2007-08 Women's Basketball Season Outlook
By Rob Phillips
Urbana Head Women's Basketball Coach

The 2007-08 edition of Urbana University Women’s Basketball is a nice blend of returning veteran players, transfers with college experience and talented freshmen. As with any new team, it has taken us a while to get to know each other, but I can see chemistry starting to grow and by season’s start I think this will be a solid team. We’ve experienced a range of injury, illness and personal loss and the team has responded to each of these challenges in a very positive way. A demanding pre-conference schedule will solidify the team even more and build the foundation we need for a tough conference race in January and February.

The success of this team depends on the daily contributions of all our players, but as with any team, there are those who must step up and be consistent at game time. Haley Fannon, last year’s AMC Newcomer of the Year, will be asked once again to run the offense.  Haley was among the best in the nation last year in assist/turnover ratio. Without question she will have to be solid again for us to have success. We are also asking her to look to score more this season. The loss of three tremendous players, All-American Sam Riley, All-Conference Brittany Runner and defensive standout Taria Blanchard require Haley and our other returning starter, senior Megan Mummey to assert themselves even more on both ends of the floor. Megan does a lot of little things that add up to wins and is being challenged to look to score more than ever before.

MaryJo Weisenbarger and Enisia Curry, also return with expanded roles. MaryJo will play both the 3 and 4 positions for us and has showed the ability to do both very well.  She is coming off early season illness which kept her off the court until mid-October.  Enisia, has backed up Brittany Runner for the past two seasons and is excited about stepping in to a starting role.  We need a consistent low post scorer and defender and Enisia is the leading candidate to fill that role.

Also back with the varsity team this year are senior guards Brittany Granger and Valerie Feldmeyer. Brittany, is one of our hardest workers and best shooters. She provided a spark off the bench many times last year and will be competing at the 2 guard position this year. She will serve as one of our tri-captains along with Haley and Megan. Val, has battled injury for the past couple of seasons. She is starting to feel healthy again and gives us valuable experience and another deep threat off the bench.

Newcomers include Tia Simms, an all-conference performer from Owens Community College. Tia is smart, vocal player with the ability to score in a number of ways.  She will play a vital role in this team’s success offensively and defensively. She is a mature and highly competitive player and she is rapidly becoming one of our real “go to” players.       
  
Jessica Byrd, a freshman from Northwest High School in Cincinnati, has been very impressive in the preseason.  She can be explosive on offense and should become one of our best defenders.  She is fast and physical and gives us a lot of flexibility at both ends.  Sarah Brahnam is a sophomore transfer from Indiana Wesleyan. Sarah is a very versatile and fundamental player. She gives us depth at a number of positions and has been a very positive addition to the team. Sarah will be a major contributor this year.  She has patiently performed in a number of roles for us already as we try to find ourselves.

Crystal Burage, a transfer from Bowling Green, where she participated in track and field is similar to Tia in that she gives us great speed and quickness from the 4 position. She has been out of basketball for a couple of years but as her skills are refined, she will become a very exciting player to watch. Andrea Morrow, is a transfer from IPFW, where she sat out last season with major ankle surgery. Her return from this injury has been a long hard road, but she is starting to get back into game shape.  Her progress will be very important to this team. We are hopeful to see her back in top form by the first of the year.  Finally, Kathryn Thompson, a freshman from Lima will be backing up at the guard position. Kat has the physical abilities to become an excellent college guard. She has improved on a daily basis and I think she will be challenging for playing time by December.  She is a natural scorer and solid defender. She is progressing nicely and has a bright future with us.

I have enjoyed coaching this team so far this season. The attitude is positive and the work ethic and desire to be winners is obviously there. I have a great staff in Dave Marshall and Tray Huntsman. Both have a lot to offer and I’ve given them specific pieces of this puzzle to put together for us. I’m very optimistic about this season. I think it will be an enjoyable one and that this team will represent our university in an excellent manner.

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