COMING UP: at Westminster Fall Classic, Salt Lake City, Utah – Thursday vs. No. 15 Lewis-Clark State, 2 p.m.; Friday vs. Montana Western, 4 p.m.; Saturday vs. No. 5 Westminster, 6 p.m.
LIVE STATS/LIVE VIDEO: All three games from the Westminster Fall Classic will have Live Stats and Live Video available. Live Stats can be found via the Westminster College athletic website at
http://www.sidearmstats.com/westminster/wbball/scoreboard.aspx, with the Video at
http://www.westminstergriffins.com/sports/2011/8/23/GEN_0823114143.aspx?id=96.
A FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING: Playing their first game of the season at home for just the sixth time in 19 years, the Lady Yotes were searching for an elusive victory – as The C of I had dropped the season openers in the J.A. Albertson Activities Center in 1995, 1998, 2000, 2001, and 2008. The come-from-behind victory over Montana Tech not only ended that drought, but extended a home win streak to 11 games and wins in 15 of their last 16 at home.
NOT “SHAQ” BUT “CHAK”: Making her Lady Yote debut Saturday, transfer
Chakala Carthen (Sparks, Nev. / Coll. of Southern Idaho) had a monster game, scoring 20 points, adding 10 rebounds, and recording three steals. The junior had 14 points in the first half, showing touch from inside and outside, and muscle on the glass. Most important was her work at the foul line, where Carthen made 9-of-11 attempts – half of The C of I free throws on the night.
DRAGER STEADY AND SOLID: Looking for a breakout season after playing primarily in a reserve role for two years, guard
Dayna Drager (Hayden, Idaho / Coeur d’Alene HS) opened the 2012-13 on a high note, scoring 17 points in the win. The junior hit 6-of-8 shots from the floor, including both of her three-point chances in 28 minutes of work in her first start since the 2010-11 season.
ALL-AROUND EFFORT: The Yotes received solid play up and down their line-up on Saturday – starting with point-guard
Katelin Shannon (Caldwell, Idaho / Vallivue HS). The senior played all 40 minutes, scoring four of her six points in the final minute, adding seven rebounds, four assists, and five steals. Seniors
Laura Geis (Frenchtown, Mont. / U. of Montana Western) and
Felicity Jones (Tremonton, Utah / Coll. of Southern Idaho) were saddled with foul trouble throughout – with Geis making only 1-of-8 field goal attempts, but contributing 10 rebounds and three blocks, while Jones scored nine points and added three boards.
ANOTHER TRIP TO SALT LAKE: The C of I hits the road for the first time this weekend, making the trek down I-84 to Salt Lake City, competing in the Westminster Fall Classic. It marks the fifth-straight year that the Lady Yotes have played in the six-team tournament and the tenth time in the last 11 years. Last season, the squad posted a 1-2 record in the tournament, and an 11-16 all-time record in their nine previous appearances.
ABOUT LEWIS-CLARK STATE: The Lady Yotes open tournament play against the Warriors (0-1), who lost an 81-58 decision on Friday at Northwest Nazarene. L-C, ranked No. 15 in the NAIA Division I preseason poll, returns just one starter from their 29-5 team that advanced to the NAIA Tournament – but star guard Brittaney Niebergall (8.3 ppg, 4.2 apg) was hobbled by injury after scoring 19 points at NNU and did not play in an exhibition loss at Boise State. Athletic forward Ornela Bacchini had 14 points and seven rebounds in her Warrior debut. It is the tenth all-time meeting between the teams and first since 2008, with L-C holding a 9-0 series edge.
ABOUT MONTANA WESTERN: The middle game of the trip is against the Bulldogs (2-1), who opened the season with two 11-point wins over the University of Lethbridge, before dropping a contest to Montana Tech. Western, who finished 15-13 last season, had two players on the preseason All-Frontier Conference team in post Hayley Pettit (16.6 ppg, 12.4 rpg) and Sammi Bignell (13.9 ppg, 4.3 rpg) – but Bignell is the only one of the duo that has played this season – averaging 22 points and five rebounds in the three contests. Picking up the slack on the block has been six-foot post Kaci Mattheis (9.0 ppg, 9.3 rpg). Western won both meetings last season between the teams and holds a 14-4 all-time series lead.
ABOUT WESTMINSTER: The host Griffins (0-0) meet the Yotes in the tournament finale, as the No. 5 ranked team in the NAIA Division I looks to begin their push for a fifth-straight Frontier Conference title. Westminster posted a 23-9 record last season, advancing to the second round of the NAIA Tournament and returns a pair of All-Frontier picks in guard Nicole Yazzie (13.3 ppg, 3.2 apg), who was named Preseason Player of the Year in the FC, along with forward Cydney Tibbits (10.8 ppg, 7.4 rpg). The Coyotes stunned Westminster last season, 66-61, in Salt Lake – one of only three home losses during the season. The C of I holds a 9-8 all-time series edge.
