WOMEN'S BASKETBALL PREVIEW

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL PREVIEW

2009-10 Season Preview

In 2009-10, the Olivet College women’s basketball program will be in rebuilding mode, as it returns two starters and four total players from the 2008-09 varsity team. Third-year Head Coach Heather Bateman is hopeful the addition of five junior college transfers can provide some much needed collegiate basketball experience for the team.

Returning starters are senior forward/center Gabrielle Federau (Okemos) and junior guard Caitlin Thilo (Onondaga/Eaton Rapids).

Federau started all 26 games for the Comets last season and averaged 8.0 points per game (ppg) and 9.6 rebounds per game (rpg). In her three-year career in the red and white, she has scored 370 points (6.7 ppg) and grabbed 448 rebounds (8.1 rpg). Federau has posted 10 career double-doubles, including a 20 point, 21 rebound performance versus Marygrove College Jan. 3, 2009.

Last year, Thilo started 25-of-26 games. She scored 7.6 ppg and dished out 57 assists. Thilo’s single-game high was 21 points at the College of Mt. St. Joseph (Ohio).

Sophomore guard Sam Keiffer (Brighton) returns after playing in 20 games and scoring 32 points during her rookie season at Olivet last year. Sophomore forward/center Olivia Yarrell (Lansing/Sexton) saw action in 11 games last year, averaging 7.5 ppg and 4.8 rpg.

Junior forward Cassie Sump (Holt/Lansing Catholic) is a part of the varsity team this year. As a freshman in 2007-08, she played in five games and scored 11 points. Sump played her entire sophomore season on the junior varsity team.

Michelle Hein (Jackson/Napoleon), Kaitlin Oleksyn (Kalamazoo/Parchment), Stephanie Spehar (South Lyon), Tiffany Thelen (Lansing/Waverly) and Darcell Williams (Muskegon/Reeths Puffer) are all junior college transfers.

Hein spent two years at Jackson Community College. Oleksyn was at Kalamazoo Valley Community College. Spehar played at Oakland Community College and was a 2008-09 honorable mention Michigan Community College Athletic Association (MCCAA) All-Eastern Conference selection.

Thelen transfered from Lansing Community College. Williams spent two years at Muskegon Community College. She was a 2007-08 National Junior College Athletic Association All-Region XII, All-MCCAA Team and first-team MCCAA All-Western Conference selection.

Senior Chanail Postley (Battle Creek/Lakeview) along with freshmen Mellissa Bageris (Milford), Alison Focht (Walled Lake/Western) and Kati Stickney (Union City) have also landed spots on the varsity team.

Olivet opens its season Nov. 15 when it hosts University of Chicago at 3 p.m. The Comets begin Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association play Dec. 9 at Kalamazoo College.