Tigers Open Practice With Plenty Of New Faces
The Wittenberg women's basketball team has opened practice in preparation for the 2004-05 season, and the season unofficially gets under way on Nov. 4 with the annual North Coast Athletic Conference Basketball Media Day conference call. The Tigers return 10 letterwinners, but just one starter, from a 2003-04 squad that posted a 25-6 overall record, including a perfect 16-0 NCAC regular season record.
The Wittenberg women's basketball team has opened practice in preparation for the 2004-05 season, and the season unofficially gets under way on Nov. 4 with the annual North Coast Athletic Conference Basketball Media Day conference call. The Tigers return 10 letterwinners, but just one starter, from a 2003-04 squad that posted a 25-6 overall record, including a perfect 16-0 NCAC regular season record.
The fact that the Tigers must replace four senior starters in 2004-05 smacks of irony since Head Coach Pam Smith replaced four senior starters in 2003-04 and still led Wittenberg to the NCAC regular season and tournament titles. Despite the lack of returning starters, the Tigers have a strong nucleus of 10 returning letterwinners back in the fold this year.
The only returning starter is senior guard Alison Nahrup (Loveland, Ohio/Mt. Notre Dame), who ranked among the team leaders in assists, blocked shots and steals a year ago. The team's other senior is guard Emilie Schmid (Canton, Ohio/Massillon Jackson), also its top returning scorer at 7.3 points per game. As always, Schmid will be a midseason pick-up for the Tigers since she and the second-ranked Wittenberg volleyball team have designs on a national title in 2004.
Those two seniors will be joined in the backcourt by junior Carrie Jones (Greenville, Ohio/Greenville), who scored 5.1 points per game a year ago, and three other returning letterwinners: sophomores Andrea Hackett (Springfield, Ohio/Catholic Central) and Megan Miller (Lancaster, Ohio/Lancaster) and junior Brittany Landreth (Valparaiso, Ind./Valparaiso).
In the frontcourt, the top returning player is sophomore Kathy Hittle (Noblesville, Ind./Noblesville), who posted averages of 4.3 points and 3.5 rebounds per game in 2003-04. Junior Joyce Dindo (Akron, Ohio/Walsh Jesuit) and sophomores Rachel Clark-Haggy (South Charleston, Ohio/Southeastern) and Denita Braziel (Springfield, Va./West Springfield) also figure prominently in that mix.
The season opens on Nov. 19-20 at the Southwestern University Invitational. The Tigers are scheduled to take on Howard Payne on Nov. 19 and McMurry on Nov. 20.