Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2008
WALLA WALLA, Wash. – Michelle Ferenz faces a new dynamic in her eighth season at the helm of the women’s basketball program at Whitman College.
“This is my first season without a single senior on the roster, but that’s okay,” Ferenz says. “This is a fun group with tremendous potential. We’ve got good chemistry, a good junior class and some talented kids in the first two classes.
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“We need to stay healthy, develop more depth as the season goes along, and continue to mature and get tougher,” she adds. “If we can do those things, we have a good chance to be a playoff team.”
Despite Whitman’s relative youth, the annual preseason poll of Northwest Conference coaches picks the Missionaries to capture their first title since 2004. Whitman received four first-place votes and finished atop the poll with 73 points. Whitworth was a close second with three first-place votes and 68 points.
Whitman and Whitworth finished in a fourth-place tie last season with 8-8 conference records. Both Puget Sound and George Fox, co-champions a year ago, lost a pair of All-NWC First-Team players to graduation and are picked to finish fourth and fifth this winter. Lewis & Clark, which also two all-conference players to graduation, is picked to finish third for a second straight season.
Ferenz, for one, doesn’t put too much stock in preseason polls. “We’ve been picked in the middle, we’ve picked to finish last, and I think there was one other time when we were picked for first,” she says. “It’s a nice compliment to be picked toward the top, but it really doesn’t mean anything.
“Do I think we could be the best team in the conference by the end of the season? Yes, but we have stay healthy, and we have a lot of maturing to do between now and then. Experience is always the best teacher, and experience is something we lack. On the positive side, I honestly think this group has what it takes. They work very hard, they are very focused, and they are very coachable. They want to be good.”
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| Jenele Peterson |
Whitman makes its season debut this Friday and Saturday, playing a pair of NCAA Div. III teams – Macalester College and Oberlin College – in St. Paul, Minn. The Missionaries play their home openers on Friday and Saturday, Nov. 28-29, while hosting the second annual Kim Evanger Raney Memorial Classic in Sherwood Center.
As Whitman heads into its new season, it has two returning all-conference players in Michelle Krall and Jenele Peterson to build around.
Krall, a versatile 5-foot-10 junior guard/forward, made the All-NWC Second Team after averaging 8.7 points and 4.5 rebounds last season. She also led Whitman in assists, hit 40 percent of her 3-point attempts (30-75) and served as the team’s primary defensive stopper on the perimeter.
Peterson, a 5-foot-7 point guard, was the only first-year player last season to earn all-conference kudos. She received Honorable Mention recognition after averaging a team-high 9.9 points per game while shooting 51.4 percent from the floor, the fourth-best field goal percentage in the conference. She also nailed 44.7 percent (17-38) of her 3-point tries in 16 conference games.
“Michelle is one of the best athletes I’ve had at Whitman, and she has a great shooting touch out to the 3-point line,” Ferenz says. “She’s a good, smart player. She’s had trouble staying healthy, but if she can get past that, she’s going to have a very good season.”
That Peterson earned all-conference honors in her first season came as no surprise, Ferenz says. “The rest of the conference recognized her ability to play the point as well as she did. She averaged less than two turnovers a game, which is not bad for a rookie. She needs to be more of a scorer this season, and she knows that.”
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Hilary White |
Ferenz also looks to junior Hilary White, a 5-foot-9 guard/forward, for more scoring this season. Playing primarily off the bench a year ago, she averaged 7.8 points and 3.0 rebounds.
“Hilary was our scoring spark off the bench last season, and she did a great job with that,” Ferenz says. “She worked hard in the offseason and returns in great shape. She has a scorer’s mentality, and she’s been shooting well in our workouts. She’s working on her defense and rebounding, and she’s a very good player when she puts it all together.”
Ellen Vertatschitsch and Dawna Mello round out the junior class.
