Head Coach Cheri Harrer, who enters her 21st season, guided the Yellow Jackets to a 19-8 overall and 14-4 OAC record a year ago. Every season, her expectation is to win the OAC title, gain an NCAA tourney berth and capture the school's first-ever NCAA Division III national title.
Back to lead this year's team is two-time All-OAC guard/ forward Amanda Schroeder (Columbus Grove). She is one of the top-returning players in the OAC and Great Lakes Region of Division III and needs just 20 points to become the 12th player in school history to score 1,000 career points.
Last season, Schroeder scored a team-high 14.5 points-per-game, grabbed 5.1 rebounds-per-game, led the team with 28 three-pointers, passed for 45 assists and made a team-high 31 steals. She also shot 43.7 percent from the floor, including 35% from three-point range, and made more than 87% of her foul shots (120-of-137).
"Amanda once again will be our team leader," said Harrer, who is looking for her eighth OAC title and enters her 21st season with 415 career wins to rank second all-time in league history. "She has proven why she is amongst the best players in the OAC." We will count on her leadership as well as production from our other veterans and newcomers."
In addition to Schroeder, the Yellow Jackets return eight players that saw a significant amount of playing time last season. Senior guard Ali Stack (Vermilion/ Firelands), junior forward Nancy Coulter (Washington Court House/ Miami Trace), junior guard/ forward Monica Gustin (Bexley), junior forward Catherine Spisak (Sandusky/ St. Mary Central Catholic), sophomore guard Jessica Carpenter (North Canton/ Hoover), sophomore point guard Olivia French (Bucyrus/ Colonel Crawford) and sophomore point guard Rachel Rossman (Olmsted Falls) all averaged 15 minutes or more of action per game.
French, Rossman, Schroeder and Stack will be once again be looked upon to handle the guard duties. Stackappeared in all 27 games with seven starts last season. She averaged 4.5 ppg. and 1.6 apg. and shot 37.7 percent from the field. French led all freshmen last season with 6.9 ppg. and contributed 1.9 apg. and 1.3 rpg. Rossman started every game and scored 3.3 ppg., grabbed 2.3 rpg. and led the team with 78 assists. In addition, sophomores Megan Frisina (Corry, Pa./ Corry Area) and JoBeth Roll (Bucyrus/ Senior) and newcomer Kristen Troyer (Dover/ Garaway) will push for time in Coach Harrer's rotation.
At the wing and forward positions, the group of Carpenter, Coulter, Gustin and Spisak all return to anchor the post play. Coulter, who is just one of three players to start every game, returns after averaging 7.6 ppg. She also contributed 4.3 rebounds, 15 assists, 18 blocked shots and 17 steals. Gustin will be called upon to have an increased role in the offense after averaging 1.8 ppg and 1.3 rpg last year. Spisak was the leading rebounder a year ago with 6.6 rpg. and scored 6.1 ppg. Carpenter, who like Gustin can alternate between guard and forward, averaged 7.0 points and 1.1 rebounds in 23 games. Newcomers Victoria Brown (Berlin Heights/ Western Reserve), Melissa Hoffbauer (Bloomville/ Buckeye Central), Jessica Lairson (Louisville), Lexi Rohrbach (Tiffin/ Columbian), Natalia Simovic (Seven Hills/ Parma Normandy) andAutumn Williams (Cleveland/ Laurel School) all look to gain playing time.
Coach Harrer will put her team to the test early and often as she once again has a tough non-conference schedule. The Yellow Jackets open the season on the road with games against traditional rival and North Coast Athletic Conference power Wittenberg University, play both Alma (Mich.) College and national power Hope (Mich.) College at the Hope Tipoff Tournament and face cross-town rival Case Western Reserve University all in the first eight days of the season.
BW opens rugged Ohio Athletic Conference play on December 1 at Heidelberg University in Tiffin at 7:30 p.m. The first Yellow Jacket home game is against Kenyon College on Dec. 4 in the Rudolph Ursprung Gymnasium in the Lou Higgins Center in Berea.
FOR MORE BW Sports Information, please contact Sports Information Director Kevin Ruple by telephone at 440-826-2327 and e-mail at kruple@bw.edu. or Assistant SID Jeff Miller by phone at 440-826-2780 and email at jefmille@bw.edu Fans can access the latest BW athletics information at www.bw.edu/athletics and we invite you to join us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/bwyellowjackets and Twitter athttp://twitter.com/bwathletics.
