Eastern projects guarded hope
The Eastern Washington women’s basketball team is moving outside.
“I’m pretty excited,” sixth-year head coach Wendy Schuller said. “We’re going to be a heck of a lot different, that’s for sure. We lost some pretty good players, a lot of big kids. We don’t have a lot of choice but to be different.”
Of the seven returning players from last year’s 13-15 team, five are guards.
Gone are five players who were at least 6-foot-1. That’s five of the top six rebounders and two of the top three scorers.
“I think we’ll be fine,” Schuller said. “As the season goes along (the forwards) are going to get better and better but they won’t be our go-to kids in terms of production. We’ll look to perimeter kids.”
It starts at point guard where senior Leah Gonnella and sophomore Phynique Allen split the starts last year. Senior shooting guard JoAnna Chadd was last year’s second-leading scorer (9.1 ppg) and the Big Sky Conference co-Defensive Player of the Year after playing point her first two seasons.
Explosive juniors Brittney Osborne and Ashley Knight are experienced wings and will be joined by Lewis and Clark graduate Katy Baker, a sophomore who transferred from Southern Utah.
“We have a lot of experience (in the backcourt) compared to where we’ve been during my time at Eastern,” Schuller said. “I think by February we’ll be pretty good. We’re as athletic as we’ve ever been and they work hard. I’m really excited about this team offensively. We have a chance to score more points.”
The only experienced forward is 6-foot sophomore Sydney Benson (2.4 ppg, 3.2 rpg). Tara Holgate, a 6-foot-5 redshirt freshman steps into the middle.
“These kids are different. They’re very athletic, they get up and down the floor,” Schuller said. “A big key early will be to gain experience and confidence with our post players.”
Nicole Scott, a 6-2 freshman out of Nevada, should also contribute.
The Eagles finished fourth in the conference last year to make the Big Sky tournament for the fifth straight year.
Regular-season champion Idaho State, tournament champion Northern Arizona and perennial power Montana all return plenty of firepower, along with Weber State, which will make it difficult for the Eagles to move too far up the ladder.
“Realistically, our goal is to compete for the conference championship,” Schuller said. “Every year that’s our goal and that’s not a goal that’s going to change just because we’re young.
“Idaho State was young last year, Montana was young and they had pretty good seasons. Young doesn’t mean you can’t compete. We just have to get better every time out. We have to play hard. I think we have kids that will play hard.”
Prior to the first practice Schuller showed her team the men’s preseason Top 25 from last year, which did not include eventually NCAA champion Florida nor semifinalist Louisiana State.
“It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish,” she said. “If we bring it everyday we can do some things.”
The preseason schedule is tough, highlighted by Washington visiting Reese Court Nov. 21 and facing national power Louisiana State in San Antonio Nov. 25. The Eagles are the local Division I team to play the other three area teams. They go to Idaho Nov. 29 and Washington State Dec. 2, and play Gonzaga Dec. 9 at home.