The Big East coaches released their preseason poll a few weeks ago, ranking Georgetown 13th out of 16 teams. The ranking was a slight disappointment, but they are determined to prove their power and capabilities to the teams of the Big East.
“Personally, I think it’s a slap in the face from the Big East, being ranked 13th, considering we have four starters coming back and we really didn’t get blown out by many teams last year,” senior guard Kate Carlin said. “Just to know that we do have people coming back and we are an up-and-coming team, to be ranked 13th isn’t really a good motivation, but we have more motivation now to prove that it doesn’t matter where you start, it’s more where you finish.”
The Lady Hoyas return this year with four out of five of last season’s starters. Bethany LaSueur, the team’s number two scorer from last season, is the only starter to leave the team. While the Hoyas also lost Leslie Tyburski and Christine Whitt, the team is bringing in five new freshmen and two eligible transfers to fill these spots. This is the biggest recruiting class since the start of the program, bringing the roster up to 12 athletes, 11 of whom are eligible to play this season.
“It helps at practice,” Head Coach Terri Williams-Flournoy said of the increase of the roster size. “It helps with rotation. Our kids will be able to get some rest during the game, so we have our legs at the end of the game. It just makes everything a little better to have some numbers to work with.”
Leading the Lady Hoyas as captains this season are Carlin, junior guard Kristin Heidloff and junior forward Kieraah Marlow.
Carlin returns for her final year after finishing last year as the number four scorer for the Hoyas, averaging 9.4 points a game. She made 25.8 percent of her three-point attempts, placing her second on the team. She averaged 33 minutes a game and played 27 games, starting in 21. On the school’s all-time list, she is fifth having made 98 three-pointers.
Heidloff comes into the season after having started 26 games last season and playing in 27. She was ranked 45th in the nation and 3rd in the Big East in assists with 4.8 a game. Heidloff also averaged 9.7 points per game and boasts a 37.8 percentage on three-pointers.
The power forward Marlow was named to the All-Big East Second Team and is one of the Big East’s two players to be ranked in the league’s top-10 for both points and rebounds. She averages 16.4 points per game and 8.2 rebounds and has a shooting percentage of 44.1.
Sophomore forward Katrina Wheeler played 25 games, starting in 23 of them. She averaged 8.2 points, 8.2 rebounds and 22 minutes per game. She ranked ninth among the nation’s freshmen for rebounds.
Two junior transfers, center Aminata Diop and forward Krystle Hatton, also add to the dynamics of the team. Diop averaged 10.5 points and 8.9 rebounds at Southeastern Illinois College last year, and Hatton averaged 4.6 points and 5.5 rebounds per game last season at St. Louis.
“Aminata Diop who is 6’5” brings in a presence in the post that we haven’t had, as well as transfer from Saint Louis Krystle Hatton who plays the five,” Coach Williams-Flournoy said. “[Hatton] is actually helping us right now in practice. Although she is not eligible to play, it’s been great going up against a big mighty post player at practice.”
The Hoyas will also be able to play redshirt sophomore Brina Pollack this year at the point guard position. Pollack transferred from Purdue after her freshman year. While on the Purdue team she played 28 games and started 10. She also assisted the team in making it to the second round of the NCAA tournament.
“She’s got one year under her belt, so she’s able to help the freshmen out a little bit as far as what to do, what to expect,” Coach Williams-Flournoy said of Pollack.
The Hoyas are also bringing in five freshmen this season. This class includes guard Meredith Cox, guard Kenya Kirkland, guard Shanice Fuller, forward Zhondria Benn and forward Jaleesa Butler.
“The freshman class, they actually come in at each position, one at a one, a two, a three, a four and a five,” Coach Williams-Flournoy said. “The freshman class gives us more athletic ability. They’re kids that are hungry, and they compete everyday. It’s been great to have a little mixture of the upperclassmen with the young kids.”
Regarding the play this season, the Hoyas are looking to open up more point possibilities for the guards. With four new guards coming in this year, more options open up for Heidloff and Carlin. The Hoyas will certainly have more flexibility on the court and be able to take the outside shots.
“We have some very good penetrators this year,” Heidloff said. “With Brina and Shanice both playing at the one position, that definitely creates shots for other people. Then with me, Kate and Meredith spotting up on the three-point line, I think it’s going to be hard to defend. I think you’ll definitely see a different mix, depending on who we’re playing and what’s going to be more open if we need more penetration or if we need more outside shooting.”
“I think it’s real positive,” Carlin added on the guard play. “Having [Kristin] go from the point guard to the two guard, we now have more of a two-guard tandem where Kristin can come off screens, and she’s not looking to create her own shots. I think this year definitely people are going to be gunning for [Kieraah]. She was Second Team All-Big East last year. They’re going to be all over her. We’ll count a lot on the kick-outs, which will be good.”
As well as adding to their guards, the Hoyas increased the power of their already-strong frontcourt. The frontcourt is aldominated by Wheeler, who stepped in right away and showed her strength and ability last year as a freshman, and Marlow who has continually displayed her dominating power to put up the points on offense and to rigorously protect the basket on defense.
“Me personally, I’m really focusing on coming in and being a better leader,” Marlow said. “I think that goes for Katrina as well. We want to show the freshmen what to do. We need to show them what needs to be done on the floor in order to win because they’re not familiar with Big East play.”
The Hoyas will look to some of their new players in order to improve their frontcourt’s strength even more. The ability to rotate in and out, while keeping up the power in the frontcourt, will help the Hoyas to keep handing their competition their best play and allow the Hoyas to compete the whole game.
“They [Marlow and Wheeler] both worked very hard this summer and things look good at practice,” Coach Williams-Flournoy said. “And add in Aminata and Zhondria into the mix, and it just makes the frontcourt just even stronger. And for us with more numbers, they don’t have to rely on playing so many minutes. They’ll be able to get a breather this year, get their legs back and then go back in and continue playing just as well as they were playing before.”
The Hoyas are pleased with the set up they have for this season and are looking to make the best of what they have. Last year the ladies fell just short of making some big comebacks and they hope to improve upon their comeback ability with a new attitude and a bigger roster.
“I think this preseason we worked very hard,” Marlow said. “We’re in better shape, and we’ll be able to close out those close games.”
As for goals this season, it’s all improve, improve, improve. The Hoyas do not at all intend to sit back and accept being ranked 13th in the Big East. The team has the motivation to move forward, keeping in mind that what is important this season is where they end up, not where they began.
“One of our goals is to be in the top eight of the Big East,” Carlin said. “I think that it’s important that we start off to a good out-of-conference schedule. There are plenty of games that we can win. That would not only help us to carry the momentum into the Big East, but it would look good with the Big East to have those extra wins in our favor. Another big goal is actually making it to the Big East Tournament. Last year, obviously, we were shunned out. We lost by a game. Coming out, that’s another goal and also making it to postseason play, whether that’s the NCAA Tournament or the women’s NIT.”
The team is fired up to show the Big East what they are made of and to prove to the conference that “We are Georgetown.”
“I think it’s a whole new attitude this year,” Heidloff summed up. “I think this year we’re definitely going to go into every game thinking that we can win, thinking that we’re going to compete with every team that we play.”
The Hoyas will get to test this new attitude when they start their season this Saturday, Nov. 11 in a home game against Towson.
