|
Red Hawks Take On Different Look In '06
The 2006-07 version of the Ripon Red Hawks women's basketball
team will look significantly different from years past. The biggest
change comes in the frontcourt, where the Red Hawks lost their
top three post players to graduation: 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 Hawks 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 to which the entire team will have to adjust and 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," Johnson said. "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."
This fast-paced offensive style of play also will translate to
the defensive side of the court, where the Red Hawks' 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 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," Johnson said. "That's something she'll have to do once again this year
as she'll be looked upon to contribute even more."
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," Johnson said. "They
can each score very well and are all pretty good defensively. 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," Johnson said. "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."
The depth at guard shouldn't be as much of an issue as it will
be in the frontcourt, where every player is in her first year
with the team with the exceptions 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," Johnson said. "They're both extremely athletic and know the game very
well. Goudreau 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. Sixty-six 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: 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.
|
