Women's Basketball 2008-09 Season Outlook

WILLIAMSTOWN, MA — When Williams College head coach Pat Manning gazes at her roster — on paper and/or at practice — she doesn’t see a starting line-up, but rather 13 women she feels can contribute to the success of the Ephs’ 2008-09 season.

Manning welcomes five new first-years to a team that finished 16-9 last season. Couple those newbies to four sophomore returnees and you can see Williams leans young this year. But with First Team All-NESCAC guard Mika Peterman returning and other veterans expected to fill key roles, Manning sees this as a season of promise.

“I’m very excited about working with this group because we have a team of kids who want to play together, want to work hard, and they want to be challenged. It’s a fun group to coach because their attitude is so great.”

The good news for Manning is she has her top four scorers returning from a squad that averaged just under 68 points per game in 2007-08. The top scorer is the veteran Peterman, who notched 15.3 ppg and was second on the team in assists and steals. She’ll be a tri-captain along with fellow seniors Lindsay Millert, a post player, and Patricia Ludwig, a guard.

The other top scorers returning are all sophomores. Post Chessie Jackson notched 12.8 ppg,, swing guard/forward Taylor Shea netted 11.1 ppg. and forward Jessica Harris scored 8.7 ppg.

“Our seniors have done an outstanding job,” Manning said. “When you have such a young team, the seniors are responsible for getting them ready to go and feeling comfortable together. I think they organized things really well in the fall and, as a result, when Nov. 1 rolled around, these kids were ready to go and very excited to start.”

The only other upperclassman on the squad is junior Elizabeth Hansen, a 5-foot, 9-inch guard who has shown the ability to score from the outside. Despite only playing 4.9 minutes per game last year, she finished fourth on the team in three-pointers with 10. Peterman led the team with 64. In addition, sophomore Maddie King provides depth at the guard position.

Manning's five first years include 5-8 guard Jill Greenberg (Westwood, MA), 5-7 guard Kelsey Ham (Bozeman, MT), 5-10 forward Lisa Jaris (Harrington Park, NJ), 5-7 guard Laura Renfro (Andover, MA) and 6-3 post Ana Rodriguez-Villa (Wellesley, MA).

All add to the Ephs ability to put the ball in the basket.

“Our goal is to have balanced scoring inside and out,” Manning said. “We want to spread the wealth. We’re pushing to have four or five players in double figures a night. Mika is a very capable scorer, but if we’re playing the way we want to be playing, there will be multiple players with scoring opportunities.”

With the speed of Peterman, Shea, Ham, Greenberg, etc,. Manning has had the Ephs focusing on attacking the basket in preseason practices.

“Right now I feel we have solid speed and we want to play an attacking offense with a transition game. We definitely have more depth at guard than we've had in the past, so we’re excited about the fact we can play a lot of kids.”

Williams allowed 62 points per game last season, and if the Ephs want to return to the upper echelons of the NESCAC, they will have to improve on the defensive end of the floor and on the glass. Last season, the Ephs rebounding margin was a slim plus 1.3.

But Williams has some good height in Shea (6-0), Jackson (6-1), Millert (6-0), Rodriguez-Villa (6-3), Harris (5-11), Jaris (5-10) and Ludwig (6-0). Harris and Shea were tenacious rebounders a year ago. Shea led the team with 7.9 rpg. And Harris was second with 6.9.

“I feel like our half-court defense is solid,” Manning said. “They are buying into the way we want to play defense and we've been working on it a lot in practice. But the two areas we're really focusing on are our transition defense and our rebounding. I feel like we’re going to be able to do some things defensively we haven’t been able to do in the past.”

Just don’t ask Manning to choose a starting five. Not yet. That will come Nov. 18th, when the Ephs open at home against Skidmore College. But with the five first years really coming in and pushing the veterans, starting spots are up for grabs until then.

“I’m very excited about the talent in the first-year class,” Manning said. “They really have added intensity and enthusiasm to our practices and they’ve made a nice transition to the college level thus far.”

As usual, the Ephs will have an ambitious schedule, with 13 road games out of the 24 they play in the regular season. That includes to trips to Maine to face formidable foes. Williams finished 5-4 in the conference last season was seeded sixth for the conference tournament, where they lost in the quarterfinals, 68-49, to Wesleyan.

This season, the conference is as difficult to navigate as ever, and the non-conference schedule includes a trip west to Santa Barbara, CA over the winter break.

“Our goal is simple: Get better,” Manning said. “We’re really focusing on one day at a time, one opponent at a time. We have an exciting schedule, every opponent will be a challenge.”