northwest Christian will all be improved as well this season.
NEW LOOK HOME FLOOR: Fans will notice a new look to the J.A. Albertson Activities Center when they arrive for the home opener, as the surface received a facelift over the summer. Gone is the painted three-point arc, along with the cursive Yotes at center-court, replaced by a large “CI” logo – while the keys and inside the arc remained unpainted.
RADIO BROADCASTS UNCERTAIN: For the first time in over 50 years, C of I basketball will not be carried live on 1490 KCID-AM, as the parent company, Journal Broadcast Group, has sold the AM frequency – which included all Lady Yote road CCC games. There are efforts, however, being made to find a new flagship station for Coyote basketball – hopefully in time for the 2009-10 season.
LIVE STATS/VIDEO: All C of I home games in 2009-10 will have Live Stats available, via The C of I athletic website at http://yotestats.i8.com/basketball/xlive.htm, while every home game will have free Live Video available online via www.pennatlantic.com.
ABOUT THE COACH: Reagan Rossi begins her ninth season as head coach of the Lady Yotes. During her first eight seasons at The C of I, the native of Mukwonago, Wisc., has compiled a 145-101 overall record, with eight consecutive appearances in the CCC Tournament. Last season, she led the Coyotes to a school record 29-5 season, winning their first CCC title since 2001 - earning a berth to the NAIA Division II National Tournament. The team set a new school record with 21 consecutive wins, highest scoring average, and defeated Weber State for their first-ever NCAA Division I victory. In her first season with the Lady Yotes, Rossi took a team that had one returning starter and only four players with extensive collegiate experience, and brought the Lady Yotes to within one game of the NAIA national tournament. In 2004-05, she led a team which had just two players with considerable experience with the Coyotes, won 20 games, and dropped the CCC Tournament title game to Western Baptist, 60-57. In 2007-08,, she led the team to a third-place finish in the CCC, advancing to the CCC title game, losing in overtime at Southern Oregon. Rossi was no stranger to The C of I, as she was a member of Todd Corman's inaugural coaching staff for two seasons, and was on the bench when the Lady Yotes took to the floor for the first time on Nov. 4, 1995 against Carroll College, ending an 18-year hiatus of women's basketball at the school. Rossi has an extensive background in coaching - having been an assistant coach at Georgetown (Ky.), a fellow NAIA institution, along with Morehead State (Ky.), an NCAA Division I program. Before coming to The C of I in 1995, Rossi was an assistant coach with the Skagway High School boys' varsity team in Skagway, Alaska. A 1994 graduate of Saint Ambrose University in Davenport, Iowa, Rossi played four years of basketball for the Queen Bees. Two of her teams qualified for the NAIA National Tournament, including the 1993-94 squad which advanced into the "Sweet Sixteen." She was the starting point-guard for two seasons, averaging ten points and six assists per game during her senior season. In 2006, she was inducted into the Mukwonago High School Hall of Fame. She and husband Rudy live in Caldwell - and have five-year-old twin daughters, Maggie and Darby.
FOR MORE INFORMATION: For more on The C of I women’s basketball team, head to the official website of the Lady Yotes, www.collegeofidaho.edu/athlete/wmensbasketball.asp.