Thomas Mills | Marlin Chronicle
By Kellie Lagoy
This weekend will be the start to a clean slate for our college’s women’s basketball team. This Marlins team ended last season with a loss against Guilford in the ODAC quarterfinals. This season’s head coach Stephany Dunmyer has high hopes and expectations for her team.
“I’m very, very optimistic about this season,” said Dunmyer. She is happy to have five seniors who are hungry to be successful. Dunmyer said the seniors have a sense of urgency and great leadership that can contribute to the team’s success.
In addition to the very motivated seniors, Dunmyer has brought in a large freshman class to make her roster the largest it has been with 17 players.
“Having a large freshman class can give us some depth on the court,” said Dunmyer. She hopes that a larger team will bring the style of play the Marlins want to bring to the table.
Even with all the optimism Coach Dunmyer recognizes concerns for this season. “We’ve gotten better, but everyone else has gotten better as well,” said Dunmyer. Another concern is the health of this team. Four starters we were riddled with injuries last season. “If we can stay healthy we can get better day by day,” said Dunmyer.
This Marlins team was ranked fourth in the ODAC preseason poll. This ranking is no surprise because of the talent at Virginia Wesleyan. Senior, Brittany Glasco, averaged 13.3 points in every game, and she led the team in scoring, rebounds per game, and assists. Right next to her is senior, Andrea Paphites, who lead the team in scoring through ten games before being continuously injured. The team is stacked with other talent as well. Senior Nancy Kelly and junior Kelly Jones averaged over 10 points per game, and the experience stretches farther.
The Marlins begin their season this weekend at the University of Mary Washington for the Mary Washington Invitational. They will compete against Widener University at noon on Nov. 15. The team’s first home contest will be against Washington and Lee at 6 pm in the Convocation Center on Nov. 25.
