11/3/2009 - WOMEN'S BASKETBALL 11 Days of Atlantic Sun Women's Basketball: Stetson

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Interview with Head Coach Lynn Bria

SEASON PREVIEW - (Courtesy Stetson Media Relations)

This month the Stetson women’s basketball program enters its second year with Head Coach Lynn Bria at the helm, although fans and opponents alike can be forgiven if they see little on the court they remember from last season. Only four of the 13 players on the 2009-10 roster suited up for the Hatters during the 8-22 (5-15 Atlantic Sun) season, a new look that will make Stetson a difficult foe for which to prepare.

Not everything is brand new in the Green and White, however. The Hatters return three starters, three of their top four scorers and their top two rebounders from last season; to this mix Stetson adds three newly eligible transfers with invaluable Division I playing experience in some of the nation’s toughest conferences as well as what respected scouting/recruiting service All-Star Girls Report touted as the top incoming recruiting class in the Atlantic Sun Conference.

RETURNERS - BACKCOURT

Stetson’s toughest challenge this season in terms of personnel will no doubt be the attempt to replace Sharnesha Smith ’09, the team’s leading scorer (11.0 points per game) and floor general (128 assists, second in the league). That effort got more difficult in recent weeks when junior college transfer and heir apparent Mairead McNally (Belfast, N. Ireland) suffered a knee injury; she will likely redshirt the season.

Junior guard Tierra Brown (Orlando, Fla.) ranked second on the team with 52 assists a year ago and showed the capability to run the offense in Smith’s absence, as evidenced by her 17-point, eight-assist effort in a win over Lipscomb last January 31 with Smith on bereavement leave. Brown averaged 8.9 ppg, third on the team, with 45 steals a year ago and is just shy of 500 career points in two seasons. Sophomore Lyllique Roman (Poinciana, Fla.) is the only other guard on the roster that has seen action for the Hatters; she played in 28 games with eight starts a year ago, averaging 2.3 points and 1.7 rebounds per game in 13.6 minutes per game.

NEWCOMERS – BACKCOURT

The Hatters have four new guards this year, in addition to redshirt transfer Victoria McGowan (Inkster, Mich.), a former Bowling Green State University Falcon who becomes eligible in 2010-11. Ex-Florida Gator Kerri Simpson (Charleston, Tenn.) has sophomore eligibility starting this season after a year’s worth of practice in the program. Although she saw limited playing time at UF in 2007-08, Simpson was a four-time Street & Smith’s Honorable Mention All-American as well as an All-State honoree at Cleveland (Tenn.) High School, where she scored 1,540 points in four years.

6’0” freshman Simone Taylor (Delray Beach, Fla.) can play both shooting guard and small forward as her athleticism and scoring ability in high school made her a highly sought-after recruit and a signing coup for the Hatters. Bexley, Ohio native Ashley Dennis, another 6’0” freshman, comes south after a stellar high school career that culminated in a 22.3 point-per-game campaign and Division II First Team All-State honors. She set the Bexley HS single-game scoring record with 41 points on January 6, 2009. Dashauna Truss (Jacksonville, Fla.) comes to Stetson after four successful seasons at Potter’s House Christian Academy and the Jacksonville Lady Rams AAU squad.

RETURNERS – FRONTCOURT

Stetson’s starting small forward and power forward from 2008-09 both return in the forms of senior Ashli Jackson (Opelika, Ala.) and junior Jessica Conner (Cocoa, Fla.), respectively. Jackson blossomed in her first year of full-time starting duty, averaging 8.5 points and 5.2 rebounds per game on 40.3 percent shooting. Jackson is the top returning three-point threat for the Hatters, having made 31 of 93 from beyond the arc last season, good for 33.3 percent and tying for 10th on the Stetson single-season record list in 3-point field goal percentage. Jackson is also the poster child for the program’s youth and future potential as she is the only senior on the 2009-10 Hatters.

