The Guilford College women's basketball team begins a new chapter of its 23-year history with five letter winners returning from last season's 18-8 club that finished third in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) tournament. Gone is the five-member senior class, which compiled the program's winningest four-year record (74-31) and included two of the top three scorers in Guilford history. Four of the five seniors started 23 or more games.
There is little question that sixth-year head coach Barb Bausch will be hard pressed to fill the vacancy created by the graduation of 1997-98 Kodak All-American center Laura Haynes '98 and 1997-98 Third-Team GTE Academic All-American Marija Preimats '98. A two-time ODAC Player of the Year, Haynes left in May with 18 school records, 11 conference records and 2,283 career points. Preimats concluded her standout career with 1,449 points and two honorable mention All-ODAC selections.
Despite the graduation of so much talent and leadership, the Quakers' cupboard is far from empty. Senior Alison Schott has two seasons of starting experience under her belt and can play either guard position. The fleet-footed two-sport standout was named the school's Most Improved Athlete and Best Undergraduate Athlete by the athletics department last year after leading the soccer team in scoring and ranking third on the hoop squad in points per game. She has demonstrated her offensive prowess on occasion throughout her career, but will be asked to carry more of a scoring load in her senior season.
Senior Luisella Perri will also play a more significant role in her final season. Perri provided valuable backcourt minutes off the bench in all 26 contests a year ago.
With the absence of any juniors on the preseason roster, Bausch turns to her rising sophomores and newcomers for extensive support in 1998-99. Sophomore guard Kerrie Campbell benefited from her first 17 college games and will continue to disrupt opposing backcourts with her cat-like quickness on defense and off the dribble penetration on offense. The Quakers also welcome 5-10 guard/forward Arden Miller back to the fold following a season off to recover from a leg injury. Another 5-10 guard/forward, sophomore Marlo Biernacki, missed the first half of her first season and found significant playing hard to come by in her initial season.
While the 1998-99 team may lack the experience of last year's squad, it does have a good talent base. If the team comes together in the early portion of the season and plays well down the stretch, expect the Quakers to be in the running for a fifth consecutive berth in the ODAC semifinals and a shot at the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.