2007-08 Outlook
2007-08 Women's Basketball Outlook
New Beginnings: Old Objective
Who better to start a new beginning for Rider women’s basketball than a familiar face? Rider University alum and former Bronc standout Lynn Milligan returns to the sidelines with a rebuilding plan and the passion to carry it out. A basketball purist, Milligan’s mantra will be based on old standards: preparation, practice, pride and a persistent devotion to fundamentals. The newness will come in the form of new energy, new confidence and new standards for success for a program that returns 11 letterwinners – pivotal players on whom Milligan hopes to build a strong foundation.
“Our returning players and their individual and collective experiences in the last few seasons are going to be the base of our foundation,” Milligan said. “We are going to draw on their experiences when days are tough. We are going to use their past experiences to head in a new direction, to work together as a team, and to build a team that can take steps toward success.”
“When we are on the court, on the track, in the weight room or in the classroom, the upperclassmen are going to have to lead us, especially off the court. As far as game experience, especially in the conference, the returnees have gone through experiences that I haven’t yet so we are going to all rely on each other as a team to work together and help each other be successful.”
According to Milligan, the Broncs will be well-versed to adjust to any situation through a strong practice regimen. “Our practices are going to be much harder than games,” said Milligan. “That is going to be the key for a 40-minute effort during the games. Every drill is going to have a pre-determined set of goals that we are trying to accomplish along with simulated time and score. We are going to work to put the players in game-like situations every single day so that we minimize any surprises in the actual games. We are going to be prepared as much as we can for all situations.”
The 11 returnees are led by seniors Janele Henderson and Kelli Sawyer.
Henderson led the team in scoring and was second in assists and rebounds, finishing eighth in the MAAC in free-throw percentage and 16th in scoring. “We are expecting very big things from Janele,” said Milligan. “She has to be one of our consistent leaders, both on and off the court. She has had success scoring and we need to put her in the right situations where she can get good looks at the basket. On the defensive end she needs to be able to shut an opponent down. We need her competitive spirit to be infectious.”
Sawyer, despite missing nine games last season due to injury, led the Broncs in assists and steals per game and was eighth in the MAAC in three-point field goal percentage as a junior after transferring from Long Island University. “Kelli is very talented,” said Milligan. “The number one thing for Kelli is to come in healthy and ready to go, and I believe she is. As a senior, we need her to lead and be vocal because we expect her to handle the ball a lot, and the other players are going to look to her to guide them. Everything that our seniors have done and been through over the past several years will mean something if we can make this a turnaround season for the program. We will be relying on them to show us the way.”
The junior class is made up of three guards, Danielle Costantino, Jen Fabbi, Maura Gillooly and forward Shaunice Parker.
Costantino, a MAAC All-Academic honoree, played in all 30 games for the Broncs, starting 15. She scored 22 points in back to back MAAC games, including 12 in a Rider home win vs. Siena on February 17, 2007. “Danielle is a very hard worker and strives to do it right every time on the floor,” Milligan said. “We are looking for her to be one of our ‘knock down’ outside shooters. She has good range and she has to be able to hit the open shot. We also need her to rebound from the guard position. She is one of those kids who leads by example. We need her to come off screens and the other players are going to have to work to get her open shots.”
Fabbi appeared in 14 games her sophomore season and has made appearances in 41 games. “Jenn’s strength is shooting the three and we are going to have to run her off screens to get her open looks,” Milligan said. “She can be a zone buster for us and she has worked hard in the off-season on conditioning. We look for her to be another shooting threat.” All of Fabbi’s field goals in her career have been from three-point range.
Gillooly battled through injuries and appeared in 26 games for Rider in 2006-07, leading the team in free throw percentage, three-point field goal percentage and finishing second on the team in field goal percentage. “Gillooly worked hard over the summer and is getting healthy and we are looking for her to continue to shoot the ball,” said Milligan. “She is one of our best long-range threats. The more our guards can be successful from the outside the more that will open up our inside game.”
Parker led the team in rebounding averaging 5.8 boards per game and was second on the team in scoring, blocks and steals. “Shaunice has the capability to be an outstanding player at Rider and one of the premier players in the conference,” Milligan said. “We are looking for her to be a ‘hard to guard’ player, where she can play at the three or four, inside or outside. We want her to be someone who causes match up problems for our opponents. She has worked very hard in the off-season and we are expecting big things from her. We are going to need her to rebound, score, put the ball on the floor, shoot a jump shot and get to the basket. She has tasted success and wants to turn this thing around. She has all of the tools to be extremely successful.” Overall, Parker was fourth in the MAAC in defensive rebounds, ninth in blocked shots, 10th in three-point field goal percentage and 13th in rebounding.
The Broncs return five sophomores including Ashley Anderson, Melissa Kowalczyk, Ilda Llamas, Amanda Sepulveda and Stephanie Wisniewski.
Anderson, a 6-0 forward, made 12 starts as a rookie, appearing in 29 games. “We need Ashley to be a presence inside,” said Milligan. “We need her to do all the dirty work, setting solid screens and fighting for the rebounds. All of the little things, banging in the post and playing solid defense, we feel she can do while pulling down eight to 10 rebounds a game. She is strong and runs the floor very well.” Anderson led the Broncs in field goal percentage and was third on the team in blocks and rebounds.
Kowalczyk, a 6-2 center, was third on the team in field goal percentage shooting over forty-two percent from the field. “Melissa is a solid post player,” Milligan said. “She can be one of our defensive stoppers on the inside. We will need her to use her size to rebound for us.”
