EXPERIENCED CLARION TEAM HOPING TO MAKE PLAYOFF RUN
It’s often said that the more experienced a team is the better that team performs.
The 2006-07 Clarion University women’s basketball team hopes that holds true.
After going 12-15 overall and 3-7 in the PSAC-West last year with a team that had only 33 percent of both its scoring and rebounding returning, the Golden Eagles have 75 percent of their scoring and nearly 79 percent of their rebounding back this season.
“It’s always a plus to have experienced players,” Clarion’s 18th year head coach Gie Parsons said. “It helps bring the newcomers along quicker. They have someone who can help them assimilate into the system faster, and it gives us important leadership both on and off the court.”
Clarion, which opens the season Nov. 17-18 when it hosts the Clarion Classic, has five of its top six scorers from last year with all five of those players having started at least four games and four of them having started at least 20 games. The Golden Eagles then added to that experience by bringing in what the coaching staff believes is a very talented recruiting class.
“Hopes are high,” Parsons said. “We believe we have a shot at getting to the postseason, but it will take a lot of hard work. The PSAC-West is always competitive. So many things can happen during the course of the season. But if we work hard and get some breaks, we have the opportunity to have a good year.”
Getting to the postseason will be no easy task considering the talent-rich PSAC-West is loaded this season as always with any one of the seven teams having a shot at not only the PSAC playoffs – the top four advance – but the division title as well.
“I think holding home-court will be the key,” Parsons said. “If you can win all of your conference home games and then steal one or two on the road, you should be able to get into the postseason. This is as competitive as the PSAC-West has been in a long time.”
Because of the competitiveness of the conference, winning close games will be an important decider in how a team does. Last season, Clarion played eight games decided by eight points or less but went just 1-7 in those games.
“Part of the process of rebuilding is getting into close games,” Parsons said. “The next step is winning the close ones. I think it will be important to win some close games early on to build our confidence in those games.”
Having fun and working hard will be catalysts for the season, Parson said.
“We want to go out and have fun,” the long-time mentor said. “The keys to our season will be how hard we work, how we play as a team and how much fun we have as a team.”
Clarion has a core group of players who will go along way toward not only how much fun the season is but how successful it is as well.
And it is a relatively young core with only one senior – Jessica Skeggs. The Golden Eagles do have five juniors, although one of them is in her first year at Clarion, and six sophomores or freshmen.
“We are very young,” Parsons said. “But our young people unlike some teams young players have a lot of experience.”
That experience starts in the tentative starting lineup that features three underclassmen who started every game last year. Making things easier for the Golden Eagles, is the fact those three – junior point guard Ashley Grimm, junior forward Jessica Albanese and sophomore guard Katrina Greer – play three very key positions.
“Your one (PG), three (SG) and five (C) are real important positions,” Parsons said. “To have experience there is very important especially considering we will start a freshman (Sara Pratt) at the one post spot. To surround the other two positions with veterans will be helpful.”
Grimm has started all 57 games in her career while leading the Eagles to a 35-22 record over that time including a berth in the 2005 NCAA D-II Tournament. She ranks sixth in school history in assists (261) and her 136 helpers last year rank as the fourth most in Clarion history. Her 5.04 apg were the sixth most in the PSAC a year ago, and her 1.56-1 assist-to-turnovers margin was the second best at Clarion in the past 10 seasons.
Albanese, better known as “Kentucky”, has blossomed into a very good post player for the Golden Eagles.
Last season she earned second-team PSAC-West honors after ranking ninth in the PSAC in both scoring (14.4 ppg) and rebounding (7.9 ppg), second in shooting percentage (56.9 percent) and 11th in free-throw shooting (74.4 percent). She scored a career-high 28 points while pulling down a career-best 14 rebounds in a game. In her career, she has 582 points and 338 rebounds.
Greer was one of the top freshmen in the PSAC last season finishing second in the conference among freshman with 10.9 ppg while adding 4.0 rpg despite playing half the season with an injured thumb on her shooting hand.
Tentatively set to join Grimm, Albanese and Greer in the starting lineup are junior My’Kea Cohill, a transfer from Youngstown St., and Pratt, a true freshman from Clinton, Ohio.
Cohill played in 45 games with five starts in two years at YSU and averaged 3.7 ppg and 1.5 rpg last year while adding 19 assists and 13 steals. She was a special mention All-Ohio player in high school after averaging 15 ppg and 6 rpg. She is expected to take the place of Clarion’s leading scorer last season Melba Melton (15.0 ppg).
Pratt, who was Honorable Mention All-Ohio last year, averaged a double-double (10 ppg, 11 rpg) while adding 3 bpg for Norton High School.
The players Parsons is taking about including junior April Gratton, red-shirt freshman Janelle Zabresky and true freshman Katie Stover.
Gratton, who will also see time at guard this season, started 25 games for Clarion last year averaging 11.5 ppg and 7.6 rpg. She ranked 10th in the PSAC in rebounding and sixth in free-throw shooting (79.4).
Zabresky was red shirted last season while recovering from a high school injury. She was a second-team All-Pennsylvania performer as a junior in high school and scored over 1,000 career points.
Stover averaged 13.9 ppg and 8.5 rpg last season as a senior in high school while helping Kenston High (Ohio) to a 19-2 record.
Clarion is also deep at guard with sophomore Leah Shrift, who started four games last season, being joined by Skeggs, who missed most of last year with an illness, junior Michelle Johnson and freshman Bethany Koch, from nearby Union High School.
Shrift averaged 5.3 ppg and 4.1 rpg last year while splitting time between guard and forward, while Skeggs was limited to seven games because of the illness. In her three years at Clarion she has scored 32 point and pulled down 26 rebounds while dishing out 15 assists. Johnson is another player who understands the system having played in 29 games over the past two years with 23 points and 23 rebounds. Koch was a third-team All-Pennsylvania selection last season after averaging a double-double (17.3 ppg, 10.2 rpg) while leading Union to the PIAA Class A semifinals.
GOLDEN EAGLES NOTES – The Clarion Classic Nov. 17-18 will feature four teams. Friday, Clarion hosts Georgian Court at 6 p.m. That game is preceded by Ferris State playing West Virginia State at 4 p.m. … Saturday the consolation game is at 4 p.m. with the title game at 6 p.m. … Clarion opens PSAC-West play Jan. 10 when it hosts California … The Golden Eagles led the PSAC and set a school record for free-throw shooting last season (76.4 percent) … Parsons is the winningest coach in school history with a 17-year record of 261-212. She is 371-285 in 25 years as a head coach and has led Clarion to six NCAA Division II Playoff appearances and nine PSAC Playoff berths … She led Clarion on an unbelievable 5-year ride from 1991-95 that included a 117-33 overall mark (78 percent), a 50-10 PSAC-West record (83.3 percent), five straight PSAC-West crowns, three PSAC Titles (1994, 93, 91), two East Region titles (1994, 91) two trips to the NCAA D-II “Elite 8” and a No. 2 ranking in D-II in 1993-94 … Captains for this year’s team are Albanese and Grimm.
Jr. F - Jessica Albanese
Jr. G Ashley Grimm
Sr. G Jessica Skeggs