CHESTERTOWN, MD -- No team in the Centennial Conference has as much unfinished business to take care of as the Washington College women's basketball team. The Shorewomen tied their school record for wins in a season by going 16-9, went 5-0 in non-conference games, and won 11 conference games for the first time ever, but fell one win short of their first Centennial Conference Tournament berth since 1999 despite winning their final five games of the season by an average margin of victory of 18.4 points per game.
Despite the loss of a pair of 1,000-point scorers to graduation - All-Centennial Conference first-team guard Meghan Tait and guard Sally'ODonnell - there are more than enough reasons to think that the Shorewomen have as good a chance at a conference championship as any team in the league.
Chief among those reasons is the dominance of the Shorewomen in the post and on the glass. The Shorewomen led the Centennial Conference and finished third among all 440 Division III teams in rebound margin with a mark of 11.4 rebounds per game more than their opponents. Washington rebounded 72.5% of its opponents' misses, and, more impressively, rebounded 41.3% of its own misses.
The Shorewomen's four returning post players - senior Erin Kile (Benton, PA/Benton) and juniors Latisha Pledger (Chesapeake, VA/indian River), Erin Fitzgerald (Greensboro, NC/Bishop McGuiness), and Liz Warkala (New York, NY/Marymount School of New York) - have keyed that dominance over the past two seasons. Pledger averaged a double-double with 10.2 points and a conference-leading 10.8 rebounds per game last year, tracking down 19.3% of all available rebounds and 16.7% of available offensive rebounds while she was on the floor. She was named the team's Most Improved Player and started 20 of 25 games. Fitzgerald missed the final eight games of the season with an injury, but averaged 7.4 points 7.6 rebounds per contest while making 15 starts in 17 games. Kile, the team's only senior, averaged 6.4 points and 6.2 rebounds per contest and shot 52.9% from the floor while making eight starts in 25 games. Warkala averaged 2.4 points and 2.9 boards per contest and made six starts in 24 games. Freshman Carley Kendall (Harleysville, PA/Souderton), a four-time all-conference player in high school, will add to the Shorewomen's strength up front.
Juniors Kelly Mitchell (Laurel, MD/Academy of the Holy Cross), Claire Mattox (Arlington, VA/Potomac School), Katie Bay (Downingtown, PA/Downingtown West), and Michaila Hatty (Philadelphia, PA/Neumann-Goretti) and sophomore Jackie O'Connell (Northampton, PA/Northampton Area) return in the backcourt. Mitchell improved her scoring and three-point shooting numbers as a sophomore, averaging 8.7 points per game while knocking down a team-high 51 three-pointers at a team-best rate of 33.6%. She made nine starts in 25 games a season ago. Mattox made 16 starts in 25 games, averaging 2.8 points, while Bay averaged 2.2 points per game in 20 games played. Hatty made one start in nine games, while O'Connell spent the season as Tait's understudy at the point, averaging 1.7 points and assisting on 21.4% of her teammates' baskets while on the floor in 18 contests.
New to the backcourt this year are sophomore Emily Hubley (West Chester, PA/Bayard Rustin) and freshmen Dee Maddox (Virginia Beach, VA/Norfolk Collegiate) and Ashley Espinosa (Reading, PA/Governor Mifflin). Hubley, who also plays lacrosse at the College, was an all-conference basketball player in high school. Maddox was a 1,000-point scorer and all-conference player at Norfolk Collegiate (VA) School. Espinosa scored a school-record 1,803 points at Governor Mifflin (PA) High School.
Head coach Megan Duran returns for her fifth season at the helm of the Shorewomen and has guided the team to 48 wins in four seasons, nine more than in the five seasons prior to her arrival. She'll be joined on the sideline by new assistant coach Melissa Brooks, who spent last season as an assistant coach at Marymount. She was a standout collegiate player at Division II Holy Family. Pledger, Bay, and O'Connell will serve as the team's captains.
The Shorewomen will open the 2012-13 season November 16th and 17th at William Peace's Jackie Ammons Memorial Tournament. They will take on Salem College in the first round and will then face host William Peace or Hollins the following day. Washington will also play at the Montclair State Holiday Tournament December 29th and 30th, taking on the host team in the first round and either Vassar or Widener the next day. Washington will host Catholic December 15th in the team's only other non-conference game of the season. Centennial Conference play begins with the Shorewomen's home opener against McDaniel on November 20th.