Vertatschitsch, a scrappy 5-foot-9 forward, played in all 25 games last season, primarily because of her defensive abilities. “If there’s a loose ball to be had or a hustle play to be made, Ellen will be there,” Ferenz says. “She’s about as sound as they come defensively and on the backboards. She also has good court vision and makes good passes. We need her to contribute more offensively, and she’s working hard on her shooting. She likes a challenge.”
Mello averaged just 6.6 minutes in 20 games last season, but the 5-foot-5 point guard has caught the coach’s eye this season. “Dawna has improved 10-fold,” Ferenz says. “You could see it coming at the end of last year, and she has continued to raise her level of play. She’s a smart player, and she understands what we’re trying to do as a team. She’s more aggressive offensively, and she’s asserting herself as a floor leader. She and Jenele really battle one another in practice. Dawna gives us another good option at the guard spot.”
While Peterson tops the returning sophomore class, Rebecca Sexton also stands tall – literally and figuratively – among the second-year players. The 6-foot-3 post played behind a pair of seniors last winter, but she showed plenty of potential while averaging 3.6 points and 3.1 rebounds in 8.3 minutes per game. Despite her limited minutes, she had season-highs of 11 points and nine rebounds.
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Rebecca Sexton |
“Rebecca also came back in great shape and is ready to go,” Ferenz says. “She has things to work on, but she’s moving her feet and running the floor much better. She has good hands and a nice feel for the inside game. She also does a good job passing out of the post. A lot of what we can do in our half-court game depends on her.”
Jessica Brice and Anna Forge, a pair of 5-foot-10 sophomore forwards, will also see more playing this season.
“Brice is similar to Michelle Krall in that she can play
both forward and guard, depending on matchups and rotations,” Ferenz says.
“She’s shooting the ball well, and she’s also one of our smartest players. She
knows what we’re trying to do offensively, and she knows her roles on defense.”
Ferenz ranks Forge with Mello at the top of the
most-improved sweepstakes. “Anna has improved tremendously. She’s always been a
very good athlete, but she has also gotten stronger. She has the athletic
ability to do things that not every player can do. For her, it’s just a matter
of consistency and being a more steady performer. We need Anna to be successful
for this team to reach its potential.”
Meredith Danko, a fifth member of the sophomore class, starts the season on the sidelines with a leg injury. The 5-foot-9 guard isn’t expected to hit the courts until mid-December at the earliest. “Meredith is a good offensive player with a quick first step,” Ferenz says. “She works hard, and it will be good to get her back.”
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| Ellen Vertatschitsch |
Two talented first-year players complete the Missionary roster -- Jennifer Keyes, a 5-foot-7 guard from Walla Walla High, and Kirsten Vaculik, a 6-foot-2 post from Hellgate High School in Missoula, Mont.
A four-year starter in high school, Keyes earned first-team all-league honors in her final two seasons. “We’re lucky to have Jenn,” Ferenz says. “She is absolutely one of the best competitors I’ve ever coached. She makes no excuses; she just competes hard every moment and hates to lose. She brings a whole bunch of skills to the court, but for now she’s getting adjusted to playing at this level. We needed another good shooter, and Jenn gives us that.”
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| Anna Forge |
Vaculik gives Whitman a second talented young post with good size. “Kirsten was one of the leading rebounders in the state of Montana last year, and she’s very quick to the ball,” Ferenz says. “She’s mobile and runs the floor well. She needs to work on her strength, but her footwork is very good, and her shooting touch is getting better. She’s already shown a lot of improvement in her first month.”
“Both Kirsten and Rebecca Sexton play the five spot for now, but we could use Kirsten at the four spot also,” Ferenz says. “That’s something that could evolve.”
After hosting its tournament late this month, Whitman will play five more non-conference games in December, including Dec. 9 and Dec. 13 home dates. The NWC slate begins in early January.
“We have a tough non-conference schedule, so we might not come out of that with a great win-loss record,” Ferenz says. “To begin with, we need to concentrate on getting better and more versatile with each game. If we do that, we’ll be okay and get ourselves ready to compete for one of the conference playoff spots.”
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CONTACT: Dave Holden
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