The 2006-07 version of the Ripon Red Hawks women's basketball team will look significantly different from year's past. The biggest change comes in the frontcourt, where the Red Hawks lost their top three post players to graduation, in Martha Dantuma, Anne Ackerman, and most importantly, Karalyn Dehn. Dehn, who was crowned Midwest Conference Player of the Year last season, averaged 18.3 points and 10.0 rebounds per game. Dehn also left her legacy as the number two all-time scorer in school history, obviously leaving a hole in the Red Hawk lineup.

"Karalyn had height and experience, which are two things we lack this season," Head Coach Julie Johnson said. "A lot of players are going to have to change their role this year and do things they haven't done in the past.

One thing that the entire team will have to adjust to and is something no one on the squad has done is playing an up-tempo style of offense, which stresses the run-and-gun philosophy, rather than the halfcourt offense they've run in the past.

"I don't think we can afford to get into a halfcourt game with teams this year because of our lack of height and inexperience inside the paint. The new players that are coming in all have good range, so we're going to use our outside threats as much as we can, while also using our speed and athleticism to get up and down the floor and hopefully outrun our opponents that way," said Johnson.

This fast-paced offensive style of play will also translate to the defensive side of the court, where the Red Hawk's philosophy will be, 'you can't run, if you don't have the ball.'

"On the defensive end, we need to play aggressively and make things happen for us, instead of sitting back and letting the other team do what they want to do," Johnson said. "We want to have the ball in our hands a lot."

One of the players Johnson hopes to get the ball to a lot will be sophomore Mona Delsman (8.6 ppg, 2.2 rpg, 1.6 spg) who saw a lot of playing time last season, playing in all 24 of Ripon's games. Delsman was the team's third-leading scorer as a freshman last year.

"Mona's a special player because as a freshman, she was very consistent, which is something you don't usually get out of a first-year player. That's something she'll have to do once again this year as she'll be looked upon to contribute even more," said Johnson.

In addition to Delsman, Ripon also returns all three starting backcourt players. Seniors Sara Gustafson (6.4 ppg, 2.4 rpg, 3.3 apg), Jo Ellen Buerger (7.4 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 1.8 apg), and Morgan Roberts (9.5 ppg, 2.3 rpg, 1.8 apg), who is Ripon's top returning scorer, will be the leaders of this year's squad, and will be looked upon to help the younger players fit into their roles with the team.

"All three of those players have a lot of experience. They can each score very well and are all pretty good defensively," Johnson said. "They've played together a lot already, so hopefully that will help our situation early in the season. Those three, along with Mona will have to do a lot more than they've ever done in the past in order to help our younger players."

The Red Hawks have a wealth of experience in their backcourt, which is only added to by their bench. Juniors Tiffany Goebel (1.1 ppg, 0.9 rpg) and Christina Schneider (0.9 ppg, 0.4 rpg), along with senior Cassy Gerrard (0.4 ppg, 0.7 rpg) will provide Ripon with steady play when the starters need a breather.

"They've all been role players since they've been here and it's kind of up to them if they want it to stay that way, or if they want to play a different role," said Johnson.

The Red Hawks would be helped tremendously if the role players were to step up into more productive roles this season.

"I'm hoping they all want to play a different role because the deeper we are, the better we will be. If they could step up into a bigger role, especially when we're going to try to push the pace and be aggressive, they could really help out if our starters get in foul trouble, or need a rest," said Johnson.

The depth at guard shouldn't be as much of an issue as it will be in the frontcourt, where every player is in their first-year with the team, with the exception of senior Theresa Kenney (2.1 ppg, 0.7 rpg) and sophomore Jeni Yaeger (1.9 ppg, 1.7 rpg), who will see her minutes increase dramatically.

"Jeni will be a person that will be looked at to play a bigger role on the team this year and will see a lot of minutes in the post," said Johnson.

There will be eight new faces on the team this season, including seven freshmen. Joining the veterans in the backcourt will be Ashley Meister (Green Bay,/Bayport), Carissa Zuercher (Waukesha, Wis./West), Jessica Goudreau (New London, Wis./Shiocton) and Jessica DeHamer (Appleton,Wis./Neenah).

"Carissa and Ashley will probably see a lot of playing time this year. They're both extremely athletic and know the game very well," Johnson said. "Gudrow will bring some three-point shooting ability to the court, while DeHamer is a very smart player, who is great on the defensive end."

The backcourt has some experience at least, but it's tough for a frontcourt to get much more inexperienced than this year's Ripon team. 66 percent of their forwards will be made up of first-year players. Yaeger and Kenney will be joined by freshmen Amanda Lindauer (Brussels, Wis./Southern Door), Jana VanHandel (Appleton, Wis./Freedom), and Ashley Kaminski (Green Bay, Wis./Bayport), as well as sophomore Trisha Jones (Marango, Ill./Marango), who is also in her first year with the team.

"Lindauer, VanHandel, Kaminski, and Jones will play in the post quite a bit this year," Johnson said. "They all bring something different to the court, so their playing time will be determined by what our needs are at the time."

Even though most of the first-year players bring something different to the table, they all have one thing in common, and that is being able to see the court very well.

"This year's freshmen are all very good passers," Johnson said. "We've got a passing group that I've never had before at that age, which will help us a lot.

With an interesting mix of older and newer players, the Red Hawks plan to just take things one day at a time and hopefully the more experienced players will help lead the freshmen in the proper direction.

"We need to have some continuity and chemistry early on in the season and work on getting better daily and improving as the year goes on, so that we're still playing at the end of February and beginning of March," said Johnson.