Complete OAC Preseason Poll (.pdf)
BEREA, OHIO -- The 2012-2013 Baldwin Wallace College University women's basketball team was picked to finish third in a preseason poll of the Ohio Athletic Conference coaches.
BW returns four starters and 11 letter winners from last season's 17-10 overall squad, and is an annual contender for the OAC title under the direction of veteran Head Coach Cheri Harrer.
This year's squad will be led by senior two-time All-OAC forward Jessica Carpenter (North Canton/Hoover) and junior All-OAC guard Jessica Lairson (Louisville) on a deep and talented team. Overall, BW returns 11 student-athletes who saw action in 11 or more games last winter, and Harrer is hoping that experience will pay dividends this winter.
Carpenter has earned second-team All-OAC accolades the past two years and has been a main contributor for three seasons. She averaged 11.1 points and 2.7 rebounds per game and contributed 36 three-pointers, 45 assists and 18 steals. Lairson, who was an honorable mention All-OAC choice a year ago, led the team in scoring at 11.3 ppg., grabbed 3.9 rpg., had 22 treys, 36 assists and a team-high 43 steals.
Also returning to the starting lineup is senior three-year starting point guard Rachel Rossman (Olmsted Falls) who has 266 career assists and 90 career steals. She scored 3.9 ppg. and year ago and led the squad with 114 assists. In addition, senior Nancy Coulter (Washington Court House/Miami Trace) and junior Natalia Simovic (Seven Hills/Normandy) combined to start last season and are back in the middle. Coulter, who started 19 games, returned after missing the 2010-11 season with an injury, to score 6.7 ppg., grab 4.5 rpg. and shoot 57 percent from the floor. Simovic, who started nine contests last winter, scored 5.3 ppg., grabbed 3.3 rpg. and blocked a team-high 40 shots. One option is for Harrer to start Carpenter, Lairson, Rossman, Coulter and Simovic.
But, Harrer also has a bevy of other options. One is junior forward Lexi Rohrbach (Tiffin/Columbian) who scored 5.7 ppg. and grabbed 4.4 rpg. Another trio of options include senior guard Megan Frisina (Corry, Pa./Corry Area) and sophomore guards Audrey Smolik (Strongsville) and Shari Mangas (Leipsic). Frisina scored 2.4 ppg. and had 15 three-pointers and 15 assists in 27 games. Smolik scored 6.2 ppg. and had 12 triples in 27 contests. Mangas scored 3.1 ppg., canned 15 triples and passed for 39 assists.
Two other options on the inside include sophomore forwards Laurel Thomas (Canton/Canton Central Catholic) and Jenna Andreas (Pickerington/ North), who each played in 11 contests last season. In addition, Harrer had a strong season of recruiting, including senior transfer guard Amber Boyd (Middleburg Heights/Regina), who began her career at NCAA Division I Evansville (Ind.) and played last season at Div. II Indiana (Pa.).
The Yellow Jackets open play on Friday, November 16 when they play in the Franklin (Ind.) College Tip-Off Tournament against Ohio Wesleyan University at 8:00 p.m.
FOR MORE BW SPORTS INFORMATION, please contact Sports Information Director Kevin Ruple by telephone at 440-826-2327 and e-mail at kruple@bw.edu. or Assistant SID Jeff Miller by phone at 440-826-2780 and email at jefmille@bw.edu Fans can access the latest B-W athletics information at www.bwyellowjackets.comand we invite you to join us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/bwyellowjackets and Twitter athttp://twitter.com/bwathletics.
