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Women's Basketball 2007-08 Season Outlook

“I’m excited,” says Head Coach “Skip” Lord when asked about the upcoming season for his Houghton College women’s basketball team, and why shouldn’t he be? He’s got five of the top six in his rotation returning from a team that just missed being .500 by one game, and he’s bringing in five freshman recruits who each were All-State choices at the various levels their schools competed in.
Not that he thinks it’s going to be easy, though. For one thing, there’s the American Mideast Conference (AMC) schedule in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) that the Highlanders will face. “The AMC is one of the strongest Division II conferences in the NAIA,” Lord says “so it’s going to be a tough road.”

That road begins for the Highlanders with three returning seniors: Becky Kallal, Cassie Merrill and Ashley Scudder. The 5′8″ Scudder can “play any position and play it well,” according to Lord. Scudder was third on the team last year with an 8.8 average, and pulled down 5.4 rebounds per game, while earning an “honorable mention” spot in the AMC North all-conference teams.
Kallal, 5′6″, can play at least three different positions as well, relying on her abilities as a spot-up shooter and her smart play. “She doesn’t make mistakes,” Lord says. Merrill, a 5′3″ senior guard, adds intensity, Lord says, “She hustles at both ends and is a good scorer in transition.”
Joining them in returning to the starting rotation are Leah French and Lisa Skrypnik. French was last year’s AMC North Division Freshman of the Year, a 5′11″ forward who led the team in scoring with a 14.1 average and an All-AMC North Second Team choice. Skrypnik started all but one game as point guard last season as a freshman, led the team in assists and was second in steals, with 40. The 5′3″ guard will be back at the point this year.

Jody Tripler and Hillary Brower round out the returning veterans. Neither Tripler nor Brower started a game last year, but they each played in more than 20 and averaged better than eight minutes apiece. Lord likes their “court savvy” and notes that they bring “lots of experience, leadership and hustle to the team.”

“No one out-hustles Jody,” Lord says of the 5′4″ guard, adding that she has worked hard to improve her outside shot. Brower, a 5′7″ junior forward is “a gifted spot-up shooter,” Lord says.
Nora Bryant, a 5′9″ sophomore, played in just seven games last year, but averaged 4.7 points in twelve minutes when she did. Look for her to add to the Highlanders’ depth. “We have a lot more depth than we have had in the past few years,” Lord says, “the intensity level and quality of play in practice is much better.”

Given the returning talent, Lord notes, “For a freshman to earn a starting spot this year would be a huge accomplishment.” Still, there are five strong candidates eager to do so.
Shannon Daugherty is a 5′10″ forward from Houghton Academy who Lord foresees as a small forward. She and Marci Jonathan, a 5′11″ forward from Elba, NY, will give the Highlanders some additional height, as will the 6′1″ Ashley Dupler from Jamestown, NY. Guard Stephanie Hudson, 5′7″, from Bloomfield, NY, and Forward Kara Schrader, 5′8″, from Romulus, NY, will provide quality minutes as well. “I expect all of them to have an impact,” Lord says.

He also likes his team’s mix of veterans and newcomers. “We’re a little on the young side,” he says, “but we have some experience, too. We’re returning to the point where we have great senior leadership.”

Lord says the team not only features great leadership, but solid character as well. “These women are not only good players, they’re also good students,” he says noting that the team was one of eight Houghton College teams that achieved “Scholar Team” status from the NAIA by making a team grade point average of at least 3.0. The women’s team GPA of 3.42 made it 14th among over 300 NAIA programs.

Outside the court and the classroom, the team is committed to using sport as a means of ministering to people all over the world. They have made numerous trips to the Czech Republic to share there and conduct a three-on-three tournament for local teams each spring as a fund-raiser for sports ministry opportunities. “They’re the kind of people we need to achieve the goals we have on and off the court,” Lord says.

On the court, last year’s team went 12-14 and earned a spot in the playoffs. They lost their first playoff game, but it was to a team that went on to play in the national tournament. “We’re building on a good foundation,” Lord says, “and we continue to take positive steps.”

“Last year we took some major steps to getting back to where we have been,” he says. That would be making trips to the NAIA national tournament, as the Highlanders did four times in seven years from 1994-95 to 2000-01. “We hit a bit of a slump for a few years, relative to where we’d been before,” Lord admits, “Given another great recruiting year, I think things look very promising. Maybe we can make a run at one of the national tournament bids.”