2014-15 Women's Basketball Preview
DEFIANCE, OHIO -- The 2014-15 Defiance College women’s basketball team is coming off of a season that saw them narrowly miss postsesaon play with an 8-10 record in Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference play, but fell short via a tiebreaker with another team that finished the same record.
DEFIANCE, OHIO -- The 2014-15 Defiance College women's basketball team is coming off of a season that saw them narrowly miss postsesaon play with an 8-10 record in Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference play, but fell short via a tiebreaker with another team that finished the same record.
Though DC is young, the Yellow Jackets are bringing back a lot of experience. DC will bring back four-of-five starters from a year ago. Added to a strong freshman class, the Yellow Jackets have the making of putting together a strong season with the potential of post season play.
Guards
DC brings back both of its starters in the backcourt with the sophomore duo of Erica Smay (Defiance/Tinora) and Ashley Williams (Leipsic/Pandora-Gilboa).
As a freshman, Smay averaged 3.8 points per game playing in all 25 games and started 23. Amongst the returning players, Smay posted the highest free-throw shooting percentage at 76.7 23-of-30). She is also the team's top returner in assists with 49 from a year ago. Smay also averaged 2.6 rebounds per game and was one of eight players with 10 or more steals (16). Following the season, she was selected to the HCAC All-Sportsmanship Team.
Williams comes back after starting 16 of 18 games during her freshman campaign. She averaged 3.6 points a game while shooting 33.8 percent overall from the floor (24-of-71). Williams returns as one of the top threats from beyond the arc for the Yellow Jackets after a season that saw her shoot 31.0 percent (13-of-42) from downtown. In addition, Williams averaged 2.1 assists, which is the second best average amongst returning players.
Forwards
The Yellow Jackets bring back three forwards from last year's squad. Lone senior Megan Zachrich Napoleon) will play on the wing as a guard/forward along with a pair of sophomores in Katie Tilman (Miami, Fla./LaSalle) and Keri Conine (Ottawa/Pandora-Gilboa).
Zachrich returns with the most experience on the DC roster with 48 starts in her career. She was one of two Yellow Jackets named to the Preseason HCAC Players to Watch List going into the 2014-15 season. Zachrich was also honorable mention All-HCAC last season brings back the second highest scoring average with 6.9 ppg. Zachrich was also one of the shooters last year for DC, shooting better than 41 percent from the field (55-of-132). She averaged 2.2 assists per game, which is the highest retuning average for the Yellow Jackets in that category. In addition, Zachrich was one of the top rebounders last sesaon grabbing 68 boards for a 3.4 rpg. average. The senior will also show a strong presence on the defensive side of the court as led the team in steals a season ago with 42 in addition to having six blocks.
Conine adds depth at the forward position and comes back as a strong shooting option for the Yellow Jackets. She did not miss a shot last year (three-of-three) and averaged 1.2 points per game. She also grabbed four rebounds for a 0.8 rpg. average.
Tilman will also add depth for DC following a year of college experience as a member of the junior varsity squad.
Centers
Kelsey Tietje comes back as the lone center after a monster season her freshman year. Tietje was a walking double-double as she averaged 16.1 ppg. and 10.2 rpg. Both led the Yellow Jackets last season and were also good enough for third and first in the HCAC. Following the season, Tietje was named first-team All-HCAC and selected to the HCAC All-Freshman Team.
She scored 402 points last season, making it the 14th time in DC history where a player went over 400 points in one season. Tietje scored her points very efficiently, shooting nearly 50 percent from the field and getting to the line better than seven times a game. Defensively, she tallied a team-best 37 blocks, averaging 1.5 blocks a game.
Schedule
The 2014-15 season begins on Saturday, Nov. 15 at home against Alma (Mich.) College at the Karl H. Weaner Center. It will be part of a back-to-back home start for the Yellow Jackets with Saturday's matchup against Alma followed by another home game against Albion (Mich.) College on Tuesday, Nov. 18. Both games will be part of a competitive non-conference schedule which includes a showdown with Hope (Mich.) College as part of the Hope College Tournament on Nov. 21-22. Hope enters the season as the No. 6 nationally-ranked team in NCAA Division III. The Flying Dutch are a two-time national champion and have shared or won outright the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Conference title in 12 of the past 14 seasons. The Jackets will open HCAC play on Wednesday, Dec. 3 against Manchester (Ind.) University in North Manchester, Ind.