Llamas, a 6-3 center, played eight minutes in the opener as a rookie before injuring her back, missing the rest of the season. “Ilda got hurt early last season and has been working to get herself back into basketball shape,” said Milligan. “We need her to be healthy in order to know what she can do for us.”
Sepulveda, a 5-5 guard, was third on the team last season in three-point field goal percentage. “Amanda is a gym rat and loves the game of basketball and, because of that, she is going to be very successful,” said Milligan. “She is heady, strong, can get to the rim or pull up in the paint. We are going to work with her to make better decisions and see the whole floor. She is fast, athletic and works very hard. She has the potential to be a terrific point guard in the league.”
Wisniewski, a 6-2 forward/center led the Broncs in blocks, finishing seventh in the MAAC with .77 blocks per game. “Stephanie has worked very hard this summer,” Milligan said. “She has the size and skill and is working on her strength to go with those facets of her game. She will give us a true inside presence and will be a legitimate post scorer for us. We are looking for a great season from Stephanie.”
The newcomers include sophomore transfer Tammy Meyers along with freshmen Cintella Spotwood and Shannon Ferguson.
Meyers, a 5-9 guard from Willingboro in Burlington County, transferred to Rider from George Mason University where she appeared in 11 games as a freshman in 2005-06. “Tammy is one of our leaders,” said Milligan. “She is chomping at the bit and can’t wait to put her uniform on and play. She is an extremely talented guard. She is big and strong; she has range, can go off the dribble and finish and knows how to win.”
Spotwood, a 5-8 guard from Trenton Central High, earned Associated Press All-State honors as a senior, leading Trenton to the NJSIAA Group IV state title. “We are thrilled to have Cintella as an addition to the team,” Milligan said. “She knows how to win, coming out of a very successful program at Trenton Central. She has led all of her teams both on and off the floor. She is a bigger guard who can do a lot of things and she is going to be a special player.”
Ferguson, a 5-11 small forward from Fort Washington, Pennsylvania, earned First Team All-League honors at Upper Dublin High. “Shannon is a true blue-collar worker,” said Milligan. “She can probably play the two, three, four or five spots on the floor. She works hard and does things the right way. She is a terrific athlete that can do a little bit of everything and comes from winning programs both on the high school and AAU levels. She can come in and do the dirty work and make an impact right away.”
Milligan fully expects that the team will use the experiences of a 2-28 season last year to motivate them and move forward.
“We are excited,” said Milligan who returned to her alma mater as the 19th head coach on April 24, 2007. “We have a talented group who are working really hard and have changed attitudes in the hopes of changing perceptions and expectations. Their work ethic has increased to where they can be a successful Division I team so we are thrilled with where we are now. We obviously still have a lot of work to do but the foundations that we are putting in place now will bring us a lot closer to our competition. One of our themes this season is ‘play in the present’. We can only control what the present holds for us. We can’t control the past, but can learn from it. Our focus is going to be all about moving forward and we will work very hard so that the present and beyond is where we feel it should be.”
In addition to the 18 game MAAC schedule, the Broncs open the season at home against in-state rival Monmouth on November 9 before traveling to UMBC November 11. Other non-conference home games include Hofstra (November 15), Central Florida (November 23), Towson (December 2), Army (December 12), Princeton (December 29) and Virginia (January 2). Road games include the U.S. Naval Academy (November 18), Penn (November 28) and Rice (December 20).
“The non-conference schedule is going to be competitive,” Milligan said. “We have a good mix of teams from solid conferences like the Atlantic Coast (ACC), Colonial Athletic (CAA), Conference USA and the Patriot and Ivy Leagues. But no matter who we are playing, we need to look at every game like a ‘revenge game’ because over the last two seasons, almost all of these teams defeated Rider. It’s a strong schedule but there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be competitive. Everyone we play has a solid successful program from a solid conference so every day is going to be a test for us. And truth be told, it’s not going to really matter who we are playing and when. Game day is game day and that is one of the biggest obstacles that you have to overcome. It doesn’t matter what the other uniform says. It is game day and you can only worry about the uniforms that say RIDER.”
Marist, which advanced to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Championship tournament looks to be the conference favorite. “I think the MAAC is a terrific conference,” said Milligan. “I think everyone is excited about building on the success that Marist had in making the Sweet 16 in the National Championship Tournament. I think the conference top to bottom is extremely competitive and through an 18-game schedule, anybody can beat anybody on any given day. Overall, our goal is to have four or five players average in double-digits so we are harder to guard and scout. If you have one player who averages 30 points a game, with the coaching level in the MAAC, you aren’t going to win many games. You have to have multiple players able to do different things.”
Milligan looks to return Rider to its heyday when, as a player, the former Lynn Donovan helped the Broncs compile 36 wins and started Rider on a streak of seven seasons in a row with double-digits wins. “There is anxiousness and anticipation,” Milligan said. “Everything that you have worked for over the past 15 years is finally here and coming to fruition. We put a lot of pressure on ourselves to come in and turn this around and it is pressure that we are looking forward to. It’s what I wanted to do, the challenge that I wanted to face. Rider helped shape who I am so to be able to come back and shape the lives of the next generation of players is special. Our goal is to have the players be successful in school so they are prepared to be successful for life after Rider and we take that job very seriously. Every day has been a challenge and since the end of April, we’ve hit the ground running. Everyone has been extremely supportive of the program and we want the same things that they want. Having administrators that have the same goals as you do makes it that much easier. That support is going to change the culture of the program. From alumni to friends to the student body, we have the support to create a successful program and we are going to have a strong foundation on which to build on.”
With a strong foundation and a team that will be prepared in all aspects of the game, both on and off the court, the 2007-08 basketball season looks to be an exciting time as the Broncs look to the past to bring the team into the future.