Conner proved to be a major force in the paint and on the glass, scoring 9.1 points per game and pulling down 7.3 rebounds per game in 2008-09. The A-Sun’s sixth-leading rebounder, she also ranked third in the conference in field goal percentage at 48.4 percent on the year (103-213). Conner tallied four double-doubles during the season; three of them in A-Sun play and one against SEC power Florida. Her scoring touch improved late in the year with five double-figure scoring efforts in the last seven games of the regular season, including a 24-point, eight-rebound afternoon at Campbell on February 28.

NEWCOMERS – FRONTCOURT

After a year of watching from the sidelines in street clothes on game day, the two tallest members of the Hatters will finally get to make an impact in uniform as 6’4” junior Daphnee Frieson (Mobile, Ala.) and 6’3” junior Natasha Graboski (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) become eligible after completing years of residence. Frieson, a former Ole Miss Rebel who has dominated Stetson intrasquad scrimmages and practices with her wingspan and deft scoring touch from close range for over a year now, played in 30 games in two years for Ole Miss and helped get them to the Elite Eight in 2007. As a sophomore in 2007-08, Frieson averaged one blocked shot every eight minutes that she was on the court.

Graboski, who began her college career in the Big East Conference at the University of Cincinnati, averaged 5.5 points per game and 5.1 rebounds per game as a sophomore in 2007-08. Those numbers even increased against juggernaut opponents such as Connecticut, Rutgers and Louisville as she averaged 6.0 points and 6.0 rebounds against those three teams. 6’1” freshman Janelle Mills (Wesley Chapel, Fla.) rounds out the incoming contingent in the post; although Mills missed most of her senior season at Wesley Chapel HS with a wrist injury, she was still named Second Team All-Pasco County by the St. Petersburg Times. As an 11th grader two years ago, Mills made her biggest impact on defense by averaging 7.0 rebounds and 2.6 blocks per game.

SCHEDULE

The Hatters will have non-conference road tests against postseason foes from the SEC, ACC and Big East in 2009-10 and will play at least seven and potentially eight regular season games against teams that appeared in either the NCAA Tournament or WNIT last year, starting with the Nov. 14 season opener at Florida. The Gators reached the second round of the 2009 NCAA Tournament and received votes in the preseason Associated Press poll. The home opener is Tuesday, Nov. 17 against a Saint Leo squad that prominently features former Stetson guard Brittany Carannante; following that contest, Bria and the Hatters head out on the road for a daunting three-game stretch bookended by contests at preseason #15 Florida State (Nov. 21) and 2009 WNIT second round qualifier St. John’s (Dec. 1). The St. John’s game will mark Stetson’s first-ever trip to New York City. In between, Stetson visits Savannah State the night before Thanksgiving (Nov. 25).

The remainder of the non-conference schedule includes a trip to Greenville, S.C. to face Furman (Dec. 13), a home date against Volusia County rival Bethune-Cookman (Dec. 21) and the return of the Hatter Classic (Dec. 28-29) for the first time since 2003. Stetson will host Northeast Conference tournament finalists St. Francis (Pa.) in the semifinals and will take on either Patriot League runner-up/WNIT qualifier American University or Buffalo the following day.

The 20-game A-Sun schedule begins in December with home games against defending regular season champion and WNIT second round qualifier FGCU (Dec. 5) and USC Upstate (Dec.17) and re-starts January 2 at Lipscomb. Two-time defending A-Sun tournament champion ETSU comes to the Edmunds Center for a pre-Super Bowl clash on Saturday, February 6, 24 hours prior to the big game. The 2010 General Shale Brick Atlantic Sun Conference Championships will be hosted by Mercer at the University Center in Macon, Ga. March 3-6.

11 Days of A-Sun Basketball Schedule
Oct. 28 - Campbell 
Oct. 39 - Lipscomb
Oct. 30 - UNF 
Nov.  2 - USC Upstate
Nov.  3 - Stetson 
Nov.  4 - Kennesaw State
Nov.  5 - Mercer
Nov.  6 - Jacksonville 
Nov.  9 - Belmont 
Nov. 10 - ETSU
Nov. 11 - FGCU