2010-11 Schedule |
2010-11 Roster |
Live Stats/Audio
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - Davenport's women's basketball team tips off its 2010-11 campaign on Friday as they take on #21 Hastings College in Nebraska. #2 DU will then follow that matchup with a game against #23 Briar Cliff on Saturday. Check out the season preview for the 2010-11 Lady Panthers.
Despite compiling a five-year cumulative record of 144-25, the Panthers program has potentially the strongest and deepest team in their short history as a program. The Panthers return every statistical leader from last year's sweet 16 team, which was ranked #1 in the polls for a period of 7 weeks in 2009-10. The team, led by ninth year head coach Mark Youngs, looks poised to make a serious run for their fifth straight WHAC Championship and earn their seventh straight bid to the National tournament.
DU will be led once again by the 2009-10 Michigan College Coach of the Year Mark Youngs and his two assistants Kelly Wandel and Shannon Rose. The trio has established DU as a national powerhouse in women's basketball. Additions to the staff this year will be two former DU hoopsters in Lady Panther Megan Peters and men's player Kyle Brechting.
There are four seniors on the roster this year for the Panthers. Kallie Benike (Campbellsport, Wis.), the 2008-09 WHAC player of the year and two-time All-American, will be the leader of the team's offensive arsenal. Benike averaged a team-best 12.8 points and 6.5 rebounds per game last year in just 22 minutes per game. Kristi Boehm (Kent City, Mich.) is the team's quarterback at the point guard position. She is the heart and soul of one of the best full-court presses in the country. Boehm was a third team All-American and a first team All-WHAC performer last season and is also considered one of the best defensive players in the country. Boehm averaged 9.7 points per game, and led the team with 134 assists and a school record 140 steals a year ago. Jeannie Closson (Parchment, Mich.) returns for her senior year after finishing fourth in the nation in blocked shots (76) despite averaging just 21 minutes per game. Barb Clayborn is the fourth senior on the roster for DU. Clayborn had 36 points and 38 rebounds a year ago in limited playing time for DU. She will provide much needed depth and experience this season for DU.
The junior class contains five players from last year's team and adds an NCAA D-1 transfer as well. Carrie Grubius (Gull Lake, Mich.) was a second team All-WHAC selection a year ago. She led the team in three pointers with 65 and was third on the team in scoring at just under 10 points per game. Karlee Despres (Comstock Park, Mich.) averaged 5.0 points per game in just 12 minutes of action. She was also third on the team in three pointers with 31 on the season. Abby Neff (Lagrange, Ind.) averaged 7.4 points per game and Julie Janish's (Whittemore, Mich.) 5.2 per game will also be counted on to bolster what Coach Youngs calls “the best second five in the country”. Raina Chambers (Pontiac, Mich.) will bring her electric quickness back and now that she has added a much improved three point shot to her arsenal, she will be a match up nightmare for opposing point guards. The transfer in this class is 6'3 Riana Hensley (Toledo, Ohio). Riana played two years previously at the University of Akron, where she led the MAC in blocked shots and was fourth in free throw percentage as a sophomore.
The sophomore class returns 6'0 post player Leah Sevcik (Kewaunee, Wis.), redshirt guard Kayla Gross (New Lothrop, Mich.) and newcomer Karli Harris (Fishers, Ind.) who transferred from NCAA D-1 Oakland University. Sevcik was the second leading scorer amongst players who didn't start a year ago for DU averaging 5.7 points per game. Gross might be the team's most dangerous three point threat off the bench this season. Harris is an extremely active and tough point guard, who played in every game last year for the Summit League Grizzlies. She will excel in the Panthers playing style and along with Hensley, should be a front-runner for WHAC Newcomer of the Year honors.
The roster contains only one player from the freshman class. 5'8 Monica Confer (New Lothrop, Mich.), will add much needed depth at the small forward position. Monica led her high school team to a 97-13 record and two state championships while compiling over 1000 points and 785 rebounds in her four years. As a senior, she averaged 13.8 points and 11.2 rebounds per game.
The 2010-11 schedule is torturous. 22 of the 30 games the Panthers will play this season will be against teams that won 16 games or more a year ago. The season starts out with a bang as the team heads to Nebraska to face Hastings College and Briar Cliff University in their first two games. Hastings was ranked #1 in the nation last year in every poll that the Panthers weren't ranked #1. Briar Cliff ended the season ranked #8 in the nation and made a run all the way to the Final Four at the National Tournament. The third game of the year doesn't get any easier as the Panthers will be at home to take on Olivet Nazarene. ONU has averaged over 102 points per game in two of the past three seasons and have led the nation in scoring in five of the last six years. Non-conference road dates to Georgetown, KY, Buffalo, NY, and a couple of games in Montana are also dates to circle on the calendar. The Panthers have just six non-conference home dates this winter and will welcome 2010 NAIA National Champion Northwestern College (IA) on December 30.