AROUND THE CONFERENCE: Southern Oregon started off the season with a bang, averaging 94 points a game in home victories over Cal Maritime and New Hope Christian, as San Diego State transfer Melissa Sweat averaged 24 points a game. The surprise was Corban going 0-2 in California, including an 86-54 loss at Menlo. This weekend, a trio of CCC teams – Corban, Eastern Oregon, and Northwest will head to Spokane for the Red Lion CCC/Frontier Challenge, squaring off against Great Falls, Montana Tech, and Carroll.
CCC/NAIA PRESEASON POLLS: The Lady Yotes were picked to finish third in the Preseason CCC Coaches’ Poll, released earlier this month. The C of I received 83 votes in the poll, behind Eastern Oregon and Corban, but ahead of Warner Pacific and Oregon Tech. In the Preseason NAIA Top-25 Coaches’ Poll, released Monday, the Lady Yotes checked in at No. 25. The C of I received 46 rater points from the 13 conference and unaffiliated voters – after finishing the 2011-12 ranked No. 22. Concordia (Neb.) holds the top spot in the poll, followed by Northwestern (Iowa), College of the Ozarks (Mo.), Indiana Wesleyan, and Morningside (Iowa). Two other CCC teams are in the Top-25 - as EOU is No. 10 and Corban is No. 14, with Warner Pacific receiving votes. Two other preseason opponents' - No. 5 Westminster and No. 15 Lewis-Clark State, are ranked in the NAIA Division I Preseason Poll.
GAME RECAP – C OF I 68, MONTANA TECH 64: Katelin Shannon broke a tie with a driving lay-up with 19 seconds left, then made a key steal and two free throws in the waning seconds, helping The College of Idaho open the 2012-13 women's basketball season with a 68-64 win over Montana Tech inside the J.A. Albertson Activities Center. The win for the Lady Yotes (1-0) was their first-ever victory in a home game to open a season - as The C of I was 0-5 in such games coming into the afternoon. Leading 51-44 after a fastbreak basket from Felicity Jones, the Yotes watched as the Orediggers (2-1) rattled off 10 straight points, including three-straight Kelsey DeWit buckets, to take a 54-51 lead with nine minutes to play. The Coyotes would claw back, getting a driving lay-up from Kylie Hardison and a Dayna Drager trey to regain the lead at 59-58. Tech would tie the score at 62-62 inside the final minute on a Laini Kalumbi lay-in, but Shannon countered, driving down the baseline for the duece to give the Coyotes the lead for good. The senior would then swipe the ball away from Mandy Machinal at the head of the key and was fouled, hitting both free throws to ice the game. Chakala Carthen had a stellar C of I debut, scoring 20 points and 10 rebounds, with Drager adding 17 in the victory. The Yotes hit just 34-percent of their field goal attempts, but forced 23 turnovers. DeWit had 24 points and 10 rebounds in the loss for the Diggers, with Kalumbi scoring 13.
ABOUT THE COACH: Reagan Rossi begins her 12th season as head coach of The C of I women's basketball program and her first season as an Associate Athletic Director for the College. During her first 11 seasons at The C of I, the native of Mukwonago, Wis., has compiled a 207-132 overall record, 11 consecutive appearances in the CCC Tournament, two CCC regular-season titles, four-consecutive NAIA Division II National Tournament appearances, and the 2010 and 2012 CCC Tournament titles. In 2008-09, she led the Coyotes to a school record 29-5 season, sharing their first CCC title since 2001 - earning a berth to the NAIA Division II National Tournament. The team set a new school record with 21 consecutive wins, highest scoring average, and defeated Weber State for their first-ever NCAA Division I victory. In 2009-10, her squad went 21-8, winning the CCC title outright, along with claiming their first-ever CCC Tournament championship, while last season, went on the road and defeated Corban, 80-68, in the CCC title game and earned a trip to the NAIA Tournament. The all-time record holder for women’s basketball wins at The C of I, she has coached a second-team All-American and two third-team All-Americans, while 16 of her recruits have earned NAIA All-America Scholar-Athlete honors. Rossi was no stranger to The C of I when she was hired in 2000, as she was a member of Todd Corman's inaugural coaching staff for two seasons, and was on the bench when the Lady Yotes took to the floor for the first time on Nov. 4, 1995 against Carroll College, ending an 18-year hiatus of women's basketball at the school. Rossi has an extensive background in coaching - having been an assistant coach at Georgetown (Ky.), a fellow NAIA institution, along with Morehead State (Ky.), an NCAA Division I program. Before coming to The C of I in 1995, Rossi was an assistant coach with the Skagway High School boys' varsity team in Skagway, Alaska. A 1994 graduate of Saint Ambrose University in Davenport, Iowa, Rossi played four years of basketball for the Queen Bees. Two of her teams qualified for the NAIA National Tournament, including the 1993-94 squad which advanced into the "Sweet Sixteen." She was the starting point-guard for two seasons, averaging ten points and six assists per game during her senior season. In 2006, she was inducted into the Mukwonago High School Hall of Fame. Rossi and her husband, Rudy, live in Caldwell with their twin daughters, Maggie and Darby.
FOR MORE INFORMATION: For more information on Coyote women’s basketball program, head to the official homepage of the Lady Yotes -
http://www.yoteathletics.com/index.aspx?path=wbball&tab=0.
