by Joe Geni
When in doubt on how to gauge the chances of a Grinnell women’s basketball team, look to Lake Forest.
The previous two years, Grinnell’s showing in their annual December conference opener against the Foresters have proved indicative as to how the season would go, and this year is no different.
“It’s definitely a big game for us, because they’re the top-ranked team in our conference,” said forward Katy Bowen ‘06 of Saturday’s 1 p.m. tipoff.
Bowen and, indeed, most of this year’s lineup weren’t around two years ago when the Foresters shellacked Grinnell by 41 points in Darby, effectively anticipating an 0-20 campaign. But they well remember last season, when the Pioneers nearly upset Lake Forest on the road in a precursor of a 10-win campaign that saw them fighting for a playoff spot into February. This year?
“I definitely think we have a shot at taking them,” said Bowen. “We just have to stay out of foul trouble to compete with them. If we play a good game we should definitely be able to take them.”
“We feel like we’re in a better position to beat them this year than we were last year, and we’re looking forward to the game on Saturday,” said Caitlin Shannon ‘07. “It should be a good game.”
Although matching last season’s 10-win improvement will be nearly impossible–Grinnell would have to win 18 of its remaining 20 games to do so–the Pioneers feel they can definitely eclipse last season’s final record. At the very least, they feel they can expect victory in any game they play.
“Our attitude going into this game is to win,” said guard Amber Watson ‘05 of the Foresters. “We are hosting Lake Forest in our house and we know that we are just as good, if not better than Lake Forest or any of the other teams in our conference.”
Grinnell has certainly looked good in its 3-1 start this season, which was capped in the last two weeks with blowout wins over Lincoln Christian and Stephens College. Three players are already aver-aging in double figures this season, including Bowen, the team’s leading scorer at 13.0 points per game. Acrivi Coromelas ‘04 is back for a final season at the point, while her fellow backcourt starter Anna Veit ‘05 has put the “shooting” back in “shooting guard” for the previously perimeter-starved Pioneers by setting a team mark for three pointers in a season.
Then there’s the blessed familiarity. The Pioneers have now had a full year plus training camp this season to accustom themselves to second-year coach Andy Hamilton’s system. They’ve also had a full year to get used to playing with one another. Bowen may not have declared a major yet, but she knows chemistry when she sees it.
“We’re deeper and especially on our starting five we have more experience playing with each other, so we’re playing better because we know what the other people are going to do,” she said.
“This year’s team is the best team that I’ve been on in my basketball career,” agreed guard Amber Watson ‘05, one of only three players on the roster who were in uniform for the 2001-02 campaign. “Coach Hamilton has prepared us to know and understand each other’s games, and we work well together.”
Grinnell is set for the foreseeable future with a deep and versatile backcourt. But with the graduation of Marie Opsahl-Lister, Grinnell was left with just three true post players in the rotation: Bowen, center Tai Duncan ‘05 and the first-year Shannon. But what they lack in quantity, they make up for in quality.
“We have an offense that’s designed to fit that [lack of post players], and so we often only run one post player in our offense,” said Shannon. “But our frontcourt presence looks to be a lot stronger this year than it has in past years. Katy and Tai, both of them worked really hard in the offseason, and it shows. Katy, well, everyone already knows that no one can stop her in conference, but Tai will not only meet expectations but exceed expetations. Tai’s probably one of the best post players in the conference.”
And Shannon herself?
“My role is to come in and work as hard as I can and give as many quality minutes as I can to keep Tai fresh so she can dominate.”
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