WILLIAMSTOWN, MA — Pat Manning is back
for her 20th season (319-153, .676) as head coach of Williams
College, bringing with her eight core players from last season,
including two of her top three scorers.
The Ephs finished 8-17 last season and will look to an incoming
first-year class of six to inject some talent and enthusiasm into
the program. Leading the way on the court for Williams will be
6-foot, 1-inch junior forward Chessie Jackson, who averaged 12.6
points per game last season in just over 28 minutes per game.
Sophomore point guard Jill Greenberg, 5-8, also returns after
averaging 10. 8 points and 5.2 assists per contest in her initial
season.
Manning’s roster will have one senior and three juniors on
it along with four sophomores and six first-years. Translated, that
means youthful inexperience. But out of the remnants of last season
comes one positive: Save for the first years, every player on the
roster has plenty of experience.
“The eight players we have returning have significant
playing time, so I do feel we have a solid core back,”
Manning said. “But we’re expecting to receive
contributions from our first years as well.”
|
| Chessie Jackson '11 |
|
| Jill Greenberg '12 |
The lone senior is captain Elizabeth Hansen, a sharp-shooting
guard who will bolster the Ephs’ offense off the bench.
Manning will likely mix up her starting line-up depending on
match-ups, but followers of the program will no doubt see her
standard four-guard line-up on the court at times.
That means plenty of Greenberg, junior guard Taylor Shea and
sophomore guard Kelsey Ham. First years Jennie Harding, Jen
Borderud, Grace Rehnquist, Claire Baecher and Danny Rainer will be
given plenty of opportunities as well. Junior Maddie King and first
year Stephanie Browne are also expected to contribute.
Joining Jackson as posts/forwards will be sophomores Lisa Jaris
and Ana Rodriguez-Villa along with first year Danny Rainer.
“I think we will kind of experiment with our line-ups early
in the season and see who plays the most consistently,”
Manning said. “We’re looking for our returning players
to carry us early and let the first years gain valuable experience
– our goal is to get them (first years) as much playing time
as possible before our conference schedule begins.”
Last year’s Eph team allowed nearly 74 points per game while
being outrebounded, on average, by 2.3 boards per contest, a figure
that will be challenging to bring down due to the loss of forward
Jess Harris, who led the team with 9.2 rebounds per game. Harris is
studying abroad this year.
Statistically, the leading returners in rebounding include Shea
(6.9), Jackson (6.0) and Jaris (5.5).
“Our challenge is going to be consistency on defense,”
Manning said. “Our inconsistent play really hurt us on both
ends of the floor last season. What I’ve been real happy with
this preseason is our work ethic. This is a hard working team that
really wants to get better every night, so we’ve been able to
accomplish a lot.”
Offensively, the Ephs will need to clean up their turnovers (477
in 2008-09, 33 more than their opponents), hit the aforementioned
boards and try to distribute the scoring. Mika Peterman, who led
the Ephs with 13.9 points per game last year, graduated in June,
but with Jackson and Greenberg returning, the Ephs have the start
of what could be a more versatile offensive attack.
“I think we have a lot of people with scoring
ability,” Manning said. “And we have solid speed at the
guard position. This is a very together team, the chemistry is
great and their work ethic is great. Our goal is to take small
steps and get better every day.”
This year, Manning has a new assistant coach in Elizabeth Ross, a
1,000 point scorer at Gettysburg College, who graduated from that
school in 2005. In addition, Shevie Brooks returns and Christi
Kelsey joins the staff after her debut season as head coach of the
volleyball team.
Williams opens its season Friday at the Chuck Resler Tournament
hosted by the University of Rochester. The Ephs tip-off against
Baldwin Wallace at 3 p.m.
