BOILING SPRINGS, N.C- The Gardner-Webb University women's basketball team enters the 2014-15 season with two new assistant coaches and a well balanced team composed of experienced veterans and fresh faces.
Head Coach Rick Reeves and his staff will be tasked with having to replace two 1,000 point scorers and the school's all-time leading rebounder in Jasmine Dale and Catrina Green, who both earned their degrees and graduated from the Gardner-Webb this past May.
Despite having lost its top two scoring options, as well as its leading rebounder, the Runnin' Bulldogs return seven letter winners that saw action last season, and three players that appeared in all 30 games for the GWU a season ago in Candace Brown, Kiera Currie, and Jessica Heilig.
New Faces
As Rick Reeves enters his second decade of coaching at Gardner-Webb, two new faces will join him on the sideline for the 2014-15 season.
Ralph Patin III and Alex Young join the GWU coaching staff for their first season as assistant coaches for the Runnin' Bulldogs.
Patin III joins the Runnin' Bulldogs after a successful five-year stint as an assistant at South Carolina State. During his tenure at S.C. State, he guided the team to the conference championship in 2009 and compiled a 20-9 record in 2012.
Young begins her first season on the GWU sidelines after spending the last two seasons as an assistant at the University of Chicago, where she helped the Maroons to a second-place finish in the University Athletic Association and a 15-10 overall record last season.
Guards
The Runnin' Bulldogs will feature a nice blend of guards that can handle the ball, and extend opponent's defenses with shots from behind the three-point arc.
Mayhana Dunovant returns as the team's top distributor, as she lead the team with 3.5 assists per game in 2013-14. Dunovant battled injuries for a large portion of last season, and GWU struggled to find consistency on offense during her absence.
With inconsistency at the point guard position, the Runnin' Bulldogs struggled to hit shots behind the arc, shooting just 27.5%. Gardner-Webb tried a myriad of players at the point, but found it very difficult to find someone to run the offense in crunch time, losing six games by six points or less.
Candace Brown spent much of the season transitioning from the off-guard position to the team's main facilitator, and in doing so, her scoring dropped from 8.3 points per game in her freshman season, to just 6.9 points last season.
While struggling to find a player to run Coach Reeves' system, a bright spot emerged last year from an unexpected source, in Kiera Currie. Currie, who played the center position all throughout high school, transitioned to the guard position nicely, leading the team shooting 33.3% behind the three-point arc.
Dunovant will be the main piece that makes the offense go, but a talented group of underclassman will help take some of the pressure off the senior point guard, in redshirt freshman Tierra Huntsman and freshman Alexus Hill.
Despite missing all but six games last season due to injury, Huntsman was able to learn the offense and watch the team perform at games and practices, while rehabbing from injury, and should be a nice addition to the team.
With Dunovant healthy and a well balanced group behind her, the Runnin' Bulldogs will look to increase its scoring, as well as improve their shooting from behind the three-point line.
Forwards
Having to replace the school's all-time leading rebounder and three-point shooter is difficult for any team, but Gardner-Webb is ready for that challenge. The group of forwards that will be on display for the 2014-15 season will be a group that can not only hit the glass, but also that can step out and hit a jump shot when needed.
The two top returning forwards for GWU are senior Jessica Heilig and junior Olivia Parker, who combined for 26% of the team's rebounds from last season. The forward tandem, along with Catrina Green dominated the offensive and defensive glass as the Runnin' Bulldogs ranked second in the Big South Conference with nearly 46 rebounds per game.
Gardner-Webb's top returning scorer and rebounder will be tasked with not only having to replace the 26 points per game that came in the form of Green and Dale, but also creating and limiting second chance points by dominating the boards.
Alongside the two seniors, will be mix of veterans and newcomers. Having battled injuries much of her career, including missing all of last season, Alicia Quinn will provide depth and experience on the front line.
Hardworking is a word that can be used to describe the remaining group of forwards, as they continue to push the starters for playing time.
Christina McQueen enters her sophomore season after appearing in 12 games in her freshman season. The Findlay, Ohio native will continue to use her high energy play to help give the starters a rest during the long and grueling season.
Three young but very talented forwards were brought in by Coach Reeves and his staff, and the freshman group will be on display for the 2014-15 season.
Aunesha Williams, Gerda Paulauskaite, and Celia Tibbs all had successful high school careers and the three freshman forwards will be looked upon to add depth and consistency at the forward position.
Gardner-Webb opens the 2014-15 season on Nov. 15 when it travels to Bloomington, Indiana. to face Indiana Hoosiers at famed Assembly Hall, before returning home for its home-opener when it hosts Montreat on Nov. 18 at 7:00 p.m.
