Press Releases

November 14, 2003

Lady Colonials Make Run for Their Eighth Playoff Berth in the Past 10 Years
At Southampton College, Teamwork Is the Key for Another Winning Season

Contact:
Seth Hurley, Darren Johnson (pr@southampton.liu.edu)
631-287-8313

Southampton, NY – With a team full of upper-classmen and the addition of promising freshmen, the 2003-04 Lady Colonials expect to continue their tradition of excellence. Southampton College women’s basketball has made the playoffs seven of the past nine years, winning two titles.

Although the team loses All-American point-guard Dani Thomas, last season’s New York Collegiate Athletic Conference Player of the Year, and former captain Keri Rueb to graduation, second-year coach Pat McGunnigle is confident his squad will better last season’s record of 15-13 overall, 14-10 league. The Lady Colonials have a speedy team that’s also the tallest in the league, with six six-footers.

The Lady Colonials were ranked No. 6 out of 13 teams in the NYCAC pre-season poll released this week. Eight teams make the playoffs. "Even though we lost our star players, coaches know we’re still a team to watch," McGunnigle said. "We’re going to focus on teamwork and tight defense and use our size to our advantage."

McGunnigle hopes to replace last year’s star seniors with two major recruits: 5-foot-8 guard Leah Getz, and 6-0 guard/forward Sarah Mahan. Getz played point guard for Hudson High School in Ohio and led her team to a combined record of 94-10 over her four years. She averaged 17 points per game along with eight rebounds and four assists. She was named a member of the elite Division I Ohio All-State First Team, ranking her as one of the top five players in the state in 2003-04.

Mahan was a standout player at Oxford High School in Massachusetts and set records for the school in both scoring and rebounding, finishing her career with an average of a double-double per game. She led Oxford to an 82-12 record over her four years on the court. Mahan was also awarded the state of Massachusetts’s highest honor, the Coaches Association State Girls High School Basketball Player of the Year.

Returning as co-captains are 6-0 senior center Nyree Frazier and 5-11 junior guard Katie Kenny. Frazier is a fearsome inside presence on the court and defensively she is always assigned to the toughest player on the opposing team because she backs down from no one. Frazier finished the 2002-03 season with 173 rebounds, averaging 6.7 a night in only 12.9 minutes on the court. She also scored 127 points, for an average of 5.7 per game and grabbed 21 steals over the course of the year. Kenny is the kind of player who leaves it all on the floor, every night. She averaged 31 minutes per game last season and scored 163 points, 5.8 per game. Kenny also pulled down 115 rebounds and had 55 assists, second highest on the team.

Other returning starters that will round out the tightly knit squad include 6-1 senior forward/center Jen Geiger, 6-0 senior forward Jillian Jensen, 6-0 junior forward Kiley Lapointe, and 5-3 speedy senior guard Jamie Podjed. Geiger is primed for her senior year. She averaged 17 minutes a night last season scoring 122 points with an average of 4.5 per night. She pulled down 94 rebounds and swiped 11 steals. Along with her .700 free-throw percentage, she brings an intelligence to the game that is a great help to the Lady Colonials presence on the court. Jensen was one of the top rebounders on the team with 115 last year. She averaged 5.5 points per game and amassed 155 during the season. She shot a consistent .426 from the floor and dished out 21 assists and had 21 steals.

Lapointe led the Lady Colonials in rebounding last season with 202 boards, placing her 14th in the NYCAC. Her 42 steals were second highest on the team. Three-point assassin Jamie Podjed is the hustle behind this rough and tumble women’s team. She made 28 three-pointers last season while playing in only 16 games. Her 82 three-point attempts were second highest on the team and she finished with a .341 three-point average. Along with her 35 steals and 27 assists, she is crucial to the Lady Colonials dominance on the court.

McGunnigle returns for his second year at the helm. He is a 30-year veteran of the game, having coached teams all over Long Island to victory. The 15 wins in his inaugural season with Southampton College ranks him as the winningest first-year coach in Southampton College history.

With two all-star recruits on an already all-star laden team, led by a winning coach, the Southampton College Lady Colonials seek another playoff berth and perhaps even their first-ever NCAA bid.

The Lady Colonials open their season at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 16, at home vs. St. Anselm’s, and then they head to Bryant College on Wednesday before returning home at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 22, for their league opener against Mercy College.