Women’s basketball team ready to resume action

The Lehigh women’s basketball team has high hopes for its upcoming season. Although the team finished eighth in the Patriot League last season with a conference record of 5-13, recent preseason polls predict that Lehigh will finish fifth in the Patriot League.

With less than a week before its first game, the women’s basketball team’s training is in high gear.

“So far, our team’s preparation has been around implementing a new offense and teaching the underclassmen our defenses,” said senior captain Katie O’Reilly, who was the second-highest scorer last season with 313 points. She and fellow senior captain Sarah Williams will help lead the four freshmen, four sophomores and four juniors who make up the 2014-2015 women’s team.

“Our expectations for this season are very high,” O’Reilly said. “We hope to finish top in the league as Patriot League champions and hope to compete with very high-ranked teams, like Arizona State University, in our preseason games.”

Although Lehigh did not play against Arizona State or Monmouth last season, the team looks forward to rematches with some tough familiar opponents within their conference, including Army, American, Navy and Bucknell.

Navy defeated Lehigh three times last season and was the runner-up in the Patriot League Tournament in 2014. Army, who won the Patriot League championship, will also be a tough matchup, as Lehigh lost to its team twice last year.

Although the team will match up against a number of strong teams this season, the Mountain Hawks have been practicing for months, Williams said.

“We have a very versatile team this year and plan to use that aspect as much as possible,” Williams said. “Our non-conference schedule is strong, so we want to take advantage of the competitive games to get ready for the Patriot League.”

The Mountain Hawks will have 10 non-conference games before their first Patriot League game of the season against Colgate on Dec. 31. One of their biggest opportunities will come in Tempe, Arizona. While there, Lehigh will play two opponents, first Arizona State and then either Eastern Illinois University or Northwestern University in the Arizona State University Classic beginning Dec. 20.

“We’ve spent the past couple of months working on our half-court game and focusing on defense,” Williams said. “We are excited to finally play against other teams and get the season started.”

Williams led the team in assists last season with a total of 93 and had an average of eight points per game. She ended up with the fourth-highest number of points by the end of the 2013-2014 season, while junior Kerry Kinek led the team with a total of 474 points, or an average of 15.3 per game.

Sophomore Lexi Martins finished last season with 146 points, which placed her sixth in terms of points scored for the Mountain Hawks. Martins, whose point total was right behind sophomore Kayla Burton’s, also anticipates a successful 2014-2015 season.

“Our expectations this year are to compete for a championship,” Martins said.

Taylor Campbell, Bernadette Devaney, Quinci Mann and Mae Williams are the new freshman additions to the team. Campbell was an all-time leading scorer at Marquette High School in Missouri; Mann was the leading scorer at St. Ignatius Prep in California; Devaney was ranked one of three all-time scorers at Nova High School in Florida; and Williams helped lead her team to place second in her high school’s state championship.

“We definitely feel we have the talent and skills to compete at a very high level,” Martins said. “I think that this team has a chance to be extremely successful this year, and I am very excited for the season to begin.”

The Mountain Hawks will travel to West Long Branch, New Jersey, on Nov. 15, where they will face Monmouth for their first game of the season at 7 p.